OUR TAKE: Don’t complain about high schoolers coming to campus
Festival of Life rolls around every March and ENC’s campus is flooded with high school students. The cafeteria is busier than ever, the gym is constantly in use, and the Student Center is filled to capacity.
About 500 high school students, chaperones, and youth workers will arrive at ENC on March 14. Every year, ENC students take to Facebook and Twitter to complain about these students that are “invading our campus.” The noise level outside or activity in the cafeteria annoys ENC students, but they are quick to forget their high school days.
Festival of Life is more than a bunch of students showcasing their talents. FOL is about bringing prospective students to ENC and giving them the chance to worship and do service projects with their peers.
While it may alter the cafeteria’s schedule slightly or cause you to wait in line for a few more minutes at Hebrews, it’s important to be considerate and to remember that you were in high school not too long ago.
Many current students on this campus participated in and enjoyed FOL even as recently as last year. If you participated, it should be easy to remember your time coming to ENC as a visitor and the way you hoped you would be treated.
We want these students to come to ENC for college, not just FOL. Many of them will be scheduling times to meet with enrollment counselors and are serious about coming here in the fall, or in future years.
It’s important to remember that FOL attendees are guests and we are the hosts. Let’s remember to be hospitable and considerate of our guests this weekend.
We have shown that we can come together as a community to do big things; let this weekend showcase our unity.