San Diego Academy

I hope my review is helpful for you to decide whether to educate your child at the San Diego Academy. Please pray about it and ask God to help you in this process.
Five children from my home were educated at the academy — Three of my children and two of my nephews. They all graduated between the years of 2000 and 2007. At present, one is about to complete a Ph. D, two are doctors and the other two are dentists. My desire is not to boast but to say that San Diego Academy played a great role in their educational advancement. I agree with others that its not a perfect place but it is a place where Christ is follower and honored. I look forward to sending my grandchildren there. God bless you and direct your thoughts as you make an informed decision

I am a mother of 6 kids ages 0 to 20 and this school has always been a place I wanted my kids to come to not just because I am a 4^th generation Adventist. The system or school is not perfect but you cannot expect that with human nature. As in any institution, public or private, there will always be easy, easy to get along with, difficult and down right ugly teachers. I believe, even the most elite schools resources cannot make a child absorb all necessary wisdom and information unless that child is receptive to it. If a child fails in a school and does not have a parent or support system at home, then the child will be prone to failure. Each family as well as their children must have a good foundation with each other and the deity they serve to know how they will face the challenges of life including schools. I have faith that The Lord puts only things we can handle. Parents should be the very first teachers and preachers in a child’s life then become the partner of the teachers at the chosen school to try to help each child be well balanced.
Having many children, I completely understand, each child is NOT the same or have the same character or personality but we must still allow them to express themselves and feel acceptance. I also understand with that, the limited teachers at The San Diego Academy may not always treat each child the same due to THEIR personality. But being an active, loving and assertive parent in the direction of progress for the child should always be priority for the parent and communicated with the teachers. We pray that the correct decision making skills has been instilled in our children so that they may represent our belief at school, with their teachers and peers. We also pray our teachers have a good relationship with their God that they teach with a loving and accepting character that Christ has shown them. But we cannot make that choice for them and can only control ours as parents.
This being said. this school can be challenging with some teachers and administration but with our consistent communication with both has helped our family with every situation we have come across amicably. From our experience, we are blessed with teachers that are more than willing to give free tutoring before and after school and have not focused on the failure of my children or their peers.
I see a huge difference in how burned out public school teachers are since we were able to return to The San Diego Academy. The ratio of students to teachers in public school we came from is a huge gap. Financially, this school can be a challenge as said in previous reviews, however, what my husband and I look at besides the belief in the staff and administrations is, is our children happy being there and has it benefit them to be there?
Financial challenges did not allow our 2 oldest sons to graduate from The San Diego Academy which saddened both my husband and I tremendously but we were still prayerful. Our oldest boys ran into many obstacles because of their personalities with some difficult, judging teachers and administration, but they still remember the good things they learned or experienced from loving friends and teachers.
Presently, we have our 3^rd son in high school, our 4^th son in fourth grade and our only daughter in first grade attending San Diego Academy who love their teachers and school. We will continue to keep our children at this school because we believe that our God is always in control including how His school will be run. (^_​^)

I have personally attended the Academy for 13 growing and amazing years at San Diego Academy. I graduated in 2013 and am now in my second year of college and cannot stress the value of the things I learned at this school. Nothing tops teaching your kids the morals, ethics, and values learned here that you don’t find at other schools. Adventists Education is one of the best decisions you can make for your child because personally, I learned lessons that I would have not been able to get at a public school. The academy is more like a family with supporting teachers who are willingly able to go out of their way to help their students. I can now say as a college student that I am grateful to all my teachers who helped me along the way to get to where I am now. From the elementary school teachers who started us off in the right direction to high school teachers who finished with us and sent us in the right direction. My English classes in College felt like cake as I breezed through them thanks to the help of my high school English teacher who constantly pushed us to see what we were truly capable of. Our high school Religion teacher has taught me more than I thought I would ever learn about what it really means to be Adventist. The school is centered around giving kids the opportunity to learn and grow in the things that really matter. The school is still growing and has come a long way. They have now added AP and Honors courses to allow students to get ahead in subjects they want to thrive in. They also find the students who are struggling and try to extend helpful options, such as tutoring or extra credit assignments that could help the student – ultimately hand work, determination, and a few extra hours will determine the total outcome of the student’s academic success. If students are having trouble at home or understanding classwork, there is always an understanding ear that will go out of there way to help the student find a solution. The school is flexible and always willing to help out parents, and as a child with a single mother, the teachers and faculty were always understanding and there to help us out. I recommend this school because I do believe that the people your grow up with influence us tremendously. I grew up with people who were willing to hold my hand at first, but then let go so I could learn to stand on my own two feet. I thank God for providing a school that pushed me to be more and didn’t give up on me.

This is a long – but thorough – review.
In 2001, my family moved to National City California from Paraguay South America. I enrolled my oldest daughter in San Diego Academy (SDA). Speaking very little English, she entered first-​grade, fearful, disoriented. Twelve years later, she graduated, after serving as President of the Student Association, with a cumulative 4.0 GPA. On the way, she served as a Page in the United States Senate, worked in numerous community programs, and choose to pursue a degree in Bio-​Math at an Adventist College.
My second daughter entered Kindergarten a year later. She followed the same path: Adventist Christian education at home and Adventist Christian education at school. In 11^th grade she decided that SDA was not for her. Today she is thriving in a Homeschooling program. Although we would have preferred for her to graduate from SDA – where she also thrived academically – we found no need to mask this under the cover of bashing the Academy.
Today our youngest child is enrolled in SDA, he is also thriving. Education begins at home – teachers are merely my partners. I strive to ensure that my «partners» teach/​reinforce lessons taught at home.
Here are some of the worst kept «secrets» for ensuring your success or deciding if SDA is right for you.
1. Adventist Education teaches Adventist Christian values: SDA is part of «Adventist Education» system, the largest protestant Christian education system in the world. Adventist values are Bible based. (What do Adventist believe?
)
2. San Diego Academy’s primary focus is preparing your child for heaven: If you were to ask any SDA teacher, «What do you feel is more important, Heaven or Harvard?» I’m confident the answer will be unanimous: Heaven. While many SDA graduates have gone on to attend prestigious colleges outside of the Adventist Education system, elite college acceptance simply is not the goal. Eternal acceptance is the goal.
3. You have a voice. Do a Unilocal search of «Schools» in your neighborhood. Most of the comments are positive, once in a while, you’ll find a scathing criticism – usually anonymous, often by a one-​time Unilocaler. Perhaps the few that resort to Unilocal feel disenfranchised, frustrated or simply don’t understand San Diego Academy is part of a much larger organization. Not only is the Adventist Education system – of which San Diego is a part – highly research and recognized (See The Blue Print trailer
), the San Diego Academy also receives third-​party Accreditation through the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (
).
4. Not cheap. Thirteen years of education at San Diego Academy will cost $ 70−100k. It is an investment and commitment that does not go away. Read that sentence again, understanding this is probably the biggest positive: even after your child graduates you’ll continue reaping the benefits (character, integrity, scripture informed value system, ethics).
5. A Journey to Excellence: Adventist Education is a journey to Excellence. As I write this, there are SDA Alumni, teachers and administrators who have reached prominence in professional fields (including ministry, medicine, science, education, business, law) and yes, there are others who have not been as successful. However, all Alumni are taught Bible-​base principal, values, ethics and critical judgment. Expect SDA Alumni (or any product of Adventist Education) to be prepared to own the results of the choices they make on this lifetime Journey to Excellence.
6. Participative: If you are merely seeking a place to «stick» your kids for eight hours a day. SDA will not work for you in the long run. There is an expectation that you be actively involved in the education and growth of your child. That means: parent teacher conferences, reading online updates, supporting class activities, possibly school board and committee meetings, traveling to sporting and other events, etc. You’ll have to be a part of your child’s life, but that is what parenting is about.
Finally, if you’ve read this far, you’ll probably wonder why I am so positive about SDA and the Adventist Education system. Briefly, this is my personal experience with Adventist Education and its impact on my life:
As a happy-​headed soon-​to-​be fourth grader, I was eager to return to my posse in the upcoming school year. Late in that summer of 1971, my father announced to my three siblings and me that we’d be enrolling in a Seventh-​day Adventist school. My parents were divided on the issue. The kids knew Mom was not thrilled with the idea. Dad, as always, was determined to do the right thing – in spite of short-​term inconvenience. We were not happy. If I had had access to some of the reviews and misinformation I’ve seen on this Unilocal page, I could have exploited this division, remained in public school and ruined my life. Today, I am thankful that my Dad was a visionary.

Wow, here’s a response from someone who condones non Christian behaviors from the faculty. These teachers which condemn students, in front of their peers, with demeaning criticism, and slander should not be teaching in a Christian environment. This school doesn’t provide a Christian environment, nor give students a decent education.
These so called ‘advanced classes’ aren’t even taught by a teacher with the proper credentials. But I guess that’s one of the perks to being the principal’s best friend, or puppet, and elude your fellow peers and students.
I don’t need statistics to give me insight on this school because I know the truth, and so should the public.

I went to San Diego academy for 9 years. They were the worst years of my life. It is a private school and they are seventh day adventists. The majority of the teachers dont even have their teaching license and the other teachers hate it just as much as the kids do. when you graduate most kids have to end up taking extra classes because they had enough credits to raduate but not enough to further their education to college. They pressure you to become their religion and shun you if you refuse. The principal has told me that I was going to hell because my ears were pierced and I wore makeup. After eigth grade I switched to a normal high school and ended up having to take so many extra classes because San Diego academy fucked up my classes I was literally two grades behind