Happy 75th Anniversary, GAA!
75 Years of Educating for Eternity!
The Back Story – Two Men, Two Women, and a Quonset Hut
75 Years ago, in August of 1949, two men drove to the government dump and scrounged around for parts for an old Quonset hut they had purchased from the Navy. They then hauled their prize to Dededo Village and there with the help of newly baptized members, they erected the first Adventist school on Guam. Two local members, Maria Ulloa, a principal at Mongmong Elementary School and Magdalena Taitano Flores, a teacher at the same school, left their day jobs at to be the first teachers of the new school. When the Quonset hut classroom opened its doors, 26 children came traipsing happily through. The two men were Pastor R.E. Dunton, the first Mission president, and Raymond Turner who’d come from Oregon to answer the call for workers to help build up the new church on Guam.
A second school opened in Talofofo in 1951, with Mariano D. Tabali as the teacher. In 1957, the two schools merged and located to Agaña Heights with an elementary through twelfth grade curriculum. The current Windward Hills property was secured in July of 1963. This 2024-25 school year marks Guam Adventist Academy’s 75th anniversary.
Our Diamond Anniversary and our Goal.
Our Diamond Anniversary and our Goal
This year we celebrate the Diamond Anniversary of Guam Adventist Academy. Please help us reach our 75th Anniversary goal of $250,000 for the year to be used for the following critical projects:
1) Student Financial Aid
2) Faculty housing on site
3) Maintenance and Typhoon Mawar Repair
4) Playground Improvement
5) An Entry Canopy to keep students dry during rainy season
Go to our 75th Anniversary Donation button for more info.
The Leaders who started the first Adventist Schools on Guam.
Front Row, far left: Maria and Manuel Ulloa. Mrs. Ulloa was the first principal/teacher of the northern Adventist school.
Far right--Pastor Guillermo Flores shepherded his group of new believers toward erecting the 2nd school, an Adventist school for the south.
Top Row--middle-with dark hair--Pastor Robert E. Dunton, first mission president, and next to him with suspenders, Raymond Turner, who came from Oregon to help build up the church on Guam. These were the two men who went out to the dump one morning for a Quonset hut to build the first Adventist school.
A picture of some of the first students in the southern school, 1949-50s.
Far right, front: Rita DeLeon Flores, Pastor Flores' wife, helped with the teaching at the new school.
Far left, front: Pastor Frank Taitague, as a young man--Pastor Frank drove the school bus as soon as he was old enough.
Group Picture of 1964-65 Elementary School with Faculty