Students Highlight Faculty in Christmas Banquet Tradition Spanning Over 80 years
In the 1940 Hillcrest Yearbook, Beatrice Buness and Amy Rude wrote about the important traditions, especially banquets, at Hillcrest Academy.
“Our student body gave a banquet in honor of our faculty and board members to whom we owe our deepest devotion. After a banquet dinner in the dining hall, a program was given in the chapel. At the foot of the room, a decorative scene showed a cross hanging above a miniature globe representing the sin-cursed world. ‘For God so Loved the World’ was the electrically lighted motto at the top of the scene. We were again reminded of God’s infinite love for us and our unworthiness of His grace.”
On Saturday evening, Hillcrest students gathered for the annual Christmas banquet. In the same spirit as the banquets held in the 1940s and beyond, the Christmas banquet is a student-organized gathering designed to thank the faculty and staff and draw attention to the birth of Christ and his grace given in His death and resurrection.
Hillcrest’s student council took the stage, with coaches, teachers, staff members and their spouses seated in the Hillcrest auditorium amongst the students. After a banquet meal, chaplain Lizzy Olstad was joined on stage by Owen Ewan, Ava Renner, and Deborah Diniz to sing a song that ushered the theme of “Light in the Darkness”.
Bethel Lutheran Church Youth Leader, Josiah Militzer, gave a message, sharing a story of how he ran to the light in a dark night after a full day of deer hunting. Josiah’s message called students to consider how, at Christmas, we see Jesus birth as God running into a dark world with a light that is a beacon of hope for all.
After the message, students from Norway shared a song that brought forward the theme, before Hillcrest’s praise team led the dias in reflecting on Christ through a Christmas carol.
Throughout the night, Hillcrest’s student leadership guided the school to not only consider the message of Christmas, but to find joy and hope in the reality of Jesus’ incarnation and the promise of salvation to those who believe and trust the message. It is a great fulfillment to the passion Hillcrest was founded with in 1918, where then Bible School President E.M. Broen gave a speech to the reality of what Hillcrest offers high school students.
“The opening service gave us a foretaste of the great things the Lord has in store for us. Here at the Bible School (Hillcrest) he will stretch out His mighty hand and reach many, many promising young people and draw them to Himself in full surrender. Here at the Bible School (Hillcrest) many unsolved and hidden riddles of the young hearts will be resolved through the preaching of the Word. Here at the Bible School (Hillcrest) we expect to see souls saved every term and the prayers of believers answerd.”