Personal Convictions and Actions Strengthen the Church

Bryan Whiting, a junior lacrosse and football player at New Canaan High School in Connecticut, hears the jangle of his alarm clock at 5:45 each weekday morning. The busy high school student begins his day with a 6:15 religion class taught at the neighborhood meetinghouse of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Whiting is one of 40 students who join him in the local early morning religious instruction (seminary), while other high school classmates gather an extra hour or more of sleep. The extra sleep is not the issue for Whiting; it’s the reassurance and direction that come in the doctrinal discussions that keep him on the early morning schedule.

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Seminary students know the early bird gets the word

Moving the clock forward an hour for Daylight Savings Time a few weeks ago doesn't help much when you have to get up at 5 o'clock in the morning.

By 6:30 a.m., the only difference for LDS seminary kids is that they are guided by headlights and streetlights, and not sunlight. In either time zone, it's an early start for school.

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Mormons' seminary classes give kids education in faith

Every school day, a few hundred kids in the area roll out of bed early and go to school before they go to school.

The wakeup call is for the 5:30 a.m. seminary program offered by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a scripture study class for grades 9-12.

Yes, that's 5:30 in the morning, and Wednesday at the LDS chapel in Bartlett, reasonably wide-eyed youngsters are singing a hymn and praying, "Thank you for this day!"

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