Innovation is an expectation in 2006 at Spokane Jr. Academy (SJA). While preparing for the construction of a new campus, many associated with the school are engaged in building a new school from the inside out.
A major driving force of the creative changes taking place in Spokane’s K–10 school is SJA’s five-year strategic plan. Covering such topics as nurture, curriculum, extracurricular activities and advertising, the plan aims to involve all people who have a stake in SJA by defining goals and action steps now and in the future. It encourages a critical examination of attitudes, programs, ideas and even recruitment beyond Adventist boundaries. It argues for each of us to view SJA as an institution pursuing excellence, as well as evangelism.
The widely distributed Student Bill of Rights fulfills one strategic plan goal by creating a document “to reinforce our philosophy of Christian education.”
Another goal for staff spiritual development was to establish a special room “for quiet prayer, meditation and listening.” Freedom Road Church members cleaned, painted and furnished an unused space to create SJA’s own "upper room." This serves students and teachers, plus Moms In Touch, who pray for the school.
The objective for the curriculum is “to be perceived as THE option for private education in Spokane by over-equipping students for their next level of education and teaching them to be thinkers in a progressive and challenging environment.”
Goals include “a strong emphasis on math” and creating an “academic mentoring program for older students to tutor younger students.”
Andrew Grussling (left) and Hanna Smith, seventh- and eighth-graders, present SJA's Student Bill of Rights to Bill Lenz, student body president.
