Grade 8 graduands at Koiari Park Adventist Primary School celebrated their end-of-year banquet with parents, members of the education fraternity and the community in the Pacific Adventist University (PAU) dinner hall outside Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, on November 19.
“Reflecting Christ Through Success” was the theme for the night as it summarised the journey throughout 2017. During the special occasion filled with reflection, a solemn devotion by education lecturer Dr Leeroy Elisa and humorous recounts of special moments, school principal Herica Kavang expressed great admiration and praise for the success God has given to the school through the commitment of students, teachers, parents and the PAU community.
Parents and citizens were presented with tokens of appreciation by the school for their support and prayers for the students and the school throughout the year.
During the banquet, Central Papua Conference (CPC) education director Peter Iga and associate Dorcas Kuma thanked the community for their support of Adventist education, which focuses on service and itself being a journey of excellence. Students graduating from Koari Park will move onto Grade 9 at the nearby Adventist secondary or other government-run or private schools in 2018.
Fondly known as “C-school”, Koari Park is located at the PAU campus and began its operations in 1983, the same year PAU (then PAC) officially commenced as an institution. With a modest enrolment of 90 students, there were five teachers and it had mostly composite classes of Grades 1 to 6.
The school today has an enrolment of 395 students and nine teachers. It is part of the Adventist education system under the administration of CPC.
“[Koari Park Primary] has strived for years to educate the young in all aspects of life—mentally, socially, physically and, more importantly, spiritually,” Ms Kavang said.
“With the theme of ‘Reflecting Jesus Everyday Everywhere’ in 2017, the students have cherished a desire to be disciples and excel with their talents in all aspects of life even after graduating from Koiari.”
Among other achievements in 2017, the school launched its maiden DVD album, titled The Rainbow, in March, featuring beautiful singing by students. With the support of parents, the school successfully hosted retreats in terms one and three. Most recently, the Grade 8 students with parents and guardians came together for prayer before sitting their national examinations. The school also assisted in piloting a Japanese government-funded program for Grades 3 and 4, achieving very good results.
The activities the students enjoyed the most were visiting the PAU married students’ village housing and engaging in community service on campus under the Total Membership Involvement (TMI) initiative, including sharing fruit packs with the university students and security guards within the campus, along the premises gates and during the sports carnival.
“It was such a joy to see the students confidently sharing Jesus through these activities,” Ms Kavang reflected. “The achievements by Koiari Park Adventist Primary School have come about through the commitment, effort and creativity of godly teachers, parents, guardians and the community. Above all, it has been the perseverance with team spirit in seeking Christ daily through staff devotions and prayers in the school that has made the real difference.”
