The AIIAS Academy has been, for the longest time, housed in classrooms located at the AIIAS Gymnasium. On November 15, 2019, AIIAS celebrated the ground-breaking ceremony for the new AIIAS Academy Building, a two-storey building that was an urgent need for expansion.
Attending the ceremony were guests from the Seventh-day Adventist Church world headquarters, Southern Asia-Pacific Division, and the community of young scholars from the AIIAS Academy.
In attendance were members of the Building Committee which was introduced by Dr. Ginger Ketting-Weller, AIIAS president. She also introduced architect Angusto dela Paz, who designed the building and who will be directly supervising its construction.
Building plans were described by Dr. Jim C Weller, AIIAS Academy principal. He talked about the facilities and the rooms that were most needed by the academy. The new academy building is said to have classrooms that can accommodate up to 30 students, laboratories, a common area, rooms for computers, language study, home education, and a library. Cheers from the crowd of academy students were heard as each room was mentioned.
Two books were buried to symbolize the foundation of the building plans. The Bible opened to Psalm 127:3 which states, “Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it”, and a paraphrased quote from the book of Education by Ellen G White that was opened to page 30, “In the highest sense, the work of education and the work of redemption are one, for in education, as in redemption ‘no other foundation can be laid than has already been laid, that is, Jesus Christ.”
Through donations given by the generous donors from the Seventh-day Adventist Church world headquarters, Northern Asia-Pacific Division, Southern Asia-Pacific Division, and other friends and families from AIIAS, the construction of the academy building will finally begin. The construction is estimated to finish in the last quarter of 2020.
Groundbreaking Ceremony Participants
(Above: Left to Right)
Wesley Szamko, Director, Adventist Mission, Southern Asia-Pacific Division representative
Bhekutando Sibanda, Student Association president, AIIAS Academy
Stephen Guptill, EdD, former president, AIIAS
Samuel Gaikwad, PhD, AIIAS Academy Board chair
Jim C Weller, PhD, AIIAS Academy principal
Ginger Ketting-Weller, PhD, AIIAS president
Ella S. Simmons, EdD, AIIAS Board chair
Sung Hyun Yoon, AIIAS Academy Home and School Association Leader
Angusto dela Paz, Architect
(Front row) AIIAS Kindergarten Students
