Nearly 800 students in Jackson and Bartholomew counties came together Friday to celebrate National Lutheran Schools Week by demonstrating their faithfulness in God.

Students in fourth through sixth grade from five different schools spent the day at Trinity Lutheran High School in Seymour, where they participated in a variety of activities designed to bring them closer together in their faith.

Trinity students served as leaders, helping younger students build birdhouses, learn worship music, make and launch rockets, create an art project and collect and package donations for Clarity Pregnancy Services. There was also an assembly in the morning featuring guest speaker Pastor Travis Hartjen of Allen, Texas, and a worship service to conclude the day.

Participating schools were Immanuel Lutheran and St. John’s Sauers Lutheran, both in Seymour, Lutheran Central in Brownstown and St. John’s White Creek Lutheran and St. Peter’s Lutheran, both in the Columbus area.

“The National Lutheran Schools Week celebration is an impressive display of the shared mission of the area Lutheran schools — to provide an excellent, Christ-centered education for the students in our care,” said Trinity Principal Ben Stellwagen.

“The dedicated staff and faculty at these schools benefit from a day of fellowship with their local colleagues, and we trust that the students are inspired to be proud of their school and thankful for the opportunities it provides,” he said.

Students, teachers, faculty and administrators of Lutheran schools in the area have much to celebrate and for which to be thankful, he added.

“The heritage of Lutheran education is a storied one, and this is a chance to be thankful for the visionaries in this community who established these schools and for the supporters who continue to make their mission possible,” he said.

Read the full story in Tuesday’s Tribune and online at tribtown.com.