November 10, 2022

Giving Back to the Community, Zoo Trips, and Reading Buddies!

Today we bring you stories from Escondido Adventist Academy and El Cajon Christian School. Escondido students had the opportunity to serve their community in various ways and the National Merit Scholarship Program gave one student a special honor. El Cajon enjoyed visiting the world-renowned San Diego Zoo and engaging in their newly implemented program – DEAR Reading Buddies. Both stories shed light on the advantages that an Adventist education can provide!

Escondido Adventist Academy

Community Give Back Day

On October 14, under the leadership of the Home & School Organization, staff and students in grades K-12 participated in Community Give Back Day and provided various services to member through the community.

The activities ranged from helping sister schools in Oceanside and Murrieta to visiting care facilities and bringing music and small gifts to the residents. Students helped a couple of local schools with clean up and organization of materials. EAA Home & School provided a delicious pizza lunch to close out the day.   

While this was the first Community Give Back Day for the 2022-2023 school year, the academy plans to eventually hold four Community Give Back Days each school year.

EAA believes that their mission is the education of the head, hand, and heart. Give Back Day allows their mission to be shown to the community through acts of service.

It was a terrific way to let the community know about the Hawk Spirit at EAA.

Student Receives National Merit Honor

Athena Kabingue, a senior student, was named a Commended Student in the 2023 National Merit Scholarship Program. Commended Students are recognized for their exceptional academic promise.

Throughout the nation, Commended Students are among the top 50,000 students (top 3%-4%) who entered the 2023 competition by taking the 2021 PSAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. Commended Students are eligible for valuable scholarships to help fund tuition for college/university.

EAA is very proud of Athena and looks forward to her continued academic success. Congratulations Athena, we are all very happy and proud of your amazing dedication to your studies and future!

El Cajon Christian School

DEAR Reading Buddies

One of the biggest joys El Cajon SDA Christian School has enjoyed this year is their DEAR Reading Buddies program. DEAR stands for Drop Everything And Read. It is well known program, which many schools incorporate. This is Escondido’s first year with DEAR, as new teachers Wendy Hidalgo and Michelle Mckinstry implemented it at the start of this school year.

Every Friday morning the upper grade students visit Ms. Hidalgo’s colorful and inviting classroom and read with their Grade K-3 partners. This not only provides students important academic development but also helps the older students mentor the younger ones and has built a great community spirit on campus.

San Diego Zoo Visit

One of the great advantages of having a school in El Cajon is being near the world-renowned San Diego Zoo. The school took advantage of a free entry promotion for kids in October and had a wonderful day.

Students enjoyed riding the Skyfari, taking the bus tour, playing at the newly opened Wildlife Explorer’s Basecamp. Science lessons and Bible stories came to life as students marveled at so many of God’s creatures great and small.