Columbia Adventist Academy (CAA) is well into a busy year, and our enrollment stands at 117, up 10 students from where we ended last year, for which we are thankful. We are also thankful for our three "new" staff members, who are coming back to our campus after being students or teachers previously, making this a homecoming of sorts.
Marien Vera is our Spanish teacher and yearbook sponsor. She is a graduate of Walla Walla University where she earned her degree in Spanish and secondary education. She returns to CAA after five years. She taught here from 1996–2002. During the last five years, she went back to school at the Art Institute of Portland where she received an art endorsement for her Washington certification. She also had two children during that time, and taught pre-K through eighth grade Spanish at Our Lady of Lourdes in Vancouver. She lives in a 1920s home, which she enjoys refurbishing. Vera and her husband, Cameron, have two children, Christian and Adrian.
Jay Pierce is our new athletic director and a junior class sponsor. Pierce graduated from Meadow Glade Elementary School in 1984 and CAA in 1988. His wife, Nichole, is a 1999 CAA graduate. They have two children, Logan and Luke. Jay has been teaching elementary PE in Yacolt, Wash., for the last five years. Of his free time, Jay says, "When I had it, I would golf and fish. Now almost all of my time is spent playing with and reading to my kids." Of course, this is perfectly all right with him!
CJ Anderson has returned to CAA (after graduating with the class of 2002) as our taskforce marketing director. He graduated from Walla Walla University last June. He has served as an intern with the Washington State Senate and tried his hand at managing political campaigns. CJ is enjoying spending time at CAA with his brothers, Matt and Micah, who are seniors. The most visible thing CJ has accomplished here is to breathe new life into the school's website.
We are thankful to have all three of these talented, energetic people as part of our Kodiak family.
CJ Anderson, taskforce marketing director (Kight Photography)
Marien Vera, Spanish teacher and yearbook sponsor (Kight Photography)
Jay Pierce, athletic director (Kight Photography)
