Upper Columbia Academy (UCA) is a 9-12

boarding Boarding may refer to: *Boarding, used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals as in a: ** Boarding house **Boarding school *Boarding (horses) (also known as a livery yard, livery stable, or boarding stable), is a stable where ho ...

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 ...

located in

Spangle, Washington Spangle is a city in Spokane County, Washington, United States. The population was 278 at the 2010 census. The name comes from William Spangle, an early pioneer. History Spangle was first settled in 1872 by William Spangle. Later that same year ...

, about 20 miles (32 km) south of Spokane. It is owned and operated by 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 ...

. It is a part of the Seventh-day Adventist education system, the world's second largest Christian school system.

History

Upper Columbia Academy's predecessor was Yakima Valley Academy. That original school closed in 1945 due to lack of space and physical plant problems - walls were held together by metal cables mounted on both sides of the rooms. The school had to find a bigger place and Pastor Mote was empowered by the church leadership to spend no more than $100,000 for a school. Pastor Mote came to the auction for the old poor farm in Spangle, but the minimum opening bid was over his limit. He told the auctioneer that he couldn't bid, so minimum opening bid was lowered to $100,000. Pastor Mote's was the only bid and the property was purchased, along with 15 hogs that they sold for $1500 to provide operating capital for the first year of school.

Athletics

Upper Columbia Academy has six varsity sports teams. Men's Soccer, women's volleyball, men's and woman's basketball, and men's and woman's golf. Men's soccer has experienced some success placing 4th at the 2017 Walla Walla University fall classic tournament, and finishing 2nd at the Union college invitational. In 2018, the soccer team made it to the championship game at Fall Classic and the 3rd place game at the Union College Invitational. The men's Basketball team has been consistently good, boasting a positive win to loss ratio. At the 2018 Walla Walla University friendship tournament, the men's basketball team took 1st, never going down at any point throughout the entire tournament. In Golf, both Blake Johnson and Evan Pierce made the 2018 state tournament.

Academics

Upper Columbia Academy graduated 82 seniors at the end of the 2005-2006 school year. About 275 students attended UCA in 2005-2006. During this notable school year, UCA won the prestigious Academy Award of Excellence for being the top high school in the United States out of some 100 full-program Adventist high schools (citation: http://www.alumniawards.com/awards-grants/academy-awards). The current enrollment (2009–10) is 265 with a senior class of about 90.

Spiritual aspects

All students take religion classes each year that they are enrolled. These classes cover topics in

biblical 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 ...

history and

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 ...

and

denominational A religious denomination is a subgroup within a religion that operates under a common name and tradition among other activities. The term refers to the various Christian denominations (for example, Eastern Orthodox, Catholic, and the many variet ...

doctrines. Instructors in other disciplines also begin each class period with prayer or a short devotional thought, many which encourage student input. Weekly, the entire student body gathers together in the auditorium for an hour-long chapel service. Outside the classrooms there is year-round spiritually oriented programming that relies on student involvement.

Student life

Students at UCA have jobs, attend classes, and participate in community service. Elective classes from

CAD Computer-aided design (CAD) is the use of computers (or ) to aid in the creation, modification, analysis, or optimization of a design. This software is used to increase the productivity of the designer, improve the quality of design, improve co ...

to metalworking to desktop publishing are available, as well as extracurricular activities—snow skiing in winter, camping, town trips, banquets, drama club, science club, etc.

External support

Upper Columbia Academy is owned and operated by the Upper Columbia Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. Students who attend UCA have access to scholarships from the UCA Foundation, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization founded for the benefit of providing financial support to students.

Accreditation

* The State of Washington * The Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges * Accrediting Association of Seventh-day Adventist Schools, Colleges, and Universities, Inc.

References

External links

* {{authority control High schools in Spokane County, Washington Private high schools in Washington (state) Adventist secondary schools in the United States 1945 establishments in Washington (state)