“My Hopes for the Place Are High: Building on WAU's Legacy While Shaping Its Future”

Story by Cheryl Harris Kisunzu

“With gratitude I acknowledge the tender care of my heavenly Father and thank Him for the blessings that He has bestowed upon me …” “

As I look at the situation and the prospects here, I am filled with hope and courage” (Letters and Manuscripts, vol. 19).

These are the words of Ellen G. White when she arrived to Takoma Park, Md., in 1904.

White expressed these sentiments after identifying property for a school and sanitarium. Today, I, too, express these same sentiments. Through the role of interim president, I accept this sacred opportunity to provide continued service to the students and constituents of what we now call Washington Adventist University (WAU).

During WAU’s May 2026 Constituency Meeting, when it was shared that, during the past quinquennium, more than 1,000 students have exited through the university’s “Gateway to Service,” my heart, like White’s, was also filled with hope and courage. Regardless of the degree or credential, it was with deepening gratitude that I recognize that each graduate is distinctively chosen and appointed for “such a time as this” (Esther 4:14).

White’s 1904 letter concludes by declaring, “My hopes for this place are high. The country for miles and miles around Washington is to be worked from here. I am so thankful that our work is to be established in this place. Were Christ upon the ground, He would say: ‘Lift up your eyes and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.’ We have work to do in leading precious souls onward step by step.”

Therefore, as we anticipate our 2026–2027 academic year, more than ever, with prayerful anticipation and great joy, we move forward with hope and courage. Through the rigor and relevance of the university’s Vision 2030 initiatives and strategic plan, our Lord will prosper the lives entrusted to our care in ways that will exceed anything that we can ask or imagine (Eph. 3:18–20).

This is your university — Washington Adventist University!