By Mary Stadnyk |Associate Editor

The sixth grade religious education students in St. Benedict Parish, Holmdel, went on a meaningful Advent journey without ever leaving Holmdel.

To help the 60 students develop a greater appreciation on how they can better prepare for the Birth of Christ, the parish’s four sixth grade catechists led an Advent Exchange program which was designed to “capture the attention of our students to learn why Advent is such a special time of year in the Catholic faith,” according to Denise Contino, the parish religious education coordinator. “ Contino explained that under the direction of sixth grade catechists Beth Bellone, who authored the lesson on “Advent Exchange,” Suzanne Niro, Gerry McKeever and Janet O’Beirne, the project involved students journeying between the four classrooms where each catechist prepared an Advent-related topic or activity that incorporated videos, instructional materials, crafts and games that created an engaging environment.

Explaining how the Advent Exchange evolved, Contino said it was based on a similar project, “Course Café,” that had been developed to teach the students about the Rosary. The students traveled to the four “café stations” that were created inside the classroom and each station had a different activity involving a Mystery of the Rosary.

“The students were engaged and their feedback was extremely positive,” Contino said. “So we decided to use this same concept but on a larger scale by involving all sixth grade catechists and students to teach them about Advent.”