Sunnydale Adventist Academy celebrated 80 years of God’s leading and shared its vision for the future at a vision meeting held Sunday, Oct. 4, on the Centralia, Missouri, campus during alumni weekend. Conference and academy leaders walked through the school’s history, mission, and plans, including how the academy is funded. Alumni, church members, and friends attended in person, and many others watched online.

Iowa-Missouri Conference President Lee Rochholz said leadership did not want to wait until circumstances became dire. Last year, two academies elsewhere in the division voted to close through constituency meetings.

“Our purpose here is to communicate and come together and do everything that we can to keep this academy going until the laws of the land bring it to an end,” Rochholz said.

The Financial Picture

Bette Patterson, Sunnydale’s vice president of finance, said the academy costs about $3.8 million a year to operate. With roughly 150 students, that is about $26,000 per student. On average, that cost is covered by about $17,000 in tuition and fees, $5,000 in conference and union funding, and $4,000 from farm and other income. Posted tuition is about $18,500 for dorm students and $12,200 for village students, which means every student is subsidized, including those whose families pay full tuition.

On average, about $8,000 of each student’s tuition, or 40 percent, must come from financial assistance. That is why this year’s goal is to raise $8,000 for each student, or $1.2 million in total. More than $500,000 has been raised or pledged so far, funding the equivalent of about 62 students. That leaves $700,000 to raise for the remaining students this year.

Asked how long the school can keep going, Rochholz was direct. “If we did absolutely nothing, absolutely nothing, we have four years,” he said.

Rochholz and academy administration went on to describe a growing fundraising plan spearheaded by new development director Elisabeth Cowan. More than $500,000 of this year’s $1.2 million goal has already been raised or pledged.

Conference Treasurer Tim Saxton noted that the conference also supports the academy each year from tithe, alongside offerings and donors.

Three Core Commitments

Staff presented the academy’s three core commitments: service as a way of life, actively sharing the gospel, and academic opportunity for all.

Principal Randy Ferguson described students serving through the school’s “life skills” work program and on A.B. Chance Community Service Day. He also recalled relief trips after Hurricane Katrina and a 2014 tornado in Washington, Illinois.

A mission presentation reported that more than 300 Sunnydale volunteers have served on 17 trips to Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Zimbabwe, and Zambia, where 109 students preached. In West Bengal, India, 15 to 16 campaigns saw well over 1,000 people baptized. This year, students plan trips to two locations in India, Guatemala, and Panama. They are also planning a North Carolina project with Maranatha and a Magabook campaign, in which students share Christian literature door to door.

Science teacher Kirk Baker highlighted dual-credit English and anatomy and physiology courses offered through Union Adventist University. Students pay just 10 percent of what the courses would cost on Union’s campus.

Testimonies of Faith

Erv Bales, who served Sunnydale for 27 years, recounted the providences that earned it the name “our miracle school.” Owner A.B. Chance had about $500,000 invested in his farm but lowered his price when he learned it would become a school. When the committee asked whether he could take $70,000, about $1.3 million in today’s dollars, he replied by telegram: “Must have that school.”

Bales also told of a misdirected phone call that produced a carload of lumber during postwar shortages. When funds ran short during construction, a man who had sold his greenhouse pledged $10,000, roughly $186,000 today, which kept workers on the job.

Bales also shared an answer to prayer from 2010, when 14 students who wanted to attend had financial needs the school could not meet. After Bales and a colleague prayed over the list one Monday morning, he collected the mail about an hour and a half later. In it was an anonymous $100,000 check designated for worthy students. Twelve of those 14 students went on to graduate from Sunnydale.

Attendees also heard from the Mugabo family. With help from Beth Chapman and the Columbia church, the family’s children received Adventist education after their father’s death.

Looking Ahead

Leaders described a five-year capital plan for dormitories and facilities, along with a “dream board” that includes a possible automotive mechanics program. Cowan is rebuilding contact with alumni and supporters.

Gifts can be made at sunnydale.org or by check. Members can also give through Adventist Giving or tithe envelopes to the SAA Operating or SAA Worthy Student funds. Saxton noted that the conference Worthy Student fund is separate and supports church school scholarships.

Rochholz opened the meeting with Matthew 8:5–10, the story of the centurion who trusted that Jesus needed only to speak the word. He urged attendees to pray with that same faith.

“I believe God has a plan to keep Sunnydale open right up until the end,” he said. “But that plan is only as effective as our willingness to listen.”

Watch the Full Meeting