Perhaps apples would’ve been a better choice.

A Campus Life meeting Wednesday at Scott Middle School during which students were invited to bob for live goldfish — and then swallow them — has raised the ire of at least a couple of parents who say the game bore no link to the club’s Christian mission.

And now Campus Life is at risk of losing its meeting space at Scott, which has no affiliation with the club.

What happened: About 125 Scott students gathered Wednesday morning for the weekly Campus Life meeting.

Before delivering his sermon, Campus Life regional supervisor James Bergsten invited students to play a game. The rules: As fast as you can, dunk your head in one fish tank, get a goldfish in your mouth and move it to a neighboring tank.

No student was singled out or forced to play. Of those who volunteered, Bergsten picked four to race one another.

As for the rest: “Every single kid was standing within 10 feet of the table,” Bergsten said. “I would say the excitement level was pretty high.”

After the goldfish-bobbing was over, Bergsten said he told the group: “Well, I’ve got 30 goldfish left over, now what are we going to do?”

Together, he and a couple of students came up with the idea of swallowing the fish, he said.

Two male students and one Campus Life volunteer stepped forward and did just that.

That part of the game didn’t sit well with a few girls attending the meeting. One asked to take about 20 of the fish home with her. Bergsten flushed the rest — about five fish — down the toilet.

“And five minutes after the game, I was telling them about how much Jesus loves them,” he said. “That’s the important thing.”

Scott parent Tammy Brookhouser isn’t convinced.

Brookhouser’s three daughters attend Scott and were at Wednesday’s meeting. When her youngest told her what had happened, she said, she was appalled.

She believes Campus Life organizers were trying to use shock value to foster interest in their group.

“I said, ‘Well, you did generate discussion, but I think you’re missing a link there,’” Brookhouser said. “This is a Christian fellowship organization. You’ve got 11-, 12-, 13-year-olds in there.

“What (Campus Life) stands for is a good thing, but you get the wrong people in there and it just gets twisted.”

Brookhouser said her daughters will no longer attend Campus Life. She said she knows another parent who also plans to stop sending her children to the meetings.

Besides Brookhouser, only one other parent complained to the Campus Life offices, said executive director Bryan Carlson.

Brookhouser voiced her concerns to Scott administrators as well. Some worried students also alerted school officials to the morning’s events.

Scott Principal Linda Hix said administrators are re-evaluating Campus Life’s meeting home at the school.

“We are concerned with what happened,” Hix said. “We want our students to be safe and learning while they’re here at school and not be distracted by other things.”

But Bergsten, who is 27 and in his second year as a supervisor, defended the game, saying it was a fun and harmless way to loosen students up and build rapport among the group.

He said he was a bit surprised to hear parental concerns, especially considering he’s led a game of goldfish-bobbing before, that time among high school students.

“If I had the opportunity again, I wouldn’t have the kids eat the fish,” he said. “But the game, I would do that game again.”

He added: “But if this is over the line, we’re totally coachable. We’re teachable.”

Carlson also stood by the game, calling it “just for fun.” But he said it likely won’t be played at another Campus Life meeting.

“More than anything, it appears stupid, and maybe it was,” he said. “Did that game have to be played? Probably not.

“But the point of the game was to have fun with the kids. We want Campus Life to be a place where kids want to be.”

Reach Melissa Lee at 473-2682 or mlee@journalstar.com.