Seniors learn relationship skills from project
By Elle Falk
Seniors Makinley Scholl and James Froeschl work on their marriage packet during their third period religion class.
How compatible are you and your partner? What does it take to have a lasting marriage? The seniors are currently taking a hard look into these questions and much more with their religion marriage assignment.
This project takes about a month to complete, and it involves multiple elements. Seniors began by taking a personality test to check for compatibility. Next, they were paired up in “marriages” to begin completing the paperwork that people getting married in the Catholic church are required to fill out. “The most challenging thing about this assignment is trying to come to a compromise with your partner all the time,” senior Makinley Scholl said.
The assignment requires students to plan out their wedding, bills, future children and more, making all the decisions with their matched partner. “The marriage packet is meant to give the students a tiny taste of the less-than-sublime aspects of marriage like financial planning and budgeting, communication skills needed and breakdown possibilities in communication, the costs of day-to-day expenses, some of the possible items in planning a wedding and honeymoon, and the costs of having a child,” senior religion teacher Father James Meysenburg said.
One goal of the assignment is to help students have their feet on the ground regarding dating, engagement, marriage, and having children while also talking about the sacramental and vocational aspects of marriage as well. “In marriage the couple must have an intimate, profound, mysterious bond of real faith which leads them to have an awe and reverence for each other in God’s presence,” Meysenburg said. “It is not enough to love each other; they must be committed to growing in that love for each other.”
As the seniors scramble to finish up their projects, communicate with one another and compromise on their partnership’s decisions, they are learning a lot not only about marriage but also about one another. “The biggest takeaway I have from this assignment so far is that in marriage you’re going to have to compromise on things, and you won’t always get what you want,” senior Vaughn Lenard said.
