Bob Jones University education majors, along with staff member Daniel Dillard and his wife Aimee (back left), attended the South Carolina Association of Christian Schools convention in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, in late September 2025. Photo submitted.
At the end of September, I had the opportunity to attend the Southeastern Association of Christian Schools convention. Nearly 1,000 Christian school teachers from Tennessee, Kentucky and Alabama gathered at Gatlinburg, Tennessee, to learn ways to modify their teaching methods and to meet fellow Christian educators.
I attended this convention with six other education majors from Bob Jones University, led by BJU education staff member Daniel Dillard and his wife, Aimee. This opportunity was made possible by the Ashford Rexroad Christian Educator’s Scholarship in honor of the 1960 BJU School of Education graduate and paid for by a generous donor. The donor also provided the all-expense paid trip to the convention.
The convention began on Wednesday with a general session filled with singing, worship and a sermon by Kurt Shelly, lead pastor at Faith Baptist Church in Fredericksburg, Virginia. After this session was the opening of the Exhibit Hall, an opportunity for numerous universities and companies to market products for teachers, such as textbooks, insurance and lollipops.
The next day was packed with informational workshops tailored to teachers on different paths of life. All workshops were broken into five main categories: general, administrative, preschool, elementary and secondary. Some topics for these workshops included handling burnout, classroom management and effectively presenting the Gospel. Because I am a math education major, I was able to focus my schedule on subjects most applicable to me, emphasizing secondary level advice and mathematical themes. These workshops lasted all morning, while the afternoon and evening were available to enjoy Gatlinburg and the surrounding area.
We finished the last day of the conference with a few more workshops and a closing general session.
I am so grateful for the time I spent at the SACS convention. I loved the opportunity to meet current educators and learn from their experiences. I was inspired by the dedication and faithfulness of these teachers as they tirelessly work to pour into their students every day. Seeing their passion and drive to inspire their students encourages me to anticipate the future God has for me and the other education majors at BJU.