A very warm WelcomeAuckland Seventh-day Adventist High School, affectionately known as ASDAH, is a dynamic multicultural state-integrated secondary school, in Mangere Bridge. Owned and operated by the Seventh-day Adventist Church, initially for its constituency, ASDAH is also for the wider Christian community of Auckland and for those who are interested in attending a Seventh-day Adventist Special Character school. Students who are not Seventh-day Adventists will have to attend a Preferential Determination interview for the purposes of determining their relationship to the church. |
EXCELLENCE IS NEVER AN ACCIDENTAt ASDAH we strive for personal excellence in all areas of our lives. Sometimes this gets mistaken for striving to gain 100% in assessments or examinations. The following reflection highlights what “we are on about”. Recently I read an article on architects. In it, the author was trying to learn what distinguished the really good architects from the mediocre ones. Her conclusion? It was not the fact that good architects did things right the first time. No, it was their willingness to “revise, rework, redo”. Isn’t this what determines excellence in almost any field, whether architecture or acting, music or cooking, literature or athletics? In general, people are not born excellent; they become excellent largely through their willingness to work hard at what they do. The great Michelangelo once said to someone who envied his work, “If you knew how hard I worked at this, you might not think it was so wonderful.” Similarly, a woman once said to the great violinist Fritz Kreisler after a recital, “I’d give my life to play as beautifully as you!” Kreisler replied, “Madam, I have!” In a way, we are all architects - architects of ourselves. Jesus referred to himself as a building when he said to the religious leaders, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19). We are all fashioning ourselves into a temple from the materials life sets before us. How hard are we willing to work at this fashioning? Are we prepared to revise, rework, redo? Are we eager to settle for nothing less than the best? Jesus encourages revisions. His call is nothing less than the call to revise our behaviour, to rework our attitude, to redo our priorities. Adapted from Rummaging for God by Melannie Svoboda, SND At ASDAH we strive to be the excellent people God wants us to be. |