The AETech team was honored to host a booth in the Phoenix Convention Center Exhibit Hall at this summer’s NAD Educators’ Convention in Phoenix, AZ. The team set out to cast a vision for schools to better understand how they can connect with their communities through the creation and sharing of rich media and unique content. Equipment from Richmond Academy and Burton Adventist Academy were brought in to create a podcast studio and “show and tell” style booth where educators from across the division were able to try out various gear, learn about work flow and cost, and walk away with a plan for how they might improve their school’s ability to create shareable media content to better tell their story. Over the course of three days in the exhibit hall, hundreds of educators stopped by the booth to begin formulating their plans. The booth also offered the opportunity for schools to create a school promo video in partnership with the neighboring ALC mobile podcast studio and ALC support team. Whether through “catching the vision” or creating school promo videos, visitors to the booth walked away enriched from the experience and better equipped to share the good news of Adventist Education with their communities.

In addition to the primary AETech booth, a partnership with ALC in their neighboring booth allowed the team to plan and record an entire podcast season of 12 episodes during the convention. A stellar group of educators and leaders from across the Division served as both guests and hosts for the podcast which aims to deliver key messaging and content for parents of students in Adventist schools, as well as for parents of prospective students. Topics included a focus on mental health, spiritual development, math, reading and various others, each selected to better equip and inform parents while driving deep the message and uniqueness of Adventist Education. Look for the coming release of this podcast season intended to be shared across the Division to help schools bring quality, unique content to their communities.

Aaron Long

As part of the administrative team at Burton Adventist Academy in Arlington Texas, Aaron Long currently serves as the Director of Recruitment and Development as well as the Southwestern Union TDEC representative. He graduated in 2002 from Southwestern Adventist University with a BA in Religion, and in 2017 obtained his Masters in Instructional Design and Technology from Walden University. Aaron loves building teams and creating systems for long-term success!

Desmond Suarez

Desmond Suarez teaches Bible, Computers, History, and videography at Richmond Academy. He graduated from Southern Adventist University with a Bachelor's in Religious Education and Florida State University with a master's in instructional design. He is passionate about helping students and educators be the best they can be.