David Moczarski was doing everything right. His ladder was anchored as he climbed with a drill in one hand. A non-believer, Moczarski was framing the new Rogers Adventist School when, in a freak accident, he fell head-first to the concrete floor 18 feet below. The back of his skull was crushed.
As he lay unconscious in intensive care, there was little hope that he would survive, let alone continue a functional life. Yet less than a month later, he was walking around the building site, asking intelligent questions of his fellow workers.
The Rogers students and faculty had sent many cards to Moczarski and prayers to God on his behalf. His recovery was miraculous. And the concrete floor is now covered in students' handwritten verses of thanksgiving.
Earlier in the year, the same children had offered similar prayers for Teri Kuhlman, mother of classmate Spencer, wife of Curtis, friend and teacher to many Walla Walla College students, but she did not survive her cancer. That left behind heartrending questions for the students.
In the Adventist school environment of faith and hope, students and teachers can talk about such paradoxes. Why do things work the way they do? What can we absolutely count on God to do for us? Where is He when we hurt?
An Adventist school is more than a public school with a Bible class tacked on. A positive world view including faith permeates all discussion, laughter and discipline. Life is full of questions and wonder, and that wonder finds healthy nurture in an Adventist school.
When its current facility was completed in 1952, Clara E. Rogers Elementary School was named for a favored Walla Walla College employee. Looking ahead to moving into a new building not on college property, school constituents have changed and shortened the name to Rogers Adventist School.
The almost-completed Rogers Adventist School in College Place, Wash.
