How did teachers keep the students engaged? In addition to scheduling a couple of interfaith dinners with local high school and college students and an evening of paint-balling at a local rec center, Habecker said she had prepped the students on specifics of each faith tradition, though "they didn't get as much free time as they had wanted with movies or hanging out at the mall."

"They were seeing the connections to the things we've learned all year," Habecker said, "talking to real people who were trained and very knowledgeable about their faith to answer questions we weren't able to answer on our own in class. ... The academic stuff was great from beginning to end."

Her humanities class covers a blend of literature, writing, history, geography, government and economics. Habecker said she uses religion as a way to look at geography, world history and literature, reading literature from each of the traditions her students study.

Their Utah visit included the Church of Christ, Scientist in Park City; the Greek Orthodox Cathedral downtown; the Sri Ganesha Temple in South Jordan; a Quaker meetinghouse; Congregation Kol Ami; the Urgyen Samten Ling Tibetan Buddhist Center; and the LDS Church's Temple Square.

They came with a bag of misconceptions, she said, and left with a new outlook, not only on specifics of faith and practice but also on cultural practices.

"When we started with Islam, they had lots of questions about the treatment of women, how they dress and the head scarf." After speaking with a woman who wears one, "she gave a great explanation of how that works for her."

Students also were impressed at each venue by the widely differing physical environments they encountered.

"We went to some beautifully decorated places," Habecker said. "They were surprised to see all these things they had seen in photos and books in real life — to see embroidered tapestries and containers with human ashes" was a cultural immersion experience not available in any classroom.

Habecker arranged the visit with the help of Elaine Emmi, president of Salt Lake's Interfaith Roundtable, who sent out e-mails and helped her make contact with most of the venues. "She was the one who really helped make it happen."

Though the high school is a small, rural school, it is part of an "expeditionary learning" program that encourages hands-on interaction rather than simple classroom instruction. While students had daily personal journaling time to record their thoughts and compare various faiths, the most hands-on activity they participated in was paint-ball — "the highlight for most of them," she said.

"They've been showing off their battle wounds ever since."

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E-mail: carrie@desnews.com