Mountain View Adventist Academy

The Mountain View Adventist Academy in St. Vincent and the Grenadines Mission of Seventh-day Adventists began operations on January 16, 1958, with one teacher/principal, Mr. Urban Antoine, and 12 students.

History

The Mountain View Adventist Academy in St. Vincent and the Grenadines Mission of Seventh-day Adventists was started by the members of the Richland Park SDA Church who embraced the philosophy of Adventist Education.¹ The school began operations on January 16, 1958, with one teacher/principal, Mr. Urban Antoine, and 12 students. Before 1958, an attempt was made to start a Secondary School as an outgrowth of the Richland Park SDA Primary School, but it lasted for only a short time.² The objective was to continue the philosophy and objectives of Adventist education at the secondary level. The first school fee was $15.00 per term.

The school was originally named the Richland Park Intermediate School and was housed at the then Richland Park SDA church building. In its second term in May 1958, the school was relocated to Mr. Grant’s downstairs apartment at Mesopotamia. Shortly thereafter, it changed location again to the Perseverance Estate House, then to the Mesopotamia Society Hall, and then to the Levi Latham building. So, within the first year of operation, the school changed location five times. On January 3, 1961, exactly three years after its opening, the school was relocated to the downstairs of the newly constructed Richland Park SDA Church where it remained for 29 years.³ The Richland Park SDA Church was solely responsible for the School until 1972 when it became a Conference school. Within 10 years of its beginning, the school’s enrollment had increased to 140 students.

During those early years, the name of the school was changed several times. This was mainly because of its changing location. In January 1964, the school was renamed “Richland Park SDA Secondary School.” During the following school year in 1965/66, the name became “Mountain View Academy.” In recognition of the school as an Adventist institution, a final name change occurred during school year 1973/1974 to “Mountain View Adventist Academy,” which it has kept since then.

The first student uniform for girls was a white blouse, navy blue skirt, black shoes, and white socks, while the uniform for boys included brown (khaki) pants for all forms. In October 1966, there was a change in uniform for boys of Forms 4 and 5 to that of black pants and navy blue socks. The color of the pants was finally changed to navy blue during the 1979/80 school year. The MVAA Crest was first worn by students as part of their uniform in 1982.

The directors of Maranatha Flights International visited the School in February 1985, and they agreed to assist in the building of a new school plant. On April 14, 1985, the groundbreaking ceremony for the new school building took place at Belle Plane. In December 1990, upon completion of the first floor, Mountain View Adventist Academy moved into its own building. The second floor of the School Plant was completed in 2011.

Student Achievements

Students of the School wrote external exams for the first time in November 1961. Four students sat for the GCE, Senior Cambridge School Certificate Examination, and all four exams were successful. They included Renrick Bacchus, St. Clair Kydd, Clifford Sutherland, and Lionel Williams. In 1960, six students sat for the Third Grade Pupil Teachers’ examination, and three were successful. They were Renrick Bacchus, St Clair Kydd, and Clifford Sutherland. In 1987, history was created when the school entered its first student, Ezra Ledger for Chemistry at CSEC, for which he was successful. The first graduation ceremony for the school was held for the Class of 1987.

Another student, Rhonique Morgan, achieved eleventh grade one CSEC passes with eight distinctions, making her performance among the top five in St. Vincent & the Grenadines for 2011. Rhonique gained distinctions in Biology, Chemistry, English A, English B, Office Administration, Food and Nutrition, Human and Social Biology, and Social Studies; and she also attained grade ones in Information Technology, Mathematics, and Physics.⁴

MVAA topped the individual student results for the island in 2012 when Shariel Bowman gained 13 subject passes at the CSEC level. The school again topped the individual student results in 2014 when Delight Ollivierre gained 14 grade one subject passes at CSEC. In 2016, Eric Febuary shattered the records of St. Vincent and the Grenadines when he topped the individual student results at CSEC with 20 subject passes, comprising 17 grade ones and three grade twos.

The results achieved by Eric Febuary at CSEC, CXC in 2016 were also the best for the Caribbean Union of SDA students. Again in 2018, the school produced the student with the best result nationally in Kyle Da Silva, who sat for 16 subjects and passed all of them, achieving the stellar record of 15 – 1’s and 1 – 2.

Operation

From its inception in 1958 until 1972, the school was managed and financed by the Richland Park SDA Church.  In 1972, the South Caribbean Conference, to which St Vincent and the Grenadines was affiliated up to 1976, took charge of the management of the school, thus making it the responsibility of the constituents of St. Vincent. Since 1975, representatives of each pastoral district of St. Vincent have been members of the Board of Management.

In September 1963, Donald Woods became the first indigenous Vincentian to assume the position of principal. Prior to that time, the School had several principals and teachers coming from Trinidad.

On May 6, 1970, Mr. Elmore Gaymes donated chemicals and equipment to the school so that practical work could begin for students studying Chemistry. In September 1974, the school’s first laboratory became operational.

In 1990, Hilary Bowman reported that five more schools were recommended for accreditation: Mountain View Academy in St. Vincent, Barbados SDA Secondary School, St. Lucia SDA Secondary School, Bequia SDA Secondary School, and Dominica Secondary School.⁵

In October 2017, the first school flag was designed and hoisted for the first time on October 31 as part of the school’s 60^th anniversary celebrations. The flag was designed by Christopher Baynes, a student, and teachers Samantha Robinson and Leila Bowman.⁶

VISION STATEMENT:
To be a God-centered, all-inclusive, self-sustaining, service-oriented educational institution.

MISSION STATEMENT:
To provide students with a Christ-centered, holistic education in preparation for service to humanity and for the school in Eternity.

Principals

Urban Antoine (January 1958 – July 1959); Charles H. Campbell (January 1963 – December 1964); Percival Lewis (January 1965 – July 1966); N. Alban Bacchus (Ag.) (September 1966 – December 1966); Evelyn Dennie (January 1967 – July 1967); Willie C. Joseph (September 1967 – July 1969); Thompson L. Fleary (September 1969 – September 1971); April Dunnett (October 1971 – November 1971); Whitford J. Bacchus (Ag.) (November 1971 – December 1972); Christian P. Chistianson (January 1973 – July 1974); Thompson L. Fleary (September 1974 – July 1975); Philmore Isaacs (September 1975 – July 1976); Whitford J. Bacchus (September 1976 – July 1980); Philmore Isaacs (September 1980 – July 1982); Fitzroy Bacchus (September 1982 – July 1985); Hilary Bowman (September 1985 – September 1988); Aubrey London (Ag.) (September 1988 – July 1990); Denston Bacchus (September 1990 – December 1994); Ramesh Outar (Ag.) (January 1995 – August 1999); Anthony Ollivierre (September 1999 – July 2016); Gabriel Bowman (August 2016 – Present).

Sources

Baptiste, Dermoth. Caribbean Union Gleanings 76., no. 1 (1^st Quarter 2003).

Bowman, Dr. Hilary. Caribbean Union Gleanings 63, no. 2 (Second Quarter, 1990).

Monsey, Iris and Kerry Kerr. Caribbean Union Gleanings 19, no. 1 (November 2018).

Seventh-day Adventist Encyclopedia. Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1996.

Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook. Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association. Various years. https://www.adventistyearbook.org/.

Vincent, Jamilia Caribbean Union Gleanings 84, no. 3 (Third Quarter, 2011).

Notes

1. Dermoth Baptiste, Caribbean Union Gleanings 76., no. 1 (1^st Quarter 2003): 5.↩

2. “Reach the World, 2017.” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 2017), 649.↩

3. Seventh-day Adventist Encyclopedia, vol. M-Z (Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1996): 130.↩

4. Jamilia Vincent, Caribbean Union Gleanings 84, no. 3 (Third Quarter, 2011): 22.↩

5. Dr. Hilary Bowman, Caribbean Union Gleanings 63, no. 2 (Second Quarter, 1990): 16.↩

6. Iris Monsey and Kerry Kerr, Caribbean Union Gleanings 19, no. 1 (November 2018): 37.↩