New Principal at RMES

Evelyn Savory tackles new school year

Evelyn Savory was raised in a small mining town in Guyana by Anglican and Catholic parents. The town was too small to have regular church services, but their home was strictly Catholic.

The principal of the town’s school was a Seventh-day Adventist. “He was my mentor,” says Savory. “He really lived his faith and ran our little public school like an Adventist school. Several students were baptized because of his influence—including me. That was the beginning of my journey.”

Savory was introduced to Adventist education when students from Caribbean Union College (CUC), now University of the Southern Caribbean, came home to Guyana and raved about their school. Later, while attending her first Bible camp, the pastor spoke about CUC and the benefits of Adventist education and captured Savory's imagination. She quit her job, became a literature evangelist, and at the beginning of the semester enrolled at CUC. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in elementary education and served as a missionary. After immigrating to the United States, She earned a master’s degree in education administration and curriculum & instruction from Atlantic Union College while teaching full-time.

As a new Seventh-day Adventist Savory pledged to go wherever the Lord calls. She has served for 33 years as teacher and/or principal of a number of Seventh-day Adventist schools in the Caribbean and the United States. Savory is passionate about service and embraces her work with commitment to making a difference in the lives she touches.

Obeying the call to further hone her skills, Savory enrolled in the PhD program in leadership at Andrews University. “I chose the leadership program at Andrews because it is job-embedded so it caters to the working person,” she says.

While at Andrews, Savory served in the School of Education as internship coordinator and teacher at the University Center for Reading, Learning & Assessment. She also worked as a substitute teacher with Berrien RESA, Andrews Academy and Ruth Murdoch Elementary School (RMES). She also found time for activities such as serving on the Lake Union Accreditation team and making presentations for webinars with the Department of Leadership team in the School of Education.

Savory’s leadership philosophy is encapsulated in the acronym OPEN. Ownership: you’re vested. Partnership: we’re doing this together. Empower: build capacity, provide resources and support. Nurture: my responsibility as a leader. Given her experience as an administrator, Savory knows about the challenges facing Christian education and parents who struggle to keep their children in our system.

Savory plans to promote RMES’s unique education philosophy which she has dubbed “STEAMS,” an extension of what many recognize as STEM: Science, Technology, Engineering and Math, but with Arts and Spirituality added. She also wants to revitalize RMES as the laboratory school for Andrews University, and to foster continuous quality improvement with an emphasis on best practices for teacher and student development.

“I’ve always told God I am open to Him and His plans for me,” she says. “Today, I am just as open to Him using me, in concert with our teachers and staff, to keep RMES moving on the trajectory of excellence and a commitment to educate our children for here and eternity.”