The Campion Academy Music Department put on a performance for the visiting Music Festival participants. The concert featured the Mountain Echoes Choral, Koinonia, Teh Campanas, and the Campion Academy Orchestra.
Visitors had the chance to explore a ancient Jerusalem-style marketplace staffed by volunteer students and church members. Ekenna Nwankwo, senior, played the role of Jesus in the first and last English versions of the drama on Sabbath. Eddie Camacho, Class of 2020, played the role of Jesus for two versions in Spanish and one in English. Campion Academy, Campion Church and HMS Richards School worked together to produce the annual Easter pageant, “Journey to the Cross”. The interactive event drew over 800 visitors and had more than 100 volunteers for the five different showings in both English and Spanish on Sabbath, March 30.
The audience started the program at the church watching a skit entitled, “Call the Man”, in which each actor demonstrated different problems in the world such as: abuse, war, violence, political strife, teen pregnancy, suicide, and death. In the end, Jesus is depicted comforting and helping each person. Lillian Resz, a drama student in the skit, shared, “We can try to solve the problems of the world, but we can’t do it alone. We must call on Jesus to help us and that's exactly what the presentation was about. Jesus came to solve each and every problem and make peace. This can happen in our everyday life as well.” Then the group was led to the HMS gymnasium which was set up as a market during Jesus’ era. People received a few coins that could be used to buy goods at the village. Students from Campion Academy helped in the village with their Bible classes. The next event was the disciples calling everybody to follow them in Jesus’ triumphal entry, ending at the Campion gymnasium where the audience watched an emotional act about the final events of Jesus’s life here on Earth. The play depicted the last supper, Gethsemane, the trial, death, and finally the resurrection of Jesus. Ekenna Nwankwo, senior, who played the role of Jesus, commented, “It was a really great experience, especially getting to do it twice last year and this year. It opened my eyes to what Jesus really went through.” Eddie Camacho, alumni from 2020 portrayed Jesus during the Spanish versions of the play, and many bilingual Campion students also switched roles for this version. “It is important to have this option because there are several communities in the area of Spanish-speaking families,” explained Pastor Leandro Bizama, “We hope to help grow and reach their communities and having Spanish events in our programs provides a great way to do that.” The ultimate goal of the event was to help people remember Jesus’ sacrifice and understand his love for us. The interactive program was able to impact people’s lives in a meaningful way. Daneil Camas, senior, expressed, “I felt so overwhelmed with emotions that I ended up watching the play three times. I would have to say that this year’s (Journey to the Cross) was the best representation of Jesus’ sacrifice that I’ve seen.” Julia Santiago, Student News Team The Campion Ski Club spent four days enjoying God’s nature in the mountains on their annual four-day trip to Copper Mountain.
They started their trip off by holding a church service at the Leadville church, where they shared praise music, testimonies, and experiences from the recent mission trip with the local church members. Brayden Marroquin, junior, expressed, “It was fun being able to share our experiences of going to the Dominican Republic and being missionaries there. I could tell that our testimonies really spoke to them.” The students were able to fellowship with the members of the church over potluck. After church, the students went tubing at Leadville’s Dutch Henry Sledding Hill. A group of the students made it their goal to send a tuber over the top of the track, but despite multiple attempts and recalculations, they were unsuccessful. For the next three days the group went skiing and snowboarding at Copper Mountain. Each person had a different skill level: some had been skiing and snowboarding since they were small and others were just starting. “I really liked growing closer to everyone on the ski trip. I liked how everyone was willing to help me when I was struggling on my first day,” Yolanda Han shared. During this trip there were several friends that decided that they wanted to switch gear and try something new. Addison Gann, sophomore, shared, “My favorite part of ski trip was trying skiing again. I had skied before but preferred snowboarding. It was really fun to try it again and to watch my friend try snowboarding.” Elin Sorensen, freshman, who had switched gears with Addison, agreed saying; “It was fun to try snowboarding for the first time.” In the evenings, the students were able to explore the historic town of Leadville, eat dinner together, catch up on schoolwork, and play games. On the last day, the students gathered for a group picture and went on a run all together. “My favorite part was going on a run together. It was a lot of fun and I enjoyed getting to know everyone better.” Jovanna Maldonado, senior, reflected. Vashty Segovia Santos, Student News Team Members of the Campion Church, Academy and community traveled to the Dominican Republic for a mission trip. 31 Campion students, accompanied by an additional 20 students from Thunderbird Adventist Academy, reached the Barahona community with sermon series, Vacation Bible Schools (VBS), and construction on the boy’s dormitory from March 7 to 18.
During the mornings, students leading VBS, preaching, and translating began preparing for the evening programs while the construction team mixed concrete and carried bricks to create an addition to the boy’s dormitory. Unfortunately, the construction work was unable to be completed due to funding. Moises Hernandez, senior, reflected, “I really enjoyed doing construction and I learned the importance of productivity. We would work hard, and I enjoyed working with my friends. I was sad when the construction ended, but for the remainder of the trip, I helped Claire translate for VBS which was a blessing.” Each evening, the student missionaries spread out to nine different area churches and put on evangelistic sermon series and VBS programs. The student preachers personalized ready-made sermon outlines to share our uniquely Adventist Biblical truths with the attendees, while other students worked with children in the well-attended VBS programs. Pastor Leandro Bizama, the main coordinator of the trip expressed, “I was proud of how our students grew and bonded and shared the gospel. They traveled many miles on crammed vehicles, and ministered to hundreds of people every single night.” Alexandra Cordoba, junior, shared, “There were two things I learned while preaching and translating. First, the church was on fire for God. I would ask who loved Jesus and everyone raised their hand. Second, I learned that we should be grateful for the stuff we have here in America because they don't have the basic necessities.” In addition to the work, students and sponsors from both schools were able to form a closer bond by sharing meals, going to the beach, hiking in the mountains, exploring the town, and worshiping God together. Keon Paez reflected, “I had a great time experiencing the country and it’s culture. It was so beautiful, especially the sunsets.” After seven nights of sermons and VBS programs, 24 local community members and three of the Campion students chose to get baptized on Sabbath. Sergio Enriquez, sophomore, shared why he decided to get baptized during the trip, “During the mission trip I was a translator, and I had to translate the verse Acts 22:16, ‘And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on His name.’” Sergio explained that this verse hit home saying, “I decided I should be baptized now.” Bizama furthered, “The biggest blessing of the trip was to see all the baptisms, and also how the Spirit kindled the fire of evangelism and service in our students’ hearts. A fire I believe will never be put out until Jesus returns.” Eva Resz, Student News Team Professionals from the Campion Church hosted Campion students for a job fair. The students had the opportunity to meet with people from different careers that they might want to pursue, and ask any questions they had.
Keaton Drake junior shared, “It was very interesting and helpful to get advice and knowledge from people who are experienced in the profession I’m interested in. They were very friendly and were willing to answer all my questions. It was a good experience to be able to learn from someone in the field I want to work in.” Professions like occupational therapy, graphic design, photography, law, and education were a few of the careers represented there. The professionals talked to the students about colleges and universities that they could apply to for their career track. The job fair was a great way for the students to see what the future has in store for them. “They really helped me figure out exactly what kind of job I want and how I can get there,” Max Bicknell, sophomore, expressed. Vashty Segovia Santos, Student News Team Campion’s international students had a winter retreat at the YMCA of the Rockies in Granby to experience snow sports and some of the activities that they are not used to in their countries.
As soon as they arrived, the students went to the snow tubing area and enjoyed sliding down the hill. Eriane Saraiva, senior, shared, “It was an amazing and new experience for me. It was very hard going up and down holding my tube, but I think my favorite part was snow tubing with all the Brazilians. I felt really happy at that moment.” For Sabbath, they started with a worship time with Jill Harlow, international club sponsor, sharing a message about how snow represents purity and the brightness of God in the Bible. After worship, they went snowshoeing in the mountains, where they took a lot of pictures and got to enjoy the cold but sunny weather. Yngrid Silva, junior, commented, “I loved the view of the park when we went snowshoeing. I was very cold and tired of using the snowshoes, but it was good to experience the hike and take a lot of pictures with my friends.” In the afternoon, the students practiced ice skating and had the chance to go snow tubing again. In the evening, they enjoyed playing sports and roller skating in the YMCA gym. To finish the weekend on Sunday, the students went skiing and snowboarding at Winter Park, getting to experience the adrenaline of a new sport for most of them. Nicolas Rodrigues, freshman, added, “I really loved the trip and I really had fun. I think it was a little hard to snowboard, but in the end it was kind of easy. I wasn’t used to being that cold and I’ve never worn so many jackets in my life, but I really enjoyed the international retreat.” Campion Academy currently has 20 international students from Brazil, as well as students from Democratic Republic of Congo, China, and recent immigrants from Tanzania and Mexico. Luca Lu, sophomore from China, shared, “It was my first time going to a mountain resort. It was so fun to try some snow sports and the icy world truly gave me an unforgettable memory.” Pedro Vieira, Student News Team The Men’s Club led out in the annual Iron Man event last Saturday night, with over 20 participants competing in events such as the rope climb, slam dunk contest, jousting, obstacle course and more.
As the event began Dean Dubini announced that Don Reeder, who recently retired, would be hosting the Iron Man competition giving the crowd and the competitors the extra excitement they needed for the long evening. As former Men’s Dean and Principal, Reeder has been hosting the competition since its inception. “It was so amazing to see Mr. Reeder at Iron Man. It wouldn’t be the same if he didn’t host it. Everything fell into place because without him it would’ve felt like something was missing,” expressed Damaris Lopez-Morquecho, junior. First up was the slam dunk contest that included three different heights of the basketball hoops so a variety of people could show off their dunking skills with Izuchi Nwankwo dunking the regulation 10 feet height on his first attempt. Next up was the run around campus, the obstacle course, and then the rope climb. These activities were timed and the fastest to complete the challenges got points towards their overall score. Each event pushed the competitors to new levels because of the vigorous competition. Sergio Enriquez, sophomore, reflected, “I was happy when I was able to accomplish the rope climb because I wasn’t able to last year.” A favorite event, jousting, is a high tension game with two participants each round. The objective of the joust is to push your opponent off a wood plank with a lance covered in duct tape. “The jousting is always my favorite to watch because it’s very suspenseful since you never know who will win in the end,” explained Elizabeth Shannon, senior. “Having fun with my friends was my favorite part. They were my source of motivation during the games,” shared Marc Winokan, sophomore. To wrap up Iron man the competitors came up in twos to chug as much ginger ale as possible in a short amount of time. For the boys division the winners were Toby Quillin winning 3rd place and Sergio Enriquez and Mark Winokan tied for 1st place. The girls division was close with 3rd going to Lily Resz, 2nd to Sarah Molina and 1st to Damariz Lopez-Morquecho. Every person who placed received a trophy and the 1st place winners will have their names added to the official Iron Man trophy. Eva Resz, Student News Team This past Sabbath Campion Academy, HMS Richards, and the Campion Church came together to celebrate the diversity in our community with our International Sabbath. Students from both schools started off the program by dressing up in clothes from the countries they were representing, and carrying flags from all over the world. The students greeted the church in different languages.
Afterwards the praise team presented songs that had different translations. They sang songs in English, Portuguese, Spanish, and Indonesian. Natan Fogaca shared “It was a good experience, I got to sing and praise God.” Students shared several special performances, scriptures and prayers in various different languages. Julia Santiago and Beatriz Moraes sang a special music called Alem in Portuguese. Moraes shared, “This song is important to me because it shows me that I always have someone I can trust and always do what's best for me. God showed me in this song that he is always with us, even in the storms. Believe and trust in Him that he will do what is best.” “It was beautiful to see so many countries represented throughout the church,” Euan O’Keeffe expresed, “It really painted the church as what it should be - a great unifier, unrelated to language and culture.” Vashty Segovia Santos, Student News Team This past week, Campion Academy held a Week of Worship with Wayne Morrison sharing about the unconditional love of Jesus and how He transforms us to be more like Him.
The main point of his message was to help students understand the gift of eternal life, our identity as children of God, and our transformation in Christ. Morrison gave a clear message of how God is working in our lives and that He is love. Davi Vieira, a new student this semester shared, “For my first Week of Worship at Campion, I really enjoyed taking some time away from classes and worshiping God with my friends this week. The way Morrison talked made me feel motivated and happy because we are not alone and Jesus is working in our lives. I can’t wait to have another week like that.” In addition to the speaker, the praise team introduced the theme song “Champion,” making the message more impactful to the students. Yngrid Silva, junior expressed, “I think the theme song for WOW was one of the best. It really impacted my thoughts about our salvation in Christ and I really enjoyed listening to the praise team singing it on the stage. It made me feel good and inspired by the lyrics.” Piano player for the praise team, Shawn Ferguson shared, “Honestly, this week was one of the best we’ve had as far as music, in my opinion, and I really enjoyed the message. Overall the experience was great, and I can’t wait for the next Week of Worship.” Pedro Vieira, Student News Team |
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