March 21 - The School that Keeps Growing

In 2000, an Adventist church in Romania cleared two rooms to start kindergarten. Now, those two rooms have grown into two school buildings that soon will house 200 students!

In 2000, the Adventist church
in Ploiesti, Romania

cleared two rooms to start kindergarten.

Now, the two rooms
grew into two school buildings

that soon will house 200 students.

It started when a group of parents
and teachers from the church

dreamed of a school to provide children
a safe environment to grow.

This desire led them to set up
two private kindergartens in Ploiesti

in a space provided
by the Adventist church.

Parents loved the idea
of an Adventist school.

Both of my children were enrolled
in public school before coming here.

It’s difficult when I teach my children
about our faith at home

and they encounter
conflicting beliefs at school.

More and more parents prayed for a school

that would help instill the principles
of the Seventh-day Adventist church

in their children’s hearts.

And in 2015 Excelsis school opened.

It started with only 22 students,

but every year, their numbers doubled!

Today over 120 students
from kindergarten to eighth grade

are enjoying Christ-centered education
at Excelsis School.

Every morning they start their day
with a devotional and a prayer.

Children are safe here,
physically and spiritually.

Aside from learning subjects
like math or physics or chemistry,

more importantly,
they learn about life and God.

The school administrators help to connect
families who cannot pay tuition

with potential sponsors.

As of today they have
over 20 sponsored students.

Parents began hearing about
the quality education

and the values taught in Excelsis School.

Some even send their children
a long way from home

in order to study in the environment
that the school provides.

Fifty-eight such students
live outside Ploiesti,

and some of them travel
up to 80 kilometers daily

to go to school.

I love that the students here
are very friendly

and we have a lot
of extra-curricular activities.

Our teachers don’t yell at the students,

and they don’t discriminate
against us on any basis.

They’re very nice and they respect us,
even if we’re just kids.

In this school students prepare
for their classes every day.

We teach them to explore
and discover new things,

and we prepare them for a better future.

The students are not perfect;
neither are the teachers.

But we try to understand them,

and we learn that behind every child
there is a special story.

The parents trust us.

And together, the teachers, students,
and their parents are a family.

The school building
is now working at full capacity.

Staff rooms are used
as additional classrooms,

and the archive room is used as a library.

To accommodate more students,

the school has started construction
of a new building

which will allow them
to enroll over 200 students.

Soon Excelsis School
will expand its ministry

to teach even more children
about the love of Jesus.

This school answers the needs
of Christian families in Ploiesti

because they want their children
to learn good values and principles.

Our goal is to present a beautiful God
not only to the children

but also to their parents.