Thousands of Christian students in the US and other countries got together at their school flagpoles on Wednesday last week for the yearly "See You at the Pole" movement to pray.

"See You at the Pole" started in 1990 through the initiative of a youth group in Burleson, Texas.

"The teenagers felt led to go and pray at night at several area schools during a weekend youth group retreat. They had a profound time of prayer, and their experience was shared with thousands of other youth from across Texas in the form of a challenge in June 1990 at a large conference," according to the movement website.

That year, more than 56,000 students in 1,200 campuses in Texas and three other states held the first "See You at the Pole" in September 1990.

About 145 students at Fultondale Elementary School in Fultondale, Alabama, gathered before classes started, according to AL.com.

"The heart and the desire of those kids to stand out from their peers and pray, it was beautiful," said James Cato, an area director for First Priority of Alabama. "They were thankful they had the freedom to do that, thankful for who Christ made them."

In Stonewall, Louisiana, about 250 students at North DeSoto Middle School celebrated the tradition.

"God is doing some amazing things in our schools and in our community. I was extremely ecstatic," youth pastor Zachary Almarode of Salem Baptist Church said, according to the Baptist Message.

Students also held the "See You at the Pole" at Edison Preparatory School in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

"They really have to take that path on their own, and make the choice on their own to follow the Lord and be a leader, and to be fishers of men," said Andrea Gamble, special education teacher. "It can be hard for them to stand up against the drugs, the alcohol and whatever else is going on in the media."