About Daystar Adventist Academy
Over 40 Years of Teaching
Who We Are
DayStar Adventist Academy is a rural Christian boarding school and a supporting ministry of the Seventh-day Adventist church. We are located in beautiful Castle Valley, Utah, an oasis surrounded by majestic red mesas and situated between the La Sal Mountains and the Colorado River.
Positioned on 320 acres of farmland in the high desert of southeastern Utah, the school operates Castle Valley Farms, where our students are trained in natural and sustainable methods of agriculture. Our program is unique in that through our agricultural and outdoor education programs, our students have abundant opportunity for spending time in nature and learning of the Creator through His works.
Our school is small by design, allowing us to maintain a home-like environment. Our high staff-to-student ratio enables us to mentor students more effectively as well as focus on their individual needs.
Over 40 Years of Teaching
Our Mission
To provide an educational program which develops the intellect, supplies training in skilled trades, and makes the Bible its foundation, while inspiring students to seek God and discover His will for their lives.
Our Philosophy and Goals
True education means more than taking a certain course of study. It is broad. It includes the harmonious development of all the physical powers and mental faculties. It teaches the love and fear of God and is a preparation for the faithful discharge of life’s duties. (CT64.1) We believe the primary goal of true education is to build godly character—engaging the mind and body in activities and themes that are in harmony with God’s Spirit.
Jesus’ education was gained from Heaven-appointed sources, from useful work, from the study of the Scriptures, from nature, and from the experiences of life—God’s lesson books, full of instruction to all who bring to them the willing hand, the seeing eye, and the understanding heart. (MH 400)
Jesus’ upbringing is to be our example of true education. We aim that our young people will have the opportunity to gain heavenly wisdom by learning from God’s lesson books as Christ did. The Bible is the only rule of faith and doctrine. And there is nothing more calculated to energize the mind, and strengthen the intellect, than the study of the word of God… If God’s word were studied as it should be, men would have a breadth of mind, a nobility of character, and a stability of purpose, that is rarely seen in these times. (CE118.2)
We purpose—by our daily Bible classes, our times of worship and outreach, and our personal examples—to inspire students to love the study of God’s word and to accept Jesus as their Best Friend. While the Bible should hold the first place in the education of children and youth, the book of nature is next in importance. In itself the beauty of nature leads the soul away from sin and worldly attractions, towards purity, peace, and God. For this reason the cultivation of the soil is good work for the children and youth. (PH 131 14.2, 3)
We are committed to providing abundant opportunities for our students to spend time in nature—learning of God through His created works. Every institution of learning should make provision for the study and practice of agriculture and mechanic arts… While a part of each day is devoted to mental improvement, let a stated portion be given to physical labor, and a suitable time to devotional exercises and the study of the Scriptures. (FE 72.4)
Through our unique program we seek to help students develop practical life skills, critical thinking abilities, and a heart for service—equipping them to effectively minister to others.
Over 40 Years of Teaching
Our History
God’s Oasis in the Desert—Castle Valley
“We have been praying”—these words appeared in the June 1970 family letter of the Stonecave Institute located near Dayton, Tennessee. Because someone somewhere was praying, many Adventist self-supporting institutions have been opened. This was true of Castle Valley Institute near Moab, Utah.
The Stonecave workers had been reading in chapter 6 of 2 Kings. The first three verses especially caught their attention. Here is recorded Elisha’s interesting experience with an axhead that floated. These verses also had a message for them, the Stonecave members believed.
“And the sons of the prophets said unto Elisha, Behold now, the place where we dwell with thee is too strait for us. Let us go, we pray and make us a place there, where we may dwell. And he answered, Go ye. And one said, Be content, I pray thee, and go with thy servants. And he answered, I will go.”
In Elisha’s day there was need of expansion. “The place where we dwell with thee is too strait for us.” The sons of the prophets wanted to move out and build. They had a practical plan. “Let us go…unto Jordan, and take every man a beam, and let us make us a place there.” They knew where they wanted to go, and they had a plan for the building work.
The Stonecave family had been studying counsel in the spirit of prophecy regarding the establishment of more small medical-educational institutions.
“Some may ask, ‘how are such schools to be established?’ We are not a rich people, but if we pray in faith, and let the Lord work in our behalf, He will open ways before us to establish small schools in retired places for the education of our youth, not only in the Scriptures and in book learning, but in many lines of manual labor.”—Counsels to Teachers, page 204.
“We have been praying,” the leaders in Stonecave wrote, “that God will open the way for another school to be established. We have come to the place here where we cannot take in more students and give the proper training. We are getting too large.”
