Pine Tree Academy

10/13/2026

Come join the fun at Pine Tree Academy's Fall Festival on Sunday, October 25!

10/02/2026

Students, faculty, and parents had a great time today at the Color Run, a student association-organized event for the entire school! Students ran and walked to raise money for the elementary school boiler replacement and student financial aid to be split 50/50. After students worked hard to raise money, they ran one last stretch to get covered with colored baking power for fun!

There's still time to donate to the Color Run (deadline is Oct. 9) at the link below!

By Pine Tree Academy

09/09/2026

Today, Pine Tree Academy is incredibly grateful to receive a generous gift of $150,000 from the Ken & Mabel Brace Foundation to support student financial aid for this school year! 🎉🎉🎉

We are deeply thankful to the Ken & Mabel Brace Foundation for believing in our students and investing in their education, growth, and future. The Foundation's generosity will make a lasting difference in the lives of numerous students this year! ❤️

We thank the Ken & Mabel Brace Foundation for partnering with us in our mission of Christian education and blessing our students in such a meaningful way!

Pictured: Tim Schnelle, board member from the Ken & Mabel Brace Foundation, gives the presentation check to Erika Randall, Development Director, and Brendan Krueger, Principal, of Pine Tree Academy.

Ken & Mabel Brace Foundation, Inc.
Pine Tree Academy Alumni

09/04/2026

It's hard to believe we are winding down the second week of school already! Students are settling into their new routines and class schedules, and the school year is in full swing!

Before we go too far into the school year, we cannot forget to thank those who helped us prepare for it.

A very special thanks to Wayne Harlow with helpers Jerry Kneller, Marc Clapp, and Spencer Chase for the many hours of cleaning and repainting the inside of the gym ceiling. What a huge improvement it makes! We also had LED light bulbs installed in the gym light fixtures. Take a look up when you are next visiting in the gym to see the improvements! And be sure to thank these faithful helpers.

A shout-out also to Dan Miller and Moore Painting; Barbara Chase; and Brendan Krueger for sprucing up the English/Registrar room with a fresh coat of paint. Looks great!

We also want to acknowledge and thank Kyle Kossick and Garrett Trubey for installing the new sandbox on our playground. It looks great and the children love it!

And thank you to all our volunteers who helped us beautify our campus before school began. (Note: not all who participated are pictured.) We had a big turnout and nearly completed a long list of projects before noon! A special shout-out to Bobby Jackson for spending extra time beautifying the grounds. It's wonderful to start the new school year with a lovely-looking campus.

We appreciate all our volunteers and your support of Pine Tree Academy. We couldn't do it without you!🥰

08/31/2026

08/16/2026

BAKE SALE today! Come to the bake sale today in Freeport from 12-4pm at the hot dog cart near Polo on Main Street, in honor of Mr. Ed Goodman. A neighbor of the Goodmans has organized it and proceeds are graciously being donated to Pine Tree Academy for student financial assistance. Come enjoy a delicious treat in honor of Mr. Goodman.

08/07/2026

We are heartbroken to share the news of Ed Goodman’s passing on the evening of August 5. Ed died while riding his motorcycle after experiencing what investigators believe may have been a medical event.

For more than three decades, Ed was a beloved part of the Pine Tree Academy family. He taught science to students in grades 7–12 for 30 years before retiring from teaching in 2013. But retirement did not end his service to PTA. For the past several years, Ed continued to be a familiar face at the school as a bus driver, faithfully transporting scores of students from the Portland area.

Ed was much more than a teacher or bus driver. He loved Jesus, cared deeply about his students, and lived out his faith in a way that had a powerful influence on those around him. Over the years, he touched the lives of generations of students, colleagues, church members, and friends.

For NNEC President Gary Blanchard, Ed’s influence was personal. Having once been a student in Ed’s classroom, he reflected:
“I will never forget sitting in his biology classes as a freshman and feeling like he cared deeply for his students - not only about their learning, but about their salvation. Ed loved the Lord, and that zeal never waned. He was the kind of guy you wanted to be like when you grew up. The only comfort we can find in this deeply sad news is the promise that we are ‘not home yet.’ Even so, come, Lord Jesus!”

Pine Tree Academy Principal Brendan Krueger reflected on the loss being felt throughout the school community and on the friendship he personally shared with Ed:
“On behalf of the faculty, staff, and students of Pine Tree Academy, I offer heartfelt condolences to the Goodman family. Ed Goodman was an important and valued member of our church community and school family. On a personal note, I thoroughly enjoyed my ongoing discussions with Ed on current events and spiritual matters. In addition to other things, I will miss his love of life, his curiosity, his passionate Christianity, his being part of the school team, as well as his scintillating conversations.”

NNEC Education Superintendent Mark Bugbee spoke of the impact Ed made through his many years of service:
“The NNEC Department of Education wants to express its heartfelt sympathies to the Goodman family for the loss of Ed. He left an impactful legacy at Pine Tree Academy and in the local community. He will be sorely missed, but we look forward to the reunion with our brother Ed in the Blessed Hope when Jesus comes again.”

We invite our entire Northern New England Conference family to join us in lifting up the Goodman family, the Pine Tree Academy community, and all who knew and loved Ed in prayer during this difficult time.

We grieve this tremendous loss, but we do so holding tightly to the same hope Ed cherished - the day when Jesus will return and death and sin will be no more. Until then, we thank God for Ed, for the life he lived, and for the difference he made in so many lives.

07/10/2026

Pine Tree Academy families! Looking for a fun and spiritual activity for your children this summer? Send your children to Vacation Bible School, where they will hear Bible stories, create crafts, participate in games, eat light snacks, and have fun with other kids! See you there!

07/07/2026

Praise God for the rich spiritual experience students receive at Pine Tree Academy! Spirituality at the school is relevant, active, and meaningful for the students, helping them to build a personal connection with Jesus.

PTA chaplain and Bible teacher James Reid was recently published in a North America Division digital newsletter about a spiritual initiative he is implementing with the students this coming school year, aligning with the NAD campaign OneVoice27*.

Below is the article Reid wrote, pasted from the NAD publication:

Turning Screens Into Mission Fields

"When I watched the OneVoice 27 launch video in the spring of 2026, I was full of excitement. Eager for our students to participate, I showed the launch video during my “Introduction to Speech” class near the start of the 4th quarter of this past school year. Then I introduced a new challenge: What if we embraced this as a shared mission?

I asked that any student with a special media presence consider and challenge themselves to intentionally use it to share the everlasting gospel. That also meant beginning the work of “purging” their accounts, clearing or reshaping content so that their platforms could support Christ-centered messages rather than just self-expression.

Following that, students got a practical assignment designed to help them turn faith into words they could confidently communicate. Using a program that could turn our 28 fundamental beliefs into short, thought-provoking scripts, I created mini scripts for students to memorize and practice. The goal wasn’t simply to post content; it was to engage people with Bible-based ideas that would draw them toward the next step of study.

Students went to work. Some memorized the provided scripts word-for-word, while others created variations of their own. Early on, I wanted them to experience what it feels like to be prepared, because preparation creates momentum. It also reinforced the importance of working as part of a worldwide collective, all moving toward the same purpose, across different backgrounds and time zones.

Why begin so early? Because many of our students already have digital footprints, and for some who feel nervous about speaking in person, a screen can be a safety net. We need to remember that God can use these modern platforms just as powerfully as traditional settings. Many young people who are not in the sphere of influence of Christianity rarely have digital media geared to them by people their age.

The heart of the mission remains the same: share Christ, reintroduce the Savior, encourage people to draw nearer, and invite others into Bible study. And students who don’t have an online presence can now help prepare lessons, prepare to preach, or lead in some in-person, pre-post, or post-evangelistic modality.

We are already preparing for what comes next. We already have some short video content ready to post at the beginning of 2027. This content is designed to build anticipation and support the following school year, when the September 2027 event will be in full effect.

This is also why I’m taking this assignment seriously now. As we enter the new school year, we are gearing up to begin filming more regularly and capture youth-led messages to support the worldwide September 27 campaign. We’re praying and prepping now, so when September 2027 arrives, we won’t be scrambling to get ready. We’ll be prepared to reap the harvest and celebrate what God does through willing hearts.

Thanks to this mission, our students are learning how to turn that faith into a bold mission. Something that’s in the arena, many of them have been in for a while, but this gives them a way to harness it to share the message to a fallen world."

*September 2027 marks the 2,000th anniversary of Jesus Christ's baptism. To mark this historic occasion, the Seventh-day Adventist Church is launching a global initiative--OneVoice 27. It is designed as a clarion call to the Seventh-day Adventist Church around the world to speak with one voice, lifting up the ministry, death, resurrection, ascension, and high-priestly ministry of Jesus, through special events, digital outreach, acts of service, literature, and personal witness.