Blessed Teens Academy Holds Divine Principle Competition in Texas

Miho Frankowski lectures on “Give and Take Action.”

The Blessed Teens Academy’s (BTA) quarterly Divine Principle lecture competition took place on April 15, 2012 at Camp Lonestar in Blanco, Texas. BTA is a high-school homeschool program that provides second-generation Unificationists the opportunity to study the Divine Principle and apply it in their daily lives. This was the second Divine- Principle competition in the school year; the previous competition took place on February 28, 2012, and the next will take place in the fall of next school year.

Takanari Sonoda gives his lecture on a section of “The Fall.”

Participants covered various sections from the first part of the Divine Principle. The competition is a chance to study the Divine Principle through teaching it to others in the format of a presentation. Students then ask questions about their assigned sections to elders as well as each other.

Sungduk Morales lectures on “Personal Responsibility.”

Because the students must not only read the words but also publically express the ideas, they are motivated to understand the content thoroughly. Therefore, new insights are always being discussed. The competition is a great opportunity to exercise public-speaking abilities, posture, composure and confidence.

Yuka Nagata lectures on “The Purpose of Creation.”

Each lecturer must have one of two visual presentations: a poster or a PowerPoint presentation. The students are given seven to ten minutes to lecture.

The students were informed of the competition a week in advance and fervently worked throughout that week to prepare, using what free time they had to study. They also prayed regularly, sharing with God the inspirations and insights they experienced through studying.

Hana Steinbronn lectures on a section about “Human History.”

The night before the competition, students were up into late hours of the night to practice presenting their allotted sections. The competition commenced at 10:00 a.m. the next morning and lasted for six hours, with a break halfway through for sports.

After a week’s worth of hard work, the lectures were phenomenal. Each was numerically scored within decimal points of each other. The winning team included Sun-Je Pearlman, Jin-Ai Saito, and Kazuto Tranberg.

Eika Nishimura lectures on the different “Growth stages.”

Jeri Tamayo, founder of BTA, took all of the students to Dairy Queen to reward them for their outstanding lectures. “Everybody is a winner, especially after all of their hard work to understand their Divine Principle sections and present them. The audience learned a lot, but the person giving the lecture learned the most,” she said.

Lectures from this and past competitions can be viewed online at BlessedTeensAcademy.com.