Gem State Adventist Academy

GSAA is an accredited high school offering college-prep courses with a uniquely Seventh-day Adventist perspective. Students are given opportunities to engage in service and develop a life-long passion for helping others and giving back to their community. Students are trained for leadership, gaining knowledge and experience to help them be successful leaders in their family, church, and career. Above all else, GSAA strives to prepare students for Eternity, focusing our academics, athletics, and extra-curricular activities by encouraging developing a relationship with Jesus Christ.

To sustain a culture and environment that results in servant leaders who emanate spiritual commitment, personal integrity, academic rigor, and lifelong success. Gem State Adventist Academy encourages a balance between recognizing students' dignity and individuality and the responsibility that students bear for their conduct about others' rights. Inherent in this balance is the need for students to fulfill their responsibilities to themselves for their personal development, other students as members of the group, and the school community in general. The "Love and Logic" philosophy further requires that responsible action be taken and learning choices provided to protect students from situations that may be disruptive to the educational process, potentially dangerous to an individual's mental or physical well-being, or destructive school property. Parents continue to play a significant role in supporting and contributing to the success of their students. Thus, students, parents, teachers, and staff must work closely and in harmony to achieve lasting results.

In June of 1918, the Idaho Conference of Seventh-day Adventists' constituents determined to build a boarding school where young people could be educated in a Christian environment. Later that month, seventeen acres of semi-rural land was purchased at Linden Street and Indiana Avenue in Caldwell, Idaho. The land was chosen because it was quickly accessible by rail and because its soil was fertile and easily irrigated. The plan was to develop a farm where students could be employed to help pay their tuition.

Despite challenging conditions caused by World War I, construction began immediately. As the first cornerstone was laid, a Bible was placed in the chapel steps' left pillar, which was then cemented in place. This Bible was to serve as a symbol of light and truth to the hundreds of students who were to walk through the doors of Gem State Academy. That fall, 1918, 30 students enrolled. The new school thrived and grew during its first decade, and by the spring of 1930, enrollment had climbed to above 100.

Our mission is to Engaging in Service. Training in Leadership. Preparing for Eternity and vision sustains culture and environment, resulting in servant leaders who emanate spiritual commitment, personal integrity, academic rigor, and lifelong success. Our objectives are

• Sustain a distinctly Seventh-day Adventist culture in values and beliefs, recognizing God as the ultimate source of existence and truth.
• Cultivate an atmosphere that promotes self-worth and healthy relationships.
• Uphold a Christ-centered environment that is safe, spiritually, emotionally, socially, academically, and physically.
• Choose a Christ-like lifestyle.
• Choose service as a way of life.
• Become decisive thinkers and not mere reflectors of others' thoughts.
• Acquire skills and knowledge to succeed in relationships, parenting, trades, professions, or whatever they choose to do.