Upper Columbia Academy is a coeducational Seventh-day Adventist boarding and day high school in Spangle, about 20 miles south of Spokane. Founded in 1945 after Yakima Valley Academy closed for structural reasons, UCA is owned and operated by the Upper Columbia Conference of Seventh-day Adventists and serves roughly 270 students in grades 9-12.
Within the Pacific Northwest Adventist school system — what Adventist publications describe as the world's second-largest Christian school system — UCA's peers are the other conference academies: Auburn Adventist Academy in Washington, Columbia Adventist Academy in Battle Ground, Walla Walla Valley Academy, and (until its 2019 partnership with UCA) Livingstone Adventist Academy in Oregon. Families select among these on faith identity and geography rather than head-to-head academic ranking. UCA is therefore not in the same competitive set as the secular boarding options like The Northwest School or Annie Wright Schools.
The campus sits on rural acreage and operates a working farm used for experiential learning. Programs include AP and honors courses, six varsity sports (soccer, volleyball, basketball, golf among them), choir and music ensembles, and conference-organized mission trips. Boarders come from the Inland Northwest, Seattle, and increasingly internationally; The Spokesman-Review profiled a Honduran UCA student in 2024.
Open this school on the live map