On September 15–16, 2023, the Adventist University of Sao Paulo (UNASP) Hortolândia campus celebrated its 74th anniversary. To commemorate this occasion, the institution prepared an event during the Friday night and Sabbath morning services. The program included the participation of the duo Dilson and Débora, the IASP Youth Choir, the UNASP Hortolândia Symphony Orchestra, Tom de Vida, and Pastor Alacy Barbosa.

Sabbath was also marked by the baptism of Isabela Correia, a ninth-grade student from the UNASP Hortolândia school. She says she has been an Adventist since she was a child but had stayed away from the church. "This year, I started going to small groups, church services at UNASP, joined the IASP Youth Choir and the Pathfinders. I soon realized that I needed to go back to where I should never have left," she says.

From the Campinas Adventist Gymnasium to the UNASP Hortolândia Campus

September 19, 1949: This day marked the beginning of the institution that Brazilian Adventists know today. On that date, the purchase of a 142-hectare (approx. 350-acre) plot of land with four brick houses, a grain store, a wattle and daub house, and 4,000 eucalyptus trees was completed, which is now home to UNASP Hortolândia. The following year, classes at the Ginasial Course (as secondary school used to be called) began with just 33 students.

In 1952, there were already 147 enrollments, reflecting the school's growth rate. At the end of the same year, on December 6, the first class of students graduated from the old GAC, and many of these students went on to study theology at Brazil Adventist College, later becoming pastors at the institution.

Despite its modest beginnings, the years went by and dreams came true. Today, UNASP Hortolândia has more than 3,500 students in basic education, 1,500 students in higher education, 400 enrollments in the arts program, and 1,200 in the athletics program.

Luiz Mota, the current administrative manager of UNASP Hortolândia, says he arrived at the school on January 20, 2008, with his sister and five friends from his hometown. "There's no forgetting that date," he says. He arrived to attend the third year of high school, and as soon as he graduated, he took up a degree in Physical Education, which he completed in 2012. "As a good son of UNASP, I continued studying and took postgraduate courses in Leadership, People Management, and Administration."

According to Mota, the former IASP was and continues to be very important in his life, as it was there where he developed in different areas of his life. "Here, I met my wife, had my first job, developed my artistic side [former member of the groups Tom de Vida and Prisma Brasil] and my academic side. Here, I made friends that I'll carry with me for life. Here, I continue to develop my professional skills. Here, I get closer to God," he confesses.

Cultivating Eternity

"It's been 74 years of a history that has marked the lives of many people, and, if we are celebrating this date today, it's because men and women have accepted Christ's call. This is one of the great schools that not only marks the lives of individuals, but of a community, city, and country as a whole. I'm sure that God's dreams for this institution are coming true every day," said Henrique Romanelli, general director of UNASP Hortolândia.

For Correia, who has been studying at UNASP Hortolândia since she was four years old, the school is a place that provides comfort, happiness, and peace. "That's why I decided to be baptized in this church. I have collected many special memories here, and I hope that many other people will have the chance to have good experiences in the future," she says.

Mota says that with God's blessing, UNASP Hortolândia will achieve great blessings in the coming years. "I'm sure that, just as I've been transformed by this campus, others will be, too, and we'll continue doing the work that God has given us: spreading the Gospel," he says.

For the future, Romanelli says there are many plans. "The years to come hold great achievements for us, just as they have for 74 years. May God be our Great Leader, and may we only be instruments in His hand," he concludes. The director also thanked everyone who has passed through the campus and left their mark.

The original version of this story was posted on the UNASP News Portuguese-language news site.