Convocation Vespers Starts Year Where It Matters Most

Story by Nancy Collins

The afternoon sun streams through the floor-to-ceiling glass of the Center for Worship & the Performing Arts, casting a warm, golden glow over a gathering that feels equal parts family reunion and sacred tradition. It’s early evening at Spring Valley Academy (SVA), and the campus is buzzing with a familiar, electric anticipation. Students, parents, alumni and faculty slide into the auditorium seats, filling the room with low murmurs of conversation and joyful reconnections.

The annual Convocation Vespers is officially underway, marking the sacred opening chord of the 2026–27 school year.

There is a unique heartbeat to this specific Friday night tradition. Far from a routine school assembly, Convocation Vespers acts as the spiritual anchor for the SVA community. It is a moment carved out of a busy back-to-school season to pause, breathe and collectively align the heart of the school with its higher purpose.

The evening displays a vibrant tapestry of student-led devotion. Up on stage, SVA’s traditional jazz band—under the spirited baton of Music Director Don Huff—sets a joyful, upbeat tone, filling the hall with crisp brass dynamics and soulful rhythms. Student presentation speakers step up to the microphone sharing reflections and introducing the spiritual theme that will guide classroom discussions, chapel programs and daily campus life throughout the coming year. Special musical numbers, performed by talented student vocalists and instrumentalists, invite the congregation into moments of quiet contemplation.

Yet, the true emotional core of the evening happens off the stage.

Guided by school Chaplain Joel Greve, the service transitions into a dedicated prayer walk and a focused time of blessing. In an atmosphere steeped in gratitude, the SVA community turns its attention outward and upward. Parents and students extend a hand of support and offer heartfelt prayers over the administrators, teachers and staff who will lead, mentor and care for SVA’s young people in the months ahead.

It is a striking visual: an entire school family surrounding its educators, blanketing the new academic year in faith and unity. As the final notes of music fade and families linger in the lobby to talk, the message of the night remains clear. Before the textbooks open, the homework accumulates and the athletic schedules take over, SVA chooses to start where it matters most—worshipping together.