It was a year after the Wright Brothers’ first flight and a year before Albert Einstein proposed his theory of relativity when a one-room school began in the Armona, Calif., home of Nis Hensen. In 1904, Nellie Brown taught 12 students. The school would eventually be called Armona Union Academy (AUA) and boast an enrollment of 118 students in grades kindergarten through 12 in 2005.

An alumni anniversary weekend (Nov. 5-7, 2004) celebrated the school's longevity with a Friday night youth production; Sabbath guest speaker Tom Mostert, Pacific Union Conference President; and a golf tournament on Sunday.

A history of the school reveals a century of dedicated teachers, supportive constituents and enthusiastic students. Two destructive fires, one in 1936 and a more recent one in 1998, the threat of closure and acts of vandalism didn’t dampen the spirits of those who believed in Christian education in the region.

"We are embarking on our 101st year," says Principal Marianne Gilbert. "It’s called a miracle school because people have said we could never run a school with this small of a constituency." There are six constituent churches.

And run it they have. Today the academy is completely debt-free for the first time in its history, due in part to a thrift store that’s funneling funds to the school. Although Armona is the smallest K-12 in the Central California Conference, it may well be the healthiest financially.

The history of volunteer effort has been strong since the beginning. These include efforts such as local families who took in students who lived too far away to commute, volunteer bus drivers from Island, Laguna, Hanford and Armona, and creation of adobe bricks made by students and community members to rebuild fire-damaged classrooms.

The thrift store, managed by AUA alumnus Joyce Shobe, has done more than funnel money into the school. To date, four new community students have also enrolled. Several academy students also earn tuition by working there.

"The thrift store has impacted our school in many ways and God has really blessed it and us," says Gilbert. "We anticipate $75,000 a year into our Booster Club, which supports the worthy student fund. Our alumni do amazing things."

Debt-free with more than 100 students, the academy is ready to blaze another 100 years turning out excellent students. "During the last five years, all the students have gone on to college except one," Gilbert reports.

The academy has its students living the school’s motto taken from Jude 1:21, 22: "Challenging students to be difference makers."