Pacific Union
More than 60 Students Registered at Holbrook Indian School
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n Sunday, Aug. 13, families from across Arizona and New Mexico traveled long distances to register their children at Holbrook Seventh-day Adventist Indian School for the 2017-2018 school year. The majority of these children came from non-Christian homes located on reservations hours away. More than 63 children registered, and more were expected to arrive during the week. Another 12 registered at Holbrook’s sister institution, Chinle Adventist Elementary School (CAES). Holbrook, a first through 12th grade boarding academy operated by the Pacific Union, has served Native American youth for more than 70 years. Located in Holbrook, Ariz., just outside the boarder of the Navajo Nation, Holbrook serves children from a variety of Native American tribes, including Navajo, Hopi, Apache, Supai, Lakota, Crow, and Pima, just to name a few. Chinle Elementary is a first through eighth grade day school located on the reservation in the town of Chinle, serving primarily the Navajo (Dinè) tribe. Holbrook meets crucial needs of Native American families. Roads to their remote homes are often unpaved, making the long distances they travel to and from school even more challenging. Financial resources are limited, which makes the cost of gas prohibitive. More
than 51 percent of Native Americans live well below the poverty line. HIS students receive meals, school supplies, housing, extracurricular activities, and an accredited, college prep, Christian education for a tuition of only $84.50 per month. For many families, even that amount is difficult to The grandmother of a student completes registration paperwork. pay. At Holbrook, no child is ever turned away because their parents drunk driver. She was only 31 and left behind a or guardians are unable to pay. “Why should a husband and six children. child be punished for being poor?” asks Principal Many of the children at Holbrook have Pedro Ojeda. lost parents, siblings or other close relatives. David Dickerson, Holbrook’s finance and To help them through the grieving process, business manager, adds, “Although older Holbrook provides group counseling and students are willing to work, jobs we can offer one-on-one counseling when needed. As are scarce. Holbrook simply lacks the funding part of the registration process, parents and needed to pay their students to work, and state students are interviewed by staff counselors labor laws make it difficult to employ students.” to help determine the emotional and mental Staff members were excited to see the well-being of each student so that issues can familiar faces of returning students and to meet be addressed before they become manifest as new students who learned about Holbrook behavior problems. from HIS alumni. Following registration, students went to the During registration, dorm and got settled into their rooms. The last the mother of a event of the day was what Holbrook staff call new student shared “The Handshake.” This is an opportunity for that she heard students and staff to get acquainted, and for about Holbrook new students to make a friend or two. “It is a lot through a friend who of fun to watch the students interact with each graduated in 1995. other and especially encouraging to see former As they looked at students reach out and make new students feel her friend’s senior welcome,” says Diana Fish, Holbrook’s director picture displayed on of development. “It’s evidence of God working the walls with all of in their lives. Our students aren’t particularly the HIS graduates outgoing and tend to be shy.” throughout the years, To learn more about Holbrook Indian School she shared that her and the services it provides to Native American friend had recently youth, visit HolbrookIndianSchool.org. Senior Adrian Wiles has been attending HIS since third grade and died in a head-on will be graduating this year. He is this year’s Student Association collision caused by a Diana Fish vice president and assisted with the registration process..
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