Story by Janel Haas Ware
At the recent Shenandoah Valley Academy Senior Dedication, Principal Don Short placed the Class of 2023—made up of 56 seniors—into God’s loving care during his dedication prayer:
Dear Father,
What a tremendous collection of dreams, hopes and desires on the platform this evening. It is with those dreams and desires that we come to you as teachers, administrators, parents, grandparents to ask for Your help.
Story by Esther Hernandez
Blue Mountain Academy (BMA) began the new year with 161 students—an increase in enrollment over the past three years—and with several “power weekends” featuring speakers who shared their testimonies and challenged the young people and staff to take the steps needed to strengthen their relationships with God.
Justin Kim, assistant director of Sabbath School and Personal Ministries for the General Conference, challenged students not to settle for being mediocre.
Story by V. Michelle Bernard
The Columbia Union Conference’s 97 early childhood education centers, elementary, junior academies, academies and colleges have a combined enrollment of 8,069 this school year, up from 8,027 last school year.
At recent Columbia Union meetings, Donovan Ross, vice president for Education, said the boarding academies are enjoying the highest enrollment rates since 2016 with 558 students at the union’s four boarding schools. Ross also reported that six schools across the territory are in various stages of building projects.
Story by Stephen Payne
The Association of Adventist Colleges and Universities (AACU), which is composed of the presidents and other top leadership from 13 Seventh-day Adventist colleges and universities in North America, reports the latest consolidated enrollment numbers for 2022.
Gordon Bietz, executive director for AACU, shares, “At our latest meeting in October 2022, the AACU presidents from North America voted to make some of this most recent data public to inform and engage our key stakeholders and constituencies.”
Story by Esther Hernandez
Nalda Hernandez was concerned for her son Antonio. He was being bullied in school, and the emotional stress resulted in him not caring about anything, including his grades. She knew he needed a change, but as a single mom, could she afford a Seventh-day Adventist education? On the other hand, could she afford not to?
She enrolled Antonio at Blue Mountain Academy (BMA) in 2019. “That was a lot of sacrifice at the time,” Nalda shares. “The atmosphere of an Adventist school was important to me, and here he had the opportunity to meet other students from all over the world who also shared the same beliefs.”