A teaching career might bring any number of unique experiences, but Josh Bonifant’s new job at Peninsula Adventist Elementary School, 255 Medsker Road in Sequim, is unusual not because of his current students but because of a pupil who occupied his classroom years ago: his own wife.
“It’s kind of a funny, full-circle thing for us because she grew up here,” he said.
The Bonney Lake native is the school’s recently hired principal and teacher for grades 3-8. He is responsible for 14 of the Christian school’s 20 students. Elizabeth Smith, who teaches kindergarten through second grade, is the school’s other full time teacher.
Bonifant, 32, and his wife Mallory thought Sequim was one of the last places they would move – not because they don’t like the city or don’t want to be near Mallory’s parents, but because their plan had been to put down stakes somewhere new. A drive of a couple of hours to visit family would be good, they figured; that way, they could respond quickly if needed.
Although Mallory attended Peninsula Adventist Elementary School and spent most of her childhood in Sequim, she and Bonifant met when they both attended Auburn Adventist Academy in Auburn. Mallory was friends with Bonifant’s sister.
Bonifant graduated from Western Governors University in 2021 with a Bachelor’s of Arts degree in elementary education. He and Mallory married and settled in Puyallup, where Bonifant was on staff at Northwest Christian School (NCS). He taught Physical Education, coached and served as athletic director for three years and taught fourth grade for four years.
Bonifant said that during the time he was teaching at NCS, his pastor, who knows Mallory’s parents, kept pushing him to teach at Peninsula Adventist Elementary School. An opening came up there, but he was still hesitant even though he liked and had applied for another position in the area.
Bonifant agreed to come see the school and meet with overseers.
“The Peninsula has always kind of called my name, but it had never really worked out until this door opened,” he said. “I just felt God tugging on my heartstrings and we just went home and prayed about it. The more I thought about it, and the more we talked about it, it just felt like the place that we were supposed to be.”
Mallory said the move to Sequim “was definitely unexpected.”
“We weren’t really planning on coming back, but it just happened to work out that way,” she said. “It was perfect timing that we were looking to move anyway.”
The couple was concerned about where they would live in Sequim, considering the housing crisis on the Peninsula. Nevertheless, after Bonifant accepted the job, they put their house in Puyallup on the market and headed to Sequim with their two children, Isla and Henry, where they moved in with Mallory’s parents. Isla is three and Henry will turn two in March.
The house in Puyallup was sold on the same day the Bonifants’ offer was accepted on a house in Sequim.
“I will say it ‘til I turn red: God’s fingerprints are all over what we’re doing here,” Bonifant said. “Every door, at the right time, opened. It’s just been incredible.”
At Peninsula Adventist Elementary School, Bonifant doesn’t have all the brief breaks he had at NCS, when his students would go to music or PE or the cafeteria. He is with his students all day, including at lunch, which is eaten in the classroom.
As for the challenges of teaching multiple grades at once, Bonifant has different expectations for students at each grade level and he said he adjusts the depth in which he addresses a topic accordingly.
In the same breath, Bonifant describes his days in the classroom as both chaotic and refreshing.
“It would seem like it would contradict, but – I don’t know if it’s being out of the city – there’s just something different,” he said.
Unlike at the Puyallup school, there is no traffic zipping by, so there’s that.
“I get to look at the Olympics all day,” he said with a smile as he glanced toward the windows of his classroom.
Tuition at Peninsula Adventist Elementary School is about $5,000 per year, but help is available for families that cannot afford the tuition.
“We have scholarships through the school and sponsorship through the church, but our main thing is that we don’t let finances be the reason that someone can’t be here,” he said.
The school helps struggling families in other ways as well.
“We always make sure we have some emergency snacks, just because we do have a lower income demographic, and a few kids that have lost a parent, so they might not have the support at home that would be ideal,” Bonifant said. “We make sure we have something for them to eat here.”
The school’s doors are open to people of all faiths and even those of non-faith. For more information, visit peninsulaadventistelementaryschool.com.