His name is Vasyl, and if you spend any time on the Portland Adventist Academy campus, you'll quickly learn that this title — contract janitor — tells you almost nothing about who he actually is.
Vasyl arrives as the school day winds down. His time with students and staff may be brief, but his impact runs deep. English is not his first language, yet he communicates in ways that need no translation at all.
He plants flowers around campus, and when they bloom, you might find them arranged in vases in the hallways or quietly placed on a teacher's desk. When classes celebrate different cultures with food, Vasyl shows up with homemade Ukrainian dishes he made himself. He learns students' names. When students write him Christmas cards every year, he treasures every single one. However, the most extraordinary thing about Vasyl is his story.
He grew up in Ukraine under communist rule, where owning a Bible was illegal, so his family memorized scripture instead. They hand-copied verses and chapters to share with others. Their faith was not something they kept private — it was something they lived openly, even when it cost them. Some family members were sent to work camps as punishment for sharing Christ.
Vasyl carries those stories with him, and over the years, he has shared his testimony through chapel and with history classes at PAA, giving students a living, breathing connection to faith under fire. That faith shows up in everything he does here.
He writes cards by hand in careful, meticulous English, filled with Bible verses and words of encouragement for students and staff he can see are struggling. He prays for them individually in his own personal worship time. He is always the first to notice when someone's burden is heavy and the first to do something about it. Whether that means rolling up his sleeves to help or simply showing up with fresh-baked bread, Vasyl finds a way.
At every important PAA event, without fail, you will find him there — concerts, graduations, celebrations of every kind. He comes dressed formally, always making his way to the very back of the room, where he stands quietly and watches with so much pride. He is not there to be noticed. He is there because these students and this community matter to him, and he would not miss a moment of celebrating them.
No one is humbler or is less likely to call attention to themselves — and yet, few people at PAA have left a bigger mark.
He reminds our students that a life of faith is not about titles or platforms. It is about showing up with a servant's heart, day after day, in the everyday moments most people walk right past.
At PAA, Vasyl is our unexpected superstar. He helps our students feel known, valued and genuinely loved, which is exactly what this school is meant to be about. We are so grateful he is ours.
Loved by the students, Vasyl's janitor closet is filled with notes, cards and graduation announcements from those whose lives he's touched.
Vasyl, PAA janitor, (right) shares the school's mission, helping students feel known, valued and genuinely loved, through his everyday work.
