Columbia Union Conference Academy Students Gather For SALT

More than 150 student leaders and staff from many of Columbia Union’s academies—including Blue Mountain Academy and Waldwick Adventist School—gathered this fall at Potomac Conference’s Camp Blue Ridge in Montebello, Va., for Columbia Union’s Spiritual Academy Leadership Training.

“Our goal is not only leadership training, but also that it is always first and foremost centered in the spiritual training aspect,” says Jacqueline Messenger, associate director for secondary education at the Columbia Union Conference and event coordinator. “We need to have our students be preparing to not only lead in their schools and lead in their college years, but then come back home to us and be leaders in their churches.”

Students not only mingled with peers from other academies, but worked with others who hold the same respective leadership positions.

“This trip is just a reminder to me that the Adventist community [is made up of] people who really love God, and being in that environment with the same people of similar ages as me, I’m inspired by them to do better each day,” said Gianna Tetelepta, sophomore class president at New Jersey Conference’s Lake Nelson Adventist Academy.