Education

Story by Heidi Wetmore

Chesapeake Conference's Spencerville Adventist Academy (SAA) held an outdoor commencement service during the COVID-19 pandemic late July for both its eighth-grade and senior classes. Chesapeake Conference’s New Hope church in Fulton, Md., located in a county where outdoor group gatherings of up to 250 people were allowed, graciously shared their lawn so that the Class of 2020 could have an in-person ceremony with their immediate families. The event was also livestreamed so that other relatives and friends could be a part of the celebration.

Story by Ashley Boggess / Photos by Marcos Seferlis and Kevin Ware

Story by Janel Haas Ware

Often the scene of athletic contests, Zirkle Gymnasium transformed into a house of worship for a properly masked and social-distanced Shenandoah Valley Academy (SVA) Class of 2020 commencement service.

“In these few precious moments that we have together before we go our separate ways, may we turn attention from ourselves long enough to see our Savior and gain strength and courage to stand for the right in the contests of life,” Principal Don Short encouraged. He challenged graduates to, “rise above the world’s mediocrity and choose excellent lives, not of timid decency or minimal reality, but of holy boldness in Christian service and self-sacrifice.”

Story by Salena Fitzgerald

Last school year wasn’t ideal. The COVID-19 outbreak had parents, students, teachers and staff on edge. The combination of “senioritis” and distance learning enhanced the load of pressure on the Class of 2020. Math teacher D’Anya Brezzell attacked this concern straight on: “With so much pressure on our seniors, I wanted to encourage them by handwriting each of them a personalized note and mailing it to their home.”

Carla Thrower, TA principal, and other staff members brainstormed what special thing they could do to make up for not having a Junior/Senior Banquet, class trip to the Bahamas, mission trip to Thailand or threeday graduation weekend.