Education

A rendering of the new high school addition

Story by Vicki Swetnam

God has blessed Ohio Conference's Spring Valley Academy (SVA) with unprecedented growth over the past several years. With an enrollment nearing 500 this school year, the current facility is at maximum capacity. As SVA completed the first phase of the Fritzsche Center for Worship and Performing Arts in 2018, it became clear that the next project needed to address the need for more classroom space. Plans began for a new high school addition along the southwest corner of the existing facility.

“I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well” (Ps. 139:14, NKJV).

Dear Child,

You delight me! I love you because I made you! I crafted you as my masterpiece. Every fabric of your being was meticulously made by Me. You are beautiful and priceless, because My hands create masterpieces.

My child, you worry too much about vanity and earthly possessions, but I am coming back to make you new—to fully restore you. Therefore, why do these things matter? Let go of your worldly worries for a moment and bask in My precious presence. I created you to enjoy My peace, My joy, My love!

Photo by Mi Hlan Za

Story by Andrew S. Lay

If you were to walk the grounds of Chesapeake Conference's Highland View Academy (HVA), the names of the buildings might remind you of those dedicated Seventh-day
Adventist workers and members who had the foresight to build a place where generations of young people could obtain an Adventist Christian education.

“‘Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?’ Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’” (Matt. 22:36–39, NIV).

In 2020, I performed with Takoma Academy’s chorale at the Capitol Hill church in Washington, D.C. Earlier that week, I had celebrated my 16th birthday. But sadly, I lost a family member the next day. I walked into church that Sabbath with intense emotions.