Fraser Valley Adventist Academy (known as FVAA) is an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

school A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes compuls ...

located in Aldergrove,

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, ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, that offers Kindergarten through Grade 12 education from a single campus. The school is a part of the

Seventh-day Adventist The Seventh-day Adventist Church is an Adventism, Adventist Protestantism, Protestant Christian denomination which is distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the Names of the days of the week#Numbered days of the week, seventh day of the ...

school system, the second largest Christian school system in the world.

History

FVAA traces its roots back to a school that was founded by the Langley Seventh-day Adventist church, in the late 1940s. This original school operated as a K-9 school, and employed two teachers. This school was one of many small Adventist schools in the area. In the late 60s, five area Adventist churches--

Langley Langley may refer to: People * Langley (surname), a common English surname, including a list of notable people with the name * Dawn Langley Simmons (1922–2000), English author and biographer * Elizabeth Langley (born 1933), Canadian perfor ...

, Aldergrove,

Mission Mission (from Latin ''missio'' "the act of sending out") may refer to: Organised activities Religion *Christian mission, an organized effort to spread Christianity *Mission (LDS Church), an administrative area of The Church of Jesus Christ of ...

Chilliwack Chilliwack ( )( hur, Ts'elxwéyeqw) is a city in the province of British Columbia, Canada. Chilliwack is surrounded by mountains and home to recreational areas such as Cultus Lake and Chilliwack Lake Provincial Parks. There are numerous outdoor ...

, and White Rock—decided that it would be best if they merged their schools and created one large school to serve the entire

Fraser Valley The Fraser Valley is a geographical region in southwestern British Columbia, Canada and northwestern Washington State. It starts just west of Hope in a narrow valley encompassing the Fraser River and ends at the Pacific Ocean stretching from the ...

region. A property was purchased, just north of Aldergrove, and construction began on the new school building. The school was named Fraser Valley Adventist Academy. The first classes met in September 1971, before the school building was completed. The first year, grades K-10 were offered, and in 1974, grades 11 and 12 were added, making the school a full K-12 academy. Several more expansions were added to the facility shortly afterwards: first a

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 ...

and office building; then another classroom building was added to the back of the gym; and then in the early 90s, a new high school wing was built. Enrollment has fluctuated between 200-300 students throughout the school's history.

Student Body

Students are generally drawn from Surrey, BC east to Chilliwack, BC, on both sides of the

Fraser River The Fraser River is the longest river within British Columbia, Canada, rising at Fraser Pass near Blackrock Mountain in the Rocky Mountains and flowing for , into the Strait of Georgia just south of the City of Vancouver. The river's annual d ...

including Langley, Abbotsford, Mission, Maple Ridge and from communities in

Whatcom County Whatcom County is a county located in the northwestern corner of the U.S. state of Washington, bordered by the Canadian Lower Mainland (the Metro Vancouver and Fraser Valley Regional Districts of British Columbia) to the north, Okanogan Cou ...

Washington state Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first U.S. president—the state was formed from the western part of the Washington ...

. FVAA accepts

international student International students, or foreign students, are students who undertake all or part of their tertiary education in a country other than their own and move to that country for the purpose of studying. In 2019, there were over 6 million internati ...

s each year. Enrollment for the 2014-2015 year was 206 students in grades K - 12 and included 28 international students from

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Academics

FVAA is accredited by the

Ministry of Education, and by the Board of Regents of the

General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists The General Conference Corporation of Seventh-day Adventists is the governing organization of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Its headquarters is located in Silver Spring, Maryland and oversees the church in directing its various divisions and ...

. The school teaches the

curriculum In education, a curriculum (; : curricula or curriculums) is broadly defined as the totality of student experiences that occur in the educational process. The term often refers specifically to a planned sequence of instruction, or to a view ...

established by the British Columbia Ministry of Education, and also follows the curriculum established by the

North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists The North American Division (NAD) of Seventh-day Adventists is a sub-entity of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, which oversees the Church's work in the United States, Canada, French possessions of St. Pierre and Miquelon, the Bri ...

for its religion courses. Graduates of FVAA receive the Dogwood Diploma when they complete Grade 12. The school employs 15 teachers and 11 staff, maintaining a 16:1 student to teacher ratio. Subjects offered include english, math, biology, chemistry, physics, socials, physical education, and music, as well as numerous electives. The school is owned and operated by the British Columbia Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.

Transportation

FVAA contracts with''Valley Student Transportation Association (or VSTA) for transportation of students to and from school. These school buses pick up students in Surrey, Langley, Aldergrove, and Abbotsford, and are responsible for bringing them to school. VSTA also provides transportation for school field trips.

Extracurriculars

The FVAA Royals are a member of the Greater Vancouver Independent Schools Athletic Association, competing in boys and girls

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

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

. FVAA is also a member of the Canadian Adventist Schools Athletics association, competing in

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 ...

and volleyball. The Royals also regularly compete in 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 ...

and

Walla Walla University Walla Walla University is a private Adventist university in College Place, Washington. The university has five campuses throughout the Pacific Northwest. It was founded in 1892 and is affiliated with the Seventh-day Adventist Church. The uni ...

, in soccer, volleyball, and basketball. The current athletic director is Kyle Kay. Fraser Valley has a

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 ...

program consisting of a senior

band Band or BAND may refer to: Places *Bánd, a village in Hungary *Band, Iran, a village in Urmia County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran *Band, Mureș, a commune in Romania * Band-e Majid Khan, a village in Bukan County, West Azerbaijan Province, I ...

and

choir A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which ...

, and various bands, choirs, and an

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...

for younger students. High school students go on a music tour every other year. The current music director is Jean Bay. FVAA goes on a

mission trip A short-term mission (STM) is the mobilization of a Christian missionary for a short period of time ranging from days to a year; many short-term missions are called mission trips. The short-term missionary is a fairly recent innovation in the glob ...

every other year, on years in which there is no music tour. The most recent mission trip was to

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 ...

, in March 2017, during which FVAA students helped build a school near Santa Elena, held a

Vacation Bible School Vacation Bible School (VBS) is a religious term usually used to represent a week long event in the summer. History The origins of Vacation Bible School can be traced back to Hopedale, Illinois in 1894. Sunday school teacher D. T. Miles, who also ...

, and hosted a daily

radio program A radio program, radio programme, or radio show is a segment of content intended for broadcast on radio. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series. A single program in a series is called an episode. Radio networ ...

on Faith FM.

References