News Briefs for April 8, 2016
A team from Saipan Adventist School in the Pacific island Northern Marianas Commonwealth will compete for the first time in Adventist Robotics League regional challenge event on Sunday (March 10) at Walla Walla Academy in College Place, Washington. Five students from Fifth and Sixth Grade along with their coach, Kindergarten teacher Melanie Strout, left for the United States yesterday, reported the Mariana Variety and the Saipan Tribune. The robotics event is cosponsored by the First Lego League and the School of Engineering at Walla Walla University which is affiliated with the denomination. It helps students develop skills in science, technology, engineering and math.
“Do not choose a liar for president,” Pastor Vanny Munyumbwe told Adventist young adults at an event this week in Zambia, where an election season is underway as it is in the United States. He spoke at Rusangu Secondary School in Monze and pointed out that young adults will have a strong majority among voters in the African nation. A lot of politicians will flock to villages and cities asking for votes, Munymbwe stated, “while peddling everlasting lies,” according to The Post newspaper. The lies “will have bitter consequences [and] your choices will have eternal consequences,” he said. Zambia has had problems with violence and corruption in previous elections. The vote will come August 11, 2016, about three months before the American balloting.
Some 90 teachers from the Adventist School and two other Christian schools on the Dutch Caribbean island of St. Maarten worked together Wednesday (March 6) at the DigiKidz Conference organized by the Foresee Foundation, according to the Today newspaper. The three schools are the were the first bring computer technology into classrooms in St. Maarten and the purpose of the event was to assist educators in further developing instructional technology, including 3D printers, coding, robotics and other 21st century innovations. Representatives from the private St. Maarten Academy, Milton Peters College, the Catholic schools and the government education office also joined the event this year. Clara George, vice principal of the Adventist School was one of the presenters.
What is your local church or school planning for April 16-17, the upcoming Days of Hope and Compassion in the Adventist denomination’s North American Division (NAD)? The denomination’s governing body for the NAD voted last fall to set this weekend as a special time for all congregations, elementary and secondary schools, and other institutions to do something visible and creative both in terms of sharing the gospel and demonstrating the good news about Christ’s love through community projects. Adventist Today would like to know about local projects. Please send information by Email to atoday@atoday.org and include “Days of Hope and Compassion” in the subject line.
Bob Ellis, the noted writer and political commentator in Australia who was raised an Adventist, died last week at age 73. He succumbed to cancer at his home at Palm Beach near Sydney on Sunday (March 3), reported the Australian Broadcasting Network. He was the author of two widely-read books, Goodbye Jerusalem and Goodbye Babylon. In addition to his regular blog on the Web, he was often heard on radio and television.
Sunday (April 10) Kettering College will host the eighth annual Spring Into Health 5K run/walk in Dayton, Ohio. The college is an Adventist institution connected to the Kettering Health Network of eight hospitals in the Midwest metropolitan area of nearly one million. Last year about 600 people participated and raised $10,000 for Good Neighbor House, the Adventist community action agency in the city, and scholarship funds for students in the Physician Assistant program at the college. Of the total raised, 75 percent goes to Good Neighbor House and 25 percent to the PA Student Development Fund.
