The Marion Seventh-day Adventist church decided in 1971 that they wanted to open a school. There was no teacher, no building and only three students. The Illinois conference offered the use of the medical building that was located at the Little Grassy Lake Campsite, which at that time was leased to the Illinois Seventh-day Adventist Conference. Roland Miller was hired as the first teacher and the school opened in September of 1972 with 8-10 students. They were bussed to the campgrounds in Dr. Joe Billock’s van.
By second semester, more students moved into the area and enrolled. Desks were literally wall-to-wall. A second teacher was needed so Georgette Fisher, a church member, taught grades 1-4 in a trailer across the drive from the medical building.
By fall of 1973 a small block building on Taft and Boulevard St. in Marion was purchased and served as the school until June 1977. That year, land east of Marion was purchased and two classrooms plus a library was built. Later, two additional classrooms, offices and a gym were added.
The year 1980-81 we had two students who completed 9th grade. They sat at desks in the hallway for lack of space and did correspondence with supervision from the upper grade teacher. In the early 1980’s we had nearly 100 students and four teachers.
In 1999, this property was sold and a new building attached to the church was built. This included two classrooms, a fellowship hall and a large gym. This is the school building currently in use.
We are now operating with a K4-5 program, as well as our Grades 1-8 school. We currently have one teacher and a teacher’s aide.