Cariboo Adventist Academy is an independent K-12 Christian school located in

Williams Lake, British Columbia Williams Lake is a city in the Central Interior of British Columbia, in the central part of a region known as the Cariboo. Williams Lake is the second largest city, by population of metropolitan area, in the Cariboo after neighbouring Quesnel. ...

, Canada, that is affiliated with the

Seventh-day Adventist Church The Seventh-day Adventist Church is an Adventist Protestant Christian denomination which is distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the seventh day of the week in the Christian (Gregorian) and the Hebrew calendar, as the Sabbath, and ...

. The school serves the

Cariboo The Cariboo is an intermontane region of British Columbia, Canada, centered on a plateau stretching from Fraser Canyon to the Cariboo Mountains. The name is a reference to the caribou that were once abundant in the region. The Cariboo was the ...

region of

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

History

In the 1950s, three Seventh-day Adventists opened two logging operations in the Cariboo region of British Columbia, drawing Adventist loggers and mill workers to the area. One-room schools were started in various logging camps around Williams Lake. These schools moved from camp to camp with workers and their families, most of whom were Adventist. A Seventh-day Adventist Church opened in 1956 in Williams Lake, including a one-room Adventist school in the church building. In 1958, a school building was constructed in town on the corner of 7th and Pinchbeck, with one classroom being used. Classes were offered there for the 1959-60 school year and it opened permanently in 1961. The school added a classroom in 1962. In 1968, a third classroom was opened. The school expanded to four classrooms in the following year with the addition of a grade 10 program. The school soon ran out of room and the school moved to a property located on the south shore of Williams Lake. The new school opened on January 31, 1971 with the name, Cariboo Adventist Junior Academy. The school was initially designed as an open school concept without walls. The school continued to expand quickly: in 1977, an addition was completed which added a basement

gym A gymnasium, also known as a gym, is an indoor location for athletics. The word is derived from the ancient Greek term " gymnasium". They are commonly found in athletic and fitness centres, and as activity and learning spaces in educational ins ...

, a

woodworking Woodworking is the skill of making items from wood, and includes cabinet making (cabinetry and furniture), wood carving, woodworking joints, joinery, carpentry, and woodturning. History Along with Rock (geology), stone, clay and animal parts, ...

shop, and a

home economics Home economics, also called domestic science or family and consumer sciences, is a subject concerning human development, personal and family finances, consumer issues, housing and interior design, nutrition and food preparation, as well as texti ...

room. In 1979, the school completed another expansion to grade 12, at which point the school was renamed Cariboo Adventist Academy. Around this time, the school gym was converted into an industrial arts centre. In 1987, another school building was opened, which contained a new gymnasium, a

science lab A laboratory (; ; colloquially lab) is a facility that provides controlled conditions in which scientific or technological research, experiments, and measurement may be performed. Laboratory services are provided in a variety of settings: physicia ...

, and classrooms for

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

. Cariboo Adventist Academy has continued to operate in these same school buildings with enrolment spanning between 80-160 students over the years.

Academics

Cariboo Adventist Academy follows the curriculum established by the British Columbia Ministry of Education, and upon completion of Grade 12, its graduates receive the Dogwood Diploma which is awarded by the same. The school is accredited by the Board of Regents of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, and is classified as a Group 1 school under the BC Independent Schools Act. Cariboo Adventist Academy is a member of the Federation of Independent School Associations in British Columbia, belonging to the Associate Member Group. The school is divided into an elementary division which runs from grades K-7, and a high school division which runs from grades 8-12. CAA offers courses in

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

Mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

Science Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...

Biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary i ...

Chemistry Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions ...

Physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

, Socials,

Physical education Physical education, often abbreviated to Phys Ed. or P.E., is a subject taught in schools around the world. It is usually taught during primary and secondary education, and encourages psychomotor learning by using a play and movement explorati ...

, French, and

Music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...

. Students have the option to take elective courses offered through West Coast Adventist School or through GROW.

Athletics

CAA is a member of the Canadian Adventist School Athletics association and competes in

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

and

flag football Flag football is a variant of American football where, instead of tackling players to the ground, the defensive team must remove a flag or flag belt from the ball carrier ("deflagging") to end a Down (gridiron football), down. The sport has a ...

tournaments organized by CASA each year in

Burnaby Burnaby is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada. Located in the centre of the Burrard Peninsula, it neighbours the City of Vancouver to the west, the District of North Vancouver across the confluence of the Burrard I ...

, Abbotsford, and

Kelowna Kelowna ( ) is a city on Okanagan Lake in the Okanagan Valley in the southern interior of British Columbia, Canada. It serves as the head office of the Regional District of Central Okanagan. The name Kelowna derives from the Okanagan word ''ki� ...

. Cariboo also participates in volleyball tournaments hosted by

Burman University Burman University is an independent publicly funded university located in Lacombe, Alberta, Canada. It is sponsored by the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Canada. It is a part of the Seventh-day Adventist education system, the world's second lar ...

. At the junior level, CAA also competes locally in volleyball, floor hockey, and basketball, hosting the annual tournaments for volleyball and basketball. Historically, CAA also had a

gymnastics Gymnastics is a type of sport that includes physical exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, dedication and endurance. The movements involved in gymnastics contribute to the development of the arms, legs, shou ...

team which travelled around the province putting on gymnastics routines while promoting a drug-free lifestyle.

Extracurriculars

In the 1970s, the younger students at CAA participated in a choir known as the Royalaires, that would tour around the Cariboo region. By the 1980s, CAA had an award-winning band and choir that would go on frequent tours around British Columbia and Alberta. Today, the band program is still active. Students at Cariboo Adventist Academy have also participated in mission trips. In the school's first mission trip in 1979, students went to

Corozal Town Corozal Town is a town in Belize, capital of Corozal District. Corozal Town is located about 84 miles north of Belize City, and 9 miles from the border with Mexico. The population of Corozal Town, according to the main results of the 2010 census ...

Belize Belize (; bzj, Bileez) is a Caribbean and Central American country on the northeastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a wate ...

, where they built a service building at a church school. Later in the 1990s, CAA students went on multiple mission trips to

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, where they helped build an

orphanage An orphanage is a Residential education, residential institution, total institution or group home, devoted to the Childcare, care of orphans and children who, for various reasons, cannot be cared for by their biological families. The parent ...

References

External links