WC staff pray over halls of school
Faculty members went down each hallway at Watson Chapel High School on Sunday and anointed every classroom, office and cafeteria doorway with oil, praying over each location for teachers and students to have a successful school year, which begins today in the district.
It was the result of a calling Jamie Milliken, the school’s secretary, says she received from a higher power just Friday night, and she obeyed.
“I was actually in bed asleep, and something woke me up and I started reading my Bible,” Milliken said. “God said, ‘No, close your Bible and listen.’ And He just laid it on my heart, with everything that’s been going on in Jefferson County and really just all over the world, that our schools need prayer. It was taken out, but we can give it back.”
Principal Henry Webb had no problem with the prayer walk.
“To be honest with you, without prayer, you don’t have a school,” Webb said. “Because there are so many things that go on in the community that we have, with God being in the midst of it and the center, and once He’s in the center, everything can span out because if you think you can have school without God, you don’t have a school. If we’re all in one faith and one belief and believe in the one thing that’s going on, Jesus is the reason that we’re here.”
Twelve others — the youngest a little daughter of a science teacher — joined Milliken in a circle at the school seal that adorned the floor just outside her office, united in prayer led by the Rev. William A. Shaw of Pleasant View Ministries. Among his many petitions, Shaw prayed no violence or other acts of evil come through the hallways of Watson Chapel High, which will serve ninth grade for the first time as the old junior high school next door is being prepared for demolition this fall.
Milliken will begin her second year as secretary. She said she started working on campus the first day of school last year, seeing
false threats of violence disrupt classes within the first two months.
“We needed to pray for the safety and well-being and grace and mercy on all these classrooms, the teachers, the staff, the students — everybody,” Milliken said. “It takes the village, and this village is united.”
This is not the first time at least some Watson Chapel faculty have gathered in prayer for the school year, according to math teacher Stephanie Sampson.
“We do, do it every year. The teachers in the math hall, we would do our own hall and the outside doors, just in case someone wasn’t on the same page or want it, so we didn’t want anyone to feel they were being alienated,” Sampson said. “We know we’re not supposed to bring religion in the school, so there’s a very thin line. But, we’ve been praying. We do it all the time now. All of the teachers are on board. We all pray for the safety of our kids.”
The Watson Chapel School District is planning construction of a new high school at the site of the old junior high following a millage increase voters approved last August.
That was the site of an on-campus shooting that claimed the life of a 15-yearold student in March 2021. Even before the killing, school officials had called for a newer campus to better address safety and replace a facility that opened in 1945 and has exceeded its useful life, according to experts.
Recent acts of violence have affected a number of teenagers who attended school in both the Pine Bluff and Watson Chapel districts. Nine of the 15 homicide victims in Pine Bluff this year were teens, as are many of the suspects.
Sampson hopes Watson Chapel will provide a safe haven for faculty and students alike.
“We just want to have a peaceful, happy learning experience,” she said. “No violence, no arguments, no complaining. Just peace and happiness and love.”
Another gathering for prayer evening was at the organized old Walgreens Sunday pharmacy on the corner of South Ohio Street and East Harding Avenue, in response to two shootings in the previous two days.
Roosevelt Brown, pastor of Family Church Pine Bluff, sent a text to members of the faith community shortly after news of the homicide broke, requesting the prayer rally. Brown organized a similar effort at Central Park last month after four teenagers were shot to death in a sixday span in the city.
Three males, ages 16, 18 and 19, and a 77-year-old woman were in stable condition following a Friday evening shooting in the direction of Stop and Shop convenience store at West 16th Avenue and South Cherry Street. A 19-year-old man and 15-year-old boy were arrested in connection with the incident.
The violence took a turn for the worse at about 11:15 a.m. Saturday at the Broadmoor Shopping Center, 2709 E. Harding Ave. A 30-year-old man was found shot in the face and slumped over in his vehicle, then transported to Jefferson Regional, where he was pronounced dead. The suspect has not yet been identified.
Ambassadors for Christ Youth Ministries and the Pine Bluff Luxury Car Club are collaborating with Pastors on Patrol, a mission of the Pine Bluff Faith Community Coalition Ministerial Alliance, for back-to-school meet-andgreets at area schools this week, according to Ministerial Alliance executive director the Rev. Jesse Turner. Schools open in the Watson Chapel and White Hall districts Monday and in the Pine Bluff district Wednesday.
“God’s still out there. He’s still working miracles,” Milliken said. “These children need hope. Our adults need hope. We all need hope, and that hope can be found in Jesus.”