The King’s Academy
Ethan Johnson spent his spring break in Rio Grande, Texas, working in a food pantry and doing small construction jobs at a church that served those in need. Nate Plata helped to build a house in Tecate, Mexico.
And they returned back from their week away with a new outlook, and a different perspective. Those seemingly difficult daily tasks – like juggling a full course load at The King's Academy and a baseball season that at times can seem bigger than life – were suddenly viewed as privileges.
Plata admits it lasted for about an hour before he was lulled back into the comforts of life in the south Peninsula. But he also knows that his trip – where he manned the saw and mastered the art of cutting wood to precise measurements – gave him a glimpse of the long-term change he eventually wants.
"I want to get to that point again," he said. "I want to feel like I do when I give this whole thing to God and live through him. That's what I was trying to do, trying to live through God and do all this for him.
"I got back home, and I forgot about it."
A little grace toward himself is warranted, says Joe Maemone, the athletic director at The King's Academy.
"That's the human part to all of this," he said, noting that the emotion of the moment might wane, but the memory lives forever. "... When you reminisce about it, it brings you right back to how you're feeling. That's why it's so good to be reminded."
And with his trip still fresh in his mind, Johnson said, he articulated just how lucky he is to live in a place where his daily toils have nothing to do with finding his next meal or where he might sleep that night. Or God forbid, how he might stay safe and keep his family out of harm.
"Compared to other battles that people have, our lives are easy," said Johnson, the senior first baseman who will play in the fall at the University of Missouri. "They're fighting pretty much for their lives out there. They don't have what we have, unfortunately."
That newfound perspective along with the bonding with classmates who they might have only seen in the halls were the residual effects of The King's Academy's annual service trips.
Each spring, the Sunnyvale campus virtually closes down – a few grade levels remain – as its student body spans the globe to do its share of making the world a better place.
Late last month, students from The King's Academy took part in 13 outreach programs. That put a hold on all athletic seasons as students went everywhere from Belize to Japan to the Philippines. They built houses in Mexico, helped on the U.S.-Mexico border and worked on hurricane cleanup, which continues in western North Carolina and Tennessee.
They came back with a life experience – and for an underclassman like Plata, the excitement of where he might go next year and what he might be able to do to serve humanity.
"I've done charity work before, but this was my first time in another country," said Plata, the reigning Peninsula Athletic League Bay Division's player of the year who recently committed to play baseball at UC-Davis. "I liked Mexico a lot. There were just good people there and I liked building a house. I like building stuff, a big project for people. It's doing a lot for someone, but I'd rather do something really big with a big group of people."
The service trips were the brainchild of the late Paul Spates, a member of The King's Academy board and a one of its founders. In 1993, 27 students caravanned to Tecate to build a house. Since then, The King's Academy has made the annual trip there and built about 400 houses.
Members Discussion