Auburn Adventist Academy - Rainier Vista Yearbook (Auburn, WA)

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Historical Sketch Western Washington Academy has completed its seventh year, having first opened its doors in the fall of 1919. At the conference session the summer pre¬ viously, meeting at Manitou Park, South Tacoma, the lack of adequate facilities for giving a Christian edu¬ cation to the young people of the conference was thor¬ oughly discussed, and finally the conference under the leadership of Elder Piper, the president, voted to raise a fund for the establishment of a school in this vicinity. Elder Geo. F. Enoch, returned missionary from India, was put in charge of a campaign to raise the necessary money, and in January of 1919, a special session of the conference convened and authorized the establishment of the school. A site near Auburn was chosen and the building erected during the sum¬ mer of 1919. Professor Lyle C. Shepard, now president of the Manitoba conference, was the first principal, remain¬ ing one year. He was followed by Professor Lyle C. Wilcox, now in China, who remained two years. Pro¬ fessor Wilcox had been the preceptor during the first year of the school ' s existence. In 1922, Professor H. H. Hamilton, who was then on the faculty of Walla Walla College, was called to take up the work page twelve

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Emma Has kin, B. A. English ; Registrar Violet Scott, B. A. Science and Mathematics C. Lloyd Tupper, B. A. Farm Manager, Agriculture Mildred Wyman Piano Elder C. A. Wyman Bible, Baking, Gardening B. S. Whitepiouse Cook Clara Silver Sewing

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and rendered faithful and efficient service until the summer of 1925, when he was called to take the pres¬ idency of the Southern Junior College, at Ooltewah, Tenn. In addition to the three men mentioned above, Brother George L. Kingsbury should be credited with doing a great deal for the school, both during the three years when he was business manager, and since. In the spring of 1921, on the evening of May 6, fire destroyed the main building, which at that time included the class rooms and both student dormitories. The fire occurred at ten o’clock on a Friday evening, and in a few hours the entire structure was consumed. During the ensuing summer, the work of recon¬ struction was pushed with energy, with the result that a commodious administration building and a girls’ dormitory were in readiness for the opening of school in the fall. The buildings now consist of two separate dor¬ mitories in addition to the administration building, a woodwork shop, separate engine-room and green house, and four cottages for use of teachers. The location of the school is unusually attractive on the edge of a plateau overlooking the Green Fiver valley, with the snow-covered Olympics visible to the west, and beautiful Mount Rainier dominating the landscape toward the east. The Academy farm con¬ sists of about seventy acres, much of which is im¬ proved and growing good crops. We have several acres in berries of various kinds, besides the area used for hay, oats, corn, potatoes, and market gardens. The berries are canned for the use of the student din¬ ing room. The market gardens supply fresh vegetables for the table during a large part of the school year. About ten cows, largely Holstein, furnish the students with excellent milk. The entire work of preparing the soil, planting, cultivating, and gathering the crops, is done by stud¬ ents, under the supervision of a competent farm man¬ ager. A class in agriculture supplies the theory of the work, the nature and treatment of soils, the care of livestock, etc., while the practical application is made on the farm. The Administration building contains, in addition to offices, music studios, and smaller class rooms, four class rooms large enough to hold fifty to seventy- five students comfortably, and a commodious chapel seating 200 or more. Also a large room is devoted to housing the library of between two and three thou¬ sand volumes. The buildings are set in a campus of several acres of lawn, inset with numerous flowers and shrubs, fringed on three sides with evergreen trees of various kinds. —Claude A. Shull, Principal. page thirteen