“Write on the paper things that you’ve heard our class called. Then, take it and throw it in the fire! We are done with that!!!!” It might sound strange, but this is how the sophomore class president and other class leaders decided we were going to start our year. I work with the class of 2026 as one of their sponsors.

To “sponsor” a class essentially means you’re committing to working with the student government for a particular grade. As a group of adults, we pour into our specific grades’ student leadership, helping raise them up to lead their peers. We meet every other Friday for lunch to organize our class events!

Three to four times per term, we’re in charge of ‘class nights.’ Friday nights from 7pm-9pm, this means providing a snack for 67 students, coordinating an activity, leading a prayer for our chosen unreached people group, and doing ‘business.’

What is business? Depends on the grade! The 9th graders are in charge of running concessions 2-4 times per term during athletic events or the school drama. The sophomores host a one-night only all school restaurant, and the juniors plan banquet (aka: prom). The seniors run “Senior Store” which has grill items, soda, chips, doughnuts and so much more for sale one Saturday a month bringing a cyclical “homecoming” or “festival” feel to our campus. Most of these events have a fundraising component, building up a fund over their entire high school career for Senior Safo: a week-long trip to an all-inclusive resort on the Indian Ocean the last week of school.

Sponsoring isn’t only a fundraising program, it is also work experience. Where there isn’t much opportunity for a weekend job, sponsoring gives the students the chance to learn to work together as a class. They’re able to bond over dish washing, candy counting, and cash-sale exchanges. It’s a program designed for growth. When possible, sponsors will stay with a class year after year, also creating a special relationship between adults and students. I’ve always said RVA feels like a mix between summer camp and school, and sponsoring to me feels like the summer camp side.

I love it.

I chose my grade with careful intentionality. I’d had some of the girls in my Sunday School when they were in 8th grade. If I joined in 9th, potentially I could stay through graduation, a home assignment carefully planned for a chunk of time without missing any of their ‘big’ class events.

I think my students are great, but they’ve struggled. They were in pivotal years when COVID hit, and it impacted their ability to develop and understand healthy social interactions. They’ve been labeled by their peers, and they can’t seem to shake that reputation. Somehow, they’ve started to believe the narrative themselves.

At the end of the year, the entire rest of my sponsor team ended up leaving RVA for various reasons. My student leaders were ready to be done, and it was just me and one student leader transferring over to this years new leadership team of adults and students.

I prayed. Prayed with other adults, prayed on my own, asking the Lord to raise up the student leaders he had in mind, and to provide adults to step into the sponsoring role. And BOY did He move.

A while ago was our first Friday lunch meeting with students. We as adults had met a couple of times already, but a couple Fridays ago was the day we met with our new class officers. I hosted lunch at my house, throwing can after can of tomatoes into the crockpot with some chicken, beans, corn and seasoning for a chicken taco soup I hoped would stretch to feed 15 people. We pulled my front porch couch into the living room and locked the dogs out so they wouldn’t nose their way into the cornbread. Adults met students, students met adults! We began our page long agenda…

We talked about how to run a meeting. We talked about the importance of knowing your role on a team, we selected our chairperson for the year. Then the real meeting began.

I had asked the students to bring their vision for their class to our meeting written down so together the stage could be set. One by one I had them read or explain what they’d written down. By the time all six of them had shared, I could see tears welling up in the eyes of one of the adults across from me, a lump forming in my own throat.

They spoke of unity, they spoke of honesty, integrity, and growth. No one student said the exact same thing, but the common threads wove together a beautiful picture of the class of 2026 becoming something new, something to be proud of. I’d had on my agenda “choose class verse” but I scratched it off before the meeting started, thinking there wouldn’t be enough time. The second student to share chose her words carefully, “I was praying, asking God to give me a verse for our class… He gave me 2 Corinthians 13:11, ‘Dear Brothers and Sisters, I close my letter with these last words: Be joyful. Grow in maturity. Encourage each other. Live in Harmony and peace. Then the God of love and peace will be with you.”

My jaw hit the ground. The leadership in the room was palpable. They talked about bridging friend groups and crossing gender lines. I smiled as I looked at three girls on one couch, three guys on the other. “Okay. C, could you please get up?” I asked. Obliging she did, leaving a gap in the middle of the couch. “Guys, which of you is moving to sit there?” Their eyes bugged. “It’s going to start in here, we’re the leaders, if we can’t do it, it’s not going to happen in the class.”

The bell for 6th period rang. Scrambling to put bowls in the sink, plates in the garbage, and backpacks over shoulders, my heart sang. God is on the move, and he’s moving in the class of 2026.

When thinking about if I should continue to sponsor, or to be the NHS (National Honors Society) advisor, I decided these students were the ones I wanted to invest in. I thought it might mean more to them if I stayed with their class, than to the continually rotating group of NHS upperclassman if I stayed invested there. I’m excited to watch these young people grow as leaders as they serve their peers. I’m excited about who was in the room, each person brought specifically to contribute to the growth, leadership and discipleship of this class. I’m excited I get to be a part of this crazy life God has brought me, and I’m excited I get to share a tiny piece of it with you.

Would you pray 2 Corinthians 13:11 over our RVA class of 2026?