The History

Lynwood Academy, a coeducational day school on the senior high school level was situated on 36 acres of level ground on Imperial Highway near Atlantic Boulevard in Lynwood, California. It was owned by the Southern California Conference and was operated by a board with representation from the 33 churches in the southern portion of Los Angeles County, which it served. Its constituency membership then was 8,878; the student enrollment was 377; total school staff was 36 teachers/administration, 26 assistants, and 10 bus drivers, at the 11081 Harris Avenue in Lynwood, California.

Forerunners of Lynwood were, Los Angeles SDA Academy, founded in 1923 at 3210 Post Street in Los Angeles and Long Beach Academy established in 1925 at 1880 Dawson Avenue in Long Beach. The last chairmen of the two boards were respectively C.E. Kellogg, M.D. , and Scott Donaldson.

In 1937, David Voth, president of the Southern California Conference, B.M. Emerson, conference treasurer; C.D. Striplin, principal of Los Angeles Academy, and W.S. Potts, principal of Long Beach Academy, actively promoted plans for the combined school. Construction began in November, under the leadership of F.W. Paap, building superintendent; C.J. Kjose, contractor; and Clinton Nourse, architect.

The cafeteria and manual arts building, the administration building, and the large camp meeting pavilion and school gymnasium were completed before the school opened on September 6, 1938. Work soon began on Rupp Memorial Chapel-a gift from Mrs. Emma Rupp in memory of her late husband, John Rupp, a Los Angeles businessman-which provided, besides the school chapel, facilities for the Lynwood church and the music department. There followed an auto mechanics building (1939), physical education locker (1953), shower rooms (1954), and a two-classroom unit (1962). Buildings were of Spanish architecture, in a cream-colored stucco with red roofs. Throughout the years the conference use these facilities, school buildings, and grounds for its annual camp meetings.

In June 1963, the Rupp Memorial Chapel was destroyed by fire of undetermined origin. The Lynwood SDA Church and the academy shared the costs of rebuilding, and jointly controlled, the new, modern Rupp Memorial, which was completed in September of 1965.

Lynwood Academy offered a strong academic course in preparation for both college and vocational fields. Instruction included five years of English, mathematics, and home arts; three in commerce, industrial arts, and Science studies; plus many other one and two-year courses. From the beginning, the academy was accredited by the University of California at Berkelely and the SDA Board of REgents; in 1962, the school joined the newly formed Western Association of Schools and Colleges ((WASC), replacing the accreditation by the University of California.

Earlier school papers, The Breakers (Long Beach) and Los Angeles Academy Broadcaster, were succeeded in December 1938 by the Lynwood Log (eight issues a year). The school annual, The Shipmate, was first published in 1948.

The general board was composed of the pastor and one member chosen by each constituent church; the local conference presidient, secretary, treasurer, association and education secretaries, and union conference education secretaries; the school principal, vice-rincipal, and accountant. The operating board consisted of 17 members including the board officers chosen by the general board. The first board chairman was William Gutrhie.

In 1993, the campus of Lynwood Academy was closed due to the state of California’s eminent domain claim to relocate the City of Lynwood’s High School to our beloved academy’s campus site. The Southern California Conference elected to relocate Lynwood Academy on the campus of Los Angeles Union SDA school. Through the merger of these two institutions, a new school was formed known today as Los Angeles Adventist Academy (LAAA).

Today, many students who would have graduated from Lynwood have continued their Christian education on the campus of Los Angeles Adventist Academy. It is here that we continue to preserve those memories of our alma mater, Lynwood Academy, through the union of our institutions as we join in God’s work of “Christian Character Building” through the dedication of the faculty and staff at Los Angeles Adventist Academy.

VISIT: Lynwood Alumni website at :  https://lynwoodacademy.com/

Los Angeles Adventist Academy was established in response to the biblical injunction “and all thy children shall be taught of the Lord.” Consequently, the school continues to draw inspiration from its miraculous past as it celebrates a remarkable present and anticipates a prosing future. The tradition of excellence had its beginning in a small elementary school which became a junior academy that expanded into a senior academy. The institution traces its origins to 1923 when Eugene Walker opened a one teacher school behind the sanctuary of the Watts Seventh-day Adventist Church. Although the school closed in 1925, it reopened in 1929 under the leadership of Alma Claiborne. In spite of the Great Depression, a committed congregation solemnly resolved that Adventist education in South Los Angeles would never again cease to exist. Increased enrollment resulted in Helen Mortenson and Mabel Branch Webb joining the instructional staff during that period.

In 1936, the Wadsworth Church, now University Church, joined forces with the Watts Church, now Normandie Church, to move the school of seventy-two students to 35th and Naomi streets in Los Angeles. Jean Oldham Smith was teaching principal with Ursula Berry and Violet Willis working with her. In 1939, the school became Los Angeles Junior Academy when it added grades 9 and 10 with Joseph Francis Dent as principal. By 1946, the student body had grown to the extent that it became necessary to construct larger facilities in South Los Angeles on El Segundo Boulevard, midway between Avalon Boulevard and Central Avenue. Los Angeles Junior Academy thus became Los Angeles Academy offering grades 1-12 at its new location under the leadership of Professor Dent.

Although the Class of 1947 attended no classes on the unfinished El Segundo Boulevard campus, outdoor commencement was conducted in front of the administration building. The first class to graduate from the completed chapel/auditorium, however, was the Class of 1948. Upon elimination of its secondary division, the school operated as Los Angeles Union SDA School from 1955 until 1993 when Lynwood Academy transferred operations to the Los Angeles campus. This transfer resulted from eminent domain proceedings by the Lynwood Unified School District which needed academy property for construction of a public high school. In 1993, Los Angeles Union SDA School officially became Los Angeles Adventist Academy.

This historic school has now become the fourth largest of the 21 schools in the Southern California Conference. Annual statistics indicate that over 90 percent of academy graduates enroll in schools of higher learning while over 75 percent earn degrees and enter service-oriented professions. Countless alumni from every walk of life including ministry, medicine, law, education, journalism, business, fine arts, psychology, engineering, technology, and trades represent decades of commitment to excellence at this prestigous institution.

Additionally, the academy takes pride in having furnished Oakwood College/University with four distinguished presidents: Frank Loris Peterson, former board chair; Garland J. Millet, former English teacher; Calvin Rock, president of Class of 1948; and Delbert Baker, former elementary student. Each of these leaders later became a Vice-President in the world church of Seventh Day Adventist at the General Conference level.