Members of the TCU community gathered around the flagpoles in front of Sadler Hall Wednesday to do one simple act – pray.
The health of students, professors and people fighting with addiction are just three of the many topics that students prayed about.
Started by a teenage youth group in the early ’90s, See You at the Pole (SYATP), is a global day of student prayer that takes place on the fourth Wednesday in September each year.
The event started at 8:30 a.m. and for one hour, students were supporting each other in a calm environment as others that weren’t in attendance were walking to class.
Students from elementary school to college and anywhere in between are participating in SYATP.
This is the fifth year that Chi Alpha, a Christian student organization, has held the event on campus.
Chi Alpha life group leader Jessica Harper took the lead in planning this year’s event.
“This event is an opportunity to gather in a public place and intercede for our generation, nation, and for our world,” Harper said.
Harper said although it is organized by a Christian organization, this is not a Christian-only event and all are welcome.
“’No one should live life alone,’ which is the motto of Chi Alpha,” Harper said. “We believe in the power of prayer. Prayer is our direct connection to God.”
As students came and went throughout the hour, various prayer topics were brought up to pray about out loud or silently at 15-minute intervals.
“There isn’t a graduate ministry on campus, so I thought that this would be a good opportunity to be a part of,” said second-year graduate student Alyssa Austin.
TCU Religious & Spiritual Life campus ministers Alicia Youngblood and Kimber Crumrine said they want people that are struggling with anxiety, depression, and suicide to know how loved they are and that there are people on this campus that can help them.
“It’s a special thing,” Crumrine said. “We can come together as believers and lift up our nation, our local campuses and the things that are going on in the world.”