Friday, December 20, 2024

Today in the Mission Yearbook - New president pledges a season of renewal at Presbyterian Pan American School

Dr. W. Joseph ‘Joey’ King brings a spirit of innovation and inquiry to historic PC(USA)-related secondary school in South Texas

From left to right are Wilson Kennedy, Ministry Engagement and
Support; Joey King, Presbyterian Pan American School; Bill Rutherford,
PPAS; and Lemuel Garcia-Arroyo, MES. (Photo by Emily Enders Odom)
As a rush of fresh-faced students filed into the Presbyterian Pan American School’s Harte Student Center, Dr. W. Joseph “Joey” King beamed with pride.

And rightfully so.

The new president of the small, PC(USA)-related college-preparatory school located in the Texas Coastal Bend some 90 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border, has exciting plans to flourish PPAS’s most valuable resource, its students.

But they’re not his plans alone.

“This is not my vision, but our vision — the board and all of us — to have a period of renewal be our focus for the next three to five years,” said King, who assumed leadership of the 113-year school on Aug. 1. “We’ll be renovating our buildings, our residences. It has to happen, and we’re working on a plan for that.”

King, who previously served as the president of the PC(USA)-related Lyon College, where he was instrumental in fostering academic excellence and strategic growth, has a similar agenda for PPAS, namely growing the school’s enrollment and revenue.

Toward that end, he acknowledged that the school’s relationships with the entities and constituents of the PC(USA) is vital, including Mission Presbytery, within whose bounds the school is located, and the Synod of the Sun, with whom PPAS is a covenant partner.

Dr. Juan Plascencia, principal of the Presbyterian Pan American School,
and student ambassadors welcome visitors. (Photo by Emily Enders Odom)
“In rebuilding our enrollment, which is not where we want it to be, the church can really help us,” said King. “We want to reclaim that tradition. We really need the PC(USA)’s help in making connections in the places where we’re focusing our recruitment efforts.”

On hand to provide King and PPAS Board Chair Bill Rutherford with assurance of just that kind of help were national church colleagues, the Rev. Lemuel Garcia-Arroyo, a ministry engagement advisor with the PC(USA)’s Ministry Engagement and Support, and the Rev. Wilson Kennedy, the PC(USA)’s associate director for Special Offerings and Appeals.

“It is the job of the General Assembly to care for our Presbyterian-related schools and colleges equipping communities of color, which was mandated at the time of Presbyterian reunion [in 1983],” said Kennedy. “It’s our job to be your advocates, to help you get your work done. We believe in the ministry and transformative power of this place. There’s a lot of hope here.”

In addition to advocating for PPAS, the PC(USA) also makes a significant contribution to the school’s livelihood, in part through the church’s Christmas Joy Offering.

The annual Christmas Joy Offering — a cherished Presbyterian tradition since the 1930s —distributes gifts equally to Presbyterian-related schools and colleges equipping communities of color and to the Assistance Program of the Board of Pensions.

Open house attendees from left to right: Ruling Elder Bill Lucks,
Covenant, San Antonio; the Rev. Dan Milford, Covenant; the Rev. Dr. Jim
Currie, PPAS Board; Jo Ann Currie, PPAS Board; and Rita Odom, retired
Certified Associate Christian Educator. (Photo by Emily Enders Odom)
Because many of the school’s intentionally international students — representing such countries as Mexico, China, South Korea, Rwanda, Taiwan and Colombia — are either Presbyterian or come from a Presbyterian tradition, King also wants to ensure that as PPAS builds a new focus on transitioning its students into higher education they know about Presbyterian-related colleges and universities.

“Because there are plenty of boarding schools to serve American students, I don’t think we want to run headlong down that path,” he said. “We do something unusual and special. We take in students from around the world who are generally barely functional in English when they arrive and graduate them four years later college ready in English. Our entirely international focus is extremely unusual. [This is] an American school like in Cairo or Tokyo, but I’m running it in south Texas.”

King added that because there are so many students the school could serve, not only Presbyterian but worldwide, they will “lean more into it” than they ever have.

PPAS’s season of renewal was already well in evidence as it opened its doors — and campus — to visitors and friends of Mission Presbytery for an open house and generous lunch as they traveled from throughout the region to the presbytery’s stated meeting at First Presbyterian Church, Brownsville.

“The spirit of renewal is exactly what today is all about,” said Bill Rutherford, a ruling elder at First Presbyterian Church of Luling, Texas, who chairs the PPAS Board of Trustees.”

Emily Enders Odom, Associate Director of Mission Communications, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

Let us join in prayer for:

  • Analise Brown, Administrative Assistant, Theology, Formation & Evangelism, Presbyterian Mission Agency 
  • Joey Brown, Ministry Engagement Associate, Direct Mail, Ministry Engagement & Support, Administrative Services Group (A Corp)

Let us pray:

God, today we follow the example set by Jesus as we say,

     Let the children come.

With their singing, dancing and acting, we say,

     Let the children come,

With their gifts, talents and all that God has created them to be, we say,

     Let the children come.

Amen.

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Today in the Mission Yearbook - New president pledges a season of renewal at Presbyterian Pan American School

Dr. W. Joseph ‘Joey’ King brings a spirit of innovation and inquiry to historic PC(USA)-related secondary school in South Texas From left to...