The History of Gem State Academy

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 capitol 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.

On that infamous day, December 7, 1941, the Japanese attacked the U.S. fleet in Pearl Harbor. For four bitter years, the superpowers struggled. 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.

The Post War Years

Along with the rest of our nation, Gem State moved forward. A bakery was built to increase student employment opportunities. That bakery has continued to expand and evolve and is now the Rhodes Bake-N-Serv Company.

In the 1960s, while John Kennedy was dreaming of putting men on the moon, and Martin Luther King Jr. was dreaming of racial harmony, the people of the Idaho Conference of Seventh-day Adventists were working to fulfill the dream of building a new campus for the aging Gem State. The beautiful old buildings were deteriorating, there was not enough room, and the city of Caldwell had grown so close to the campus that it was no longer in a rural location. It was voted that a new school should be built in a more rural area. The land chosen had been bought in previous years and was ideally situated in the country on top of a hill overlooking the Boise Valley. By the fall of 1962, the administration building, dormitories, power plant and laundry were complete enough to start school.

This year marks 40 years of this campus on the hill, and 85 years since the original campus was built. Gem State is still full of life with over 140 students in attendance this school year. The primary focus of a faith-based education with real life work training has not changed. Gem State is continuing its long tradition of strong academics with students scoring at college levels by their junior year, and over 93% of students going on to college after graduation.

Mission statement

Gem State Academy is ultimately committed to reflecting Jesus:

His teaching,

His compassion,

His intellectual acuity,

His creativity,

His leadership,

His example,

His sacrifice,

and His grace.