Gem State Adventist Academy - History

History

In the early 1900s, the Seventh-day Adventist Church was in its formative years. Its leaders placed a great deal of importance on providing schools for the youth where the Bible would be made the foundation of education. There, the young people could be prepared for a life of serving God and their fellowman. The schools were to be built in rural locations and emphasis was to be placed upon physical labor as well as mental and spiritual development to keep the students balanced and healthy.

In Idaho, this resulted in building Gem State Academy during the summer of 1918. The site chosen was in Caldwell, which was then a thriving little city of about 5000 people, one half hour from the capital city, Boise.

Besides the traditional three R's, the students received training in all sorts of practical skills such as woodworking, first aid, sewing, cooking, mechanics and farming. They also pursued religious studies and engaged in many service projects where they acquired practical experience in serving people in need and sharing the message of God's love. The school thrived and grew.

The Great Depression brought trying times for the school. Even the small tuition fee of $21.45 per month became more than most parents could afford. Some paid entrance fees with a horse or a cow or a load of beans or apples. The principal, W.S. Boynton, took steps to create more student employment opportunities. A greenhouse and truck garden was begun in 1931. The students raised vegetables to sell door-to-door and commercially. Large quantities of celery and carrots were shipped by railway freight to be sold in other areas. Much of the food for the students came from those gardens as well. The students worked hard. In 1932, a cannery was begun in the basement of the church elementary school on the property. Fruits and vegetables were canned for use at the school, custom canning was done for area residents, and surplus corn and other vegetables were canned in large quantities and sold or bartered to local merchants. Campus wages in the early 1930s were 12 cents an hour for boys and 10 cents an hour for girls.

At Gem State, the 1941 and 1942 yearbooks were dedicated to those students and former students who had gone to serve in the war, some of whom had been killed in action.