Pacific Union
Five Academy Seniors Receive Teacher Education Scholarships
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Kelly Kimura, Escondido Adventist Academy
he Pacific Union Conference Office of Education offers a Teacher Education Scholarship to five worthy 12th grade students who would like to become teachers. Because 10 to 20 percent of the teachers in the Pacific Union will retire within the next five to 10 years, new teachers must be ready to fill the vacancy. That was the impetus for the scholarship. This year, Mia Coley, Brianna Johnson, Cassandra Chavez, Kelly Kimura and Hannah Decolongon received the award.
Mia Coley, Thunderbird Adventist Academy
Becoming a teacher fulfills my love for God and children. I plan on attending Pacific Union College for higher Adventist education. I admire my teachers, and several of them graduated from PUC. I want to follow in their footsteps.
Brianna Johnson
know Jesus through their studies, as well as learn what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ. I would like to be a part of that process. It is my desire to see kids create a personal relationship with Jesus while they are young. I would like to integrate Jesus throughout my classroom so that there is no doubt that He is the most important thing in the room.
Martha Havens, union associate education director, gives Kelly Kimura her award.
Hannah Decolongon, Glendale Adventist Academy
Cassandra Chavez, Pine Hills Adventist Academy
Mia Coley poses with Gus Martin, superintendent of education in the Arizona Conference.
In the Seventh-day Adventist education system it is hard to have exceptional band programs because there is a shortage of teachers and time available for lower levels of education. This results in mediocre high school level bands; the majority of students playing in the band have only just begun to learn the instrument they are playing. I want to start a movement. I want to make band programs fun, exciting, and I want to find a way to start programs at a lower level so that by the time our students get to the high school level, they can be at the same level as every other high school band out there.
Without the support of the Grass Valley Seventhday Adventist Church Education Fund and the Northern California Conference scholarships, I would not have had a chance to attain a Christian education. I am immeasurably grateful for what are certainly gifts from God. Hannah Decolongon
I would like to get the kids to know that in everything in this world, from the simplest to most complicated, God is present. I hope that through my actions and words, they will be able to see this is so. The teachers in my school have shown this to me, and I hope to pass it on, as well. I also want to have kids experience learning in different ways. Not only by sitting in the classroom, but by going outside, with each other, and kinetically. Learning is not always the tedious task it seems to be.
Brianna Johnson, Fresno Adventist Academy
I believe the Adventist education system is vital to our faith. It is a place where kids can come to
Berit von Pohle, union education director, presents a scholarship certificate to Cassandra Chavez.
Cheryl Dickerson September 2016
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