Muted conversation, laughter, and the tantalizing aroma of food drifted down the halls of Dakota Adventist Academy as guests, family and friends made their way to the gymnasium on Saturday evening, October 29, 2011 for the annual Student Association Fall Festival.

"The best talent show in years!"  "I don't envy the job of the judges tonight."  "I needed a good laugh, and tonight didn't disappoint."  These are just a few of the comments overheard about the S.A. Talent Show at Dakota Adventist Academy on January 29, 2011.  Church members, families, students, and alumni turned out for the variety program, anticipating a talent-filled show, and the students exceeded their expectations.  The fourteen acts with twenty-four students performing made for quite a show!

For the past few months, Pathfinders across the Mid-American Union have poured over the Book of Revelation, studying each verse and its meaning, learning the verses word by word, in preparation for the annual Pathfinder Bible Bowl.  On February 19, the top Pathfinder teams from across the Union gathered at the College View Church in Lincoln, Nebraska to participate.  First, however, those teams each met with their own Conferences before heading to the Union-wide finals.

How hard would it be to learn the names of sixty people you had just met that day?  It might take some of you a week, maybe longer.  For a few, you wouldn't need more than just a couple days.  For our Spring Week of Prayer, the guest speaker accomplished learning the names of all the attending students and staff in just one day.  Even the mid-week arrival of six students didn't faze him; at the end of the day, he named every person in the audience that evening.

At Dakota Adventist Academy, the students involved in music or gymnastics practice and perform all year long, and then host clinics to teach others their trade.  All the hard work and training that each student and staff member puts into the group is then culminated in Home Show Weekend at the end of the year.   On Saturday, May 14, family, friends, church members and alumni gathered Sabbath evening to enjoy the students' performances at Home Show.  The evening began with the Vespers Concert Program, arranged and directed by John McCombs, DAA Music teacher.

Twelve seniors marched into their own futures on Sunday, May 22, during the 107th graduation ceremony from a North Dakota academy. Starting Friday, May 20, with Consecration and ending Sunday afternoon with a reception in the cafeteria, for the graduates, the weekend was a blur of family and friends, tassels and robes, and guest speakers and music. Performing several times during the weekend, the student-produced Praise Band led song services, and the special musics peppered throughout the weekend showcased the talented senior class.