WE ARE CORALWOOD!

Student's of Coralwood Adventist Academy collected over 700 pairs of socks during "Sock-tober."

Submitted by Leidamae Muse, Principal

Team mentality unites the talents and efforts of individuals to accomplish a common goal. So much can be accomplished through the synergy of expertise. As a multi-constituent school, it is difficult to pull together a widespread, diverse community to identify under a common banner, especially with so many entities competing for allegiance. At Coralwood, we strive to rally ourselves, our families, and churches to benefit our community at large.

The Coralwood leadership team.

We recognize that we cannot ask others to join us if we ourselves are not united. In efforts to rally our troops and promote our team brand, we as a staff spend time outside of class in fellowship. On Tuesdays, our staff members drop in to gather for “Tuesdays More Merry” (themed after the book Tuesdays with Morrie) after school. In the office area, there are some snacks to munch, comfy seating to enjoy, and smiles to share every Tuesday. Our in-reach (social) committee also organizes get-togethers where we can hang out, laugh, and play together on weekends. United, we can more easily bear one another’s burdens.

District-wide prayer and soup supper.

As a school, we work together on various projects to help raise awareness, build community, and help our neighbours. For example, in October, we had Sock-tober, a sock collection campaign. Our students competed for top division in collecting the most pairs of socks. Teachers motivated their students with food and bragging rights. Our lower elementary division came out on top, but as a whole we collected over 700 pairs of socks and donated them to local missions and shelters around Edmonton.

The Coralwood in- reach (social) committee organizes get- togethers where we can hang out, laugh, and play together on weekends.

Our community is becoming more comfortable congregating here at the school for Edmonton-wide functions. A recent success was an event focused on gathering the pastors, elders, church board members, and school faculty for collective prayer. Our Home & School entity organized the simple supper of various soups, salads, and breads for the occasion. All the churches were encouraged to suspend their individual Wednesday night prayer services to corporately come together to pray for Edmonton at large, our school, and upcoming 2020 Edmonton-wide evangelistic series. Our gym filled with the leaders of the churches, and we had a blessing-filled time as we joined in prayer for the work God has ahead of us. We hope to continue to build on what we have started. We hope our families and constituent churches recognize that they are just as much Coralwood as are our student and staff population. Ultimately, Coralwood is just a subset of the larger family of God. To drive this ultimate point home, we have reserved and been promoting the second Tuesday after we arrive in heaven, beside the tree of life, as our heavenly Coralwood reunion. We hope to celebrate together with our team, past and present, how God had chosen us to be Coralwood.