RichmondAcademyofSeventhdayAdventists

Richmond Academy of Seventh-day Adventists

Seventh-day Adventist schools in the United States date to the 1870’s. There are 1.1 million students enrolled in 5,600, schools, colleges, and universities in 145 countries around the world. An education department was established on all levels of the church administration system. There are 13 world divisions that operate the schools and ensure their quality. They are the second largest religious school system, surpassed only by the Catholic school system.

The Adventist educational philosophy, which emphasizes service, sensitivity to the needs of others, and active membership in the church, derives from the thought of the religion’s founder, Ellen G. White. White felt that it was the church’s mission to nurture youth and ensure that they receive a quality education. From an Adventist perspective, education should stress a relationship with Christ first and then focus on development of the whole person. Students are encouraged to commit to service, communities, and church. The curriculum for the elementary grades consists of Bible, art, computer use, language arts, and math. On the high school level the curriculum consists of religion I, religion II, religion III, mathematics, English, computer use, and art.

The Richmond Academy of Seventh-day Adventists, which is one of twenty associated academies in Virginia, was organized in 1911 and is state accredited as a private school. The philosophy of the school is to create a harmonious balance between spiritual and physical in instruction of their students. The school initially was located in the church basement and then moved several times before reaching its current location on Patterson Avenue in the 1950s. The Academy started out as a elementary school, and has served grades K-12 since 1996. Richmond Academy has a student body of 100, maintains a 14 to 1 student to teacher ratio, and is staffed by seven full-time teachers and seven part-time teachers with advanced academic degrees. The school teaches core courses and partners with local community colleges to give students more advanced academic opportunities.

Richmond Academy sponsors a program selling citrus fruit to raise money for the upkeep of the schools building. The school also participates in Food Lion and Kroger programs that donate money to the school based on customer purchases in those stores.

The Richmond Academy of Seventh-day Adventists
3809 Patterson Avenue
Richmond, VA

Sources:
www.communityschool.net/fundraisers.htm
www.nadeducation.org
www.rasda.org
Sandra Wilcox, Principal

Profile prepared by Hope L. Ireland
March, 2007

 

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