Seminary graduates from Taylorsville High School in Salt Lake County, Utah, are carrying a solid foundation of scripture study into their future as a result of 12,000 Popsicle sticks.
The 1,200 students spent six months during the last school year building a replica of the Kirtland Temple with the sticks. Each student received one stick for each 10 sections read in the Doctrine and Covenants, last year's course of seminary study. The youth would write his or her name on the stick and then glue it to the replica.Seminary teacher Lindsey McMullin, who now teaches at another area seminary, related that as a result of the project "a high percentage of students read throughout the remainder of the year. We hope it carries over forever, that they'll want to read the scriptures every day for the rest of their lives."
The completed temple was 6 feet long, 5 feet wide and stood 6 feet high, with a tower reaching 9 feet. It took 12,000 sticks - or 1 million minutes of reading.
Until its recent removal, the temple stood in the foyer of the seminary building.
Former seminary council member Kari Ostermiller, who graduated last spring, said the temple was "a quiet reminder to all the students of the sacredness of the temple and acted as a reminder to read their scriptures."
