From time to time, I get the opportunity to introduce Surrey Christian to parents and students overseas. Most recently, this was a Zoom presentation earlier this month to a group of students and their parents in Brazil who are coming here in January for a winter camp. Inevitably, I always include a slightly grainy, black-and-white slide from 60 years ago. On it, a handful of staff members are perched on rocks and logs in front of the very first Fraser Valley Christian High School building and the forest behind it.
What stands out to me in the picture, aside from the fantastic mid-60’s hair and clothing styles, is the sense of promise and adventure (maybe even a little mischief) in the eyes and postures of the teachers. There is a sense that something is being built—that something big and meaningful is on the horizon.
It is 60 years later, and that same sense of promise and adventure is still here. I was never a staff member at Fraser Valley Christian High, but I am a recipient of its legacy. And I continue to feel its influence on our now-merged campuses of Fraser Valley and Surrey Christian. To me, the legacy of FVCHS is one of innovation, a deep sense of mission, and a healthy dose of camaraderie. People like and care for each other. They also feel a tangible sense that the work they are doing is important and transformational. This has infused our school as a whole, and it is part of what has kept me at SCS for the past 30 years.
What hasn’t changed is that we are all (staff, students, and parents) co-workers in the construction of something good and true, and that we serve a God who walks with us as we do that important work.
This seems like a good time to be thankful for the legacy of all those who built and poured their lives into FVCHS and the ways that legacy has formed a bedrock for what Surrey Christian School is today. The Celebration of Life for Dennis DeGroot in June was a reminder of that legacy as well. Many committed, forward-thinking Christian educators have paved the way for our work to continue.
The hair styles and clothing are different now. The cultural challenges and tensions we face have changed too. What hasn’t changed is that we are all (staff, students, and parents) co-workers in the construction of something good and true, and that we serve a God who walks with us as we do that important work.
