News

From August 8-9, 2023, during the EDTalks segment of the North American Division’s (NAD) 2023 Educators’ Convention, 13 leaders gave their unique take on this prompt: “Leadership. It all comes down to …” In this spin on the popular TEDtalks, music leaders Laura Story and Nicole C. Mullen; education leaders Mario Acosta, Doug Reeves, Tina Boogren, and Toakase Vunileva; Adventist leaders G. Alexander Bryant, Meshach Soli, Carlton P. Byrd, Adam Wamack, David Daniels, and James Standish; and entertainer Taylor Hughes used storytelling to share their leadership lessons.

Strains of “Mary Had a Little Lamb” and “Skidamarink” welcomed 150 attendees to the Early Childhood Education (ECE) Gathering, Appreciating, and Promoting (GAP) launch session and luncheon, held on August 8, 2023. This event marked the start of the North American Division (NAD) education team’s efforts to support and affirm those involved in educating children from birth to age five with an all-new, separate ECE track during its 2023 “Something Better” Educators’ Convention.

Adventist Community Services Disaster Response (ACS DR) has joined the relief and recovery efforts in Hawaii; and plans continue to take shape as organizations join hands to support those affected by the wildfires that burned through Lahaina and other parts of Maui this past week. Hawaii Conference ACS director Mark Tamalaa led local efforts by setting up a shelter in Maui, where the most damage has taken place.

Walla Walla University recently received a $235,000 collaborative grant from the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust to fund undergraduate research into harmful algal blooms. Alongside researchers from the University of Portland and Willamette University, the researchers hope to better understand and more quickly detect the algal blooms, which can produce toxins harmful to people and animals.