A MEASURE OF SUCCESS Success is so much more than achieving a certain SAT score, grade point average (GPA), degree from a prestigious institution, or coveted position.
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ost people who have money, prestige, position, and power tend to argue for a broader definition of success that includes happiness, service to others, or self-actualization. Warren Buffett, one of the world’s richest people, says, “I measure success by how many people love me.” While it can be difficult to define success precisely—there Success is what we want for every are as many ways person who makes their way through to be successful as there are people the Adventist education system. on earth—we tend to know it when we see it. And success is what we want for every person who makes their way through the Adventist educa-
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tion system. Graduates of Adventist schools have a high rate of success regardless of the measure used. They achieve high SAT scores and GPAs. They attend the best colleges and universities in the nation. They find purpose and calling through their unique set of God-given talents. They overcome obstacles, managing to triumph over race, poverty, and gender, to become the people God created them to be. Adventist schools are not incidental to this success. A committed belief in the value of each individual is built into the ethos that drives our schools to invest wholly in each student as if they were the only person in the room. Kameron Knab, Iki Taimi, and Shelly Miller are each examples of very different kinds of success. Each of these extraordinary people got their start in Adventist schools in the Pacific Union Conference. Kameron Knab graduated from Escondido Adventist Academy (EAA) and went on to Princeton University where he majored in economics and game theory. He is currently a consultant at Deloitte in the pubic sector business where he works on implementing a number of health reform projects, including improving primary care in the Navy and reducing avoidable hospitalizations from