Friday Focus

This year academic scholarships will be awarded to nearly 50% of our student body.

Academic Scholarships for 2006-2007 School Year

San Francisco Adventist School awards academic scholarships for the following school year (or Adventist academy of their choice).

Criteria for these scholarships are based on academics (must maintain a GPA of 3.5 or higher), citizenship, and school involvement.

This year our school will be awarding a $200 scholarship to each of 25 students from our school. That's nearly 50% of our student body that maintain a GPA of 3.5 or higher!

Students (and their grade level) being awarded these scholarships include:

Asia Faaetete (KG)
Katherine Fatilua (KG)

Hero Orotea (1)
Cameron Penaflorida (1)
Mckenzie Petersen (1)

Jessica Maglalang (2)

Aileen Alegra (4)
Michael Gagui (4)
Bianca Haro (4)
Mikayla Petersen (4)
Jeremy Pulumbarit (4)
Deangela Samonte (4)
James Torres (4)

Tamika Orotea (5)
Sigrid Panugao (5)

Jillian Enriguez (6)
Robert Harlin III (6)
Mary Inaudi (6)
Carissa Penaflorida (6)
Victoria Santiago (6)

Jing Enriquez (7)
Karl Orotea (7)
Erika Torres (7)

Jezreel Santiago (8)
Joash Youngberg (8)

Summer Camp

We will be making Summer Camp at our school available once again this summer. Summer Camp will begin Monday, June 26, and continue through Friday, July 28. Summer Camp hours are from 7:30 AM-6:00 PM daily.

The cost will be $120 per week, due and payable on the first day of each week. Lunch will be provided every day.

Children enrolled in summer camp will participate in arts and crafts, games, sports, group activities, computers, and enrichment work in reading, language and math.

In order to provide this service we need a minimum of ten (10) children to enroll for the full five weeks. If you are interested in enrolling your child in Summer Camp, please call the office today at 415-585-5550, ext. 23. Registrations must be received on or before Thursday, June 15.

Send email to SFAS...

Thanks for Helping, Mr. Brown

Dan Brown is the now-famous, now-fabulously-wealthy author of The Da Vinci Code. With over 40 million books in print, and now the movie is in the theaters. Directed by Ron Howard and starring Tom Hanks, it' a smash hit.

Believers have been either confused or offended by the misrepresentations of Scripture, history, and ancient literature in The Da Vinci Code. The confusion comes from a lack of information; ignorance has people asking, "Is that really true? Is that how we got the Bible?" And the anger tends to come from people who have information; it causes them to say, "That isn't correct! How dare anybody so misrepresent the Bible or history!"

Brown can probably get away with his frequent substitutions of fiction for fact because so many of us are poorly informed about Christian faith and history. Yet the furor generated by The Da Vinci Code is provoking people to study. It sends them to helpful books such as Ben Witherington's The Gospel Code or Bart Ehrman's Truth and Fiction in The Da Vinci Code. In spite of what may have been Mr. Brown's intention, I am seeing good things come from his project.

In summary, the book and movie deny Christ's deity, attack the authenticity of the Four Gospels, and accuse Christians of suppressing the "sacred feminine." The facts are that New Testament writings affirm Jesus' deity 200 years before Brown says the notion was promoted, the Four Gospels were accepted long before Constantine knew they existed, and the "sacred feminine" is believed by most to be a hoax.

And if Christianity is a conspiracy against women, it has been terribly botched! The Gospel of Luke, for example, goes to great lengths to show how Jesus affirmed, included, and honored women. Yea, Luke! While males such as Peter and John were sometimes "slow of heart" and "dull of understanding," the female followers of the Son of God grasped His true identity. They didn't flee and hide when he was crucified. And they were the first witnesses to his resurrection.

There is no historical evidence--contrary to The Code's claim--that Mary Magdalene was married to Jesus. She was, however, one of several women in the Gospels whose lives found meaning as loyal disciples to him.

Some Christians may feel obliged to boycott or picket the movie. I would suggest that you might want to go see it. And here's why: people around you are going to be talking about the movie. Some of them might be led to believe what they see. Use this movie as an opportunity to open up discussion with your neighbors and co-workers. You might even be able to use this as a teaching opportunity. Paul advises us, "Use your heads as you live and work among outsiders... make the most of every opportunity. Be gracious in your speech. The goal is to bring out the best in others in a conversation, not put them down, not cut them out." Colossians 4:45 (Mes) I don't anticipate any riots or embassy burnings or assassinations! In the end, we may owe a debt of gratitude to Dan Brown for creating an opportunity for authentic faith to shine.

--Rubel Shelly