Our Home!

CORRALES, N.M. – Last year when I arrived at Sandia View Academy (SVA) as principal, it didn’t look like a typical high school. There were two buildings: one, a church fellowship hall; tan-brown and shaped like a house with a gable roof and small windows, three classrooms, a kitchen, an office and a central lobby. The other, a portable unit strategically placed on the Corrales Seventh-day Adventist Church’s parking lot occupying eight parking spaces.

The fellowship hall and modular building served as home for the SVA Knights for the past nine years, while decisions were made about building a brand-new academy. Last summer, renovations to the old gym began and in just slightly over 100 days, SVA was back home! SVA has the Texico Conference, Paul Chavez and family and Geoffrey McMahon to thank for their generous investments of financial resources and leadership in moving us back home.

Our “new-old” campus comes with many memories from former students who attended the old campus. Today, current students look forward to making new memories. God is at work and is doing great things We are here in New Mexico to Educate for Eternity!

Brianna Chavez is a senior at SVA, and shares her excitement for the new facilities: “I’m a senior at Sandia View Academy. I am a four-year student and I attended SVA when the school was down by the church. To be honest, it didn’t have much appeal because it was in a church fellowship hall. I thought we were never going to move out of the old building. I think I can speak for most of the students when I say that we wanted a change. Last year, God heard our request. We got a new principal, and thanks to all the volunteers and donors, we now have our old gym back, new classrooms and plans for a new Sandia View Academy campus on the horizon.

“Now that we are on the ‘new-old’ campus, the seniors are enjoying it as we spend our last year together. The underclassmen are also enjoying it and we are happy to leave them in this ‘new-old’ school that is a fun and spiritual place.”

Many thanks to Corrales Seventh-day Adventist Church for sharing their space and supporting local students and staff. We were blessed by your patience and generosity!

By Chanda C. Castañeda