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Grade 11 student Anna DeCorby jots some thoughts onto a whiteboard following a three-day religion course delivered at Barnett House from Jan. 27 to 29.
A group of students from Edmonton’s Archbishop MacDonald High School took an unconventional approach to their exam break when, instead of heading off to the snowboarding slopes in the last week of January, they converged on Barnett House for three days of intensive religion studies.
All 25 students had been signed up to take the course online, but opted instead for a three-day in-class version. Providing this option during exam break was the idea of teacher Chris Ferguson, who is the school’s chaplain and head of the religion department.
“We thought, ‘How can we accommodate the flexibility of their schedules but still bring an immersive rich experience in religious education?’” he said.
“Religion lends itself to community and conversation, and sometimes online is not the best venue for that.”
Over the course of three days, Ferguson delivered 12 sessions and brought in numerous guest speakers from the local Christian community to share their experiences in living a life of Christ. Ferguson said students were very engaged and will work on their own during the second semester to complete the remaining course modules.❚
