MBA Beginnings | Monterey Bay Academy

In 1938, the National Guard relocated the 250th Coast Artillery Regiment to a 380-acre beachfront property on San Andreas Rd. outside of Watsonville, California. Named in memory of a well known and beloved military chaplain, Joseph P. McQuaide, Camp McQuaide was the designated Coast Artillery Training Center for WW II and became the official stockade for stateside army AWOLs. After ten years of service, Camp McQuaide was decommissioned and considered surplus.

The government tried to sell the property to Santa Cruz County for the bargain price of $1 strictly for the development of a junior college, and later the property was offered to the State Division of Parks for the development of a state park. Both offers fell through however, and the property laid waiting for someone with a vision big enough for this very special place.

In 1948, a Seventh-day Adventist pastor from Chowchilla, CA named Leal Grunke, learned of the government’s decision to close Camp McQuaide. Grunke was the procurement officer for the Central California Conference of Seventh-day Adventists and after he saw the location for the first time, he immediately was impressed with its suitability for a boarding academy. He met some opposition from different church officials, but his persistence, faith and commitment won out in the end and he was given the green light to pursue the property.

Having the green light from church officials did not necessarily mean the government had given Grunke the same green light. There were several, sometimes weekly trips from Chowchilla to San Francisco where the War Assets Administration was located. Grunke had many meetings with the general who was in charge of selling the property to the highest bidder, which included several wealthy land developers. Grunke had his challenges, but he had supporters too, one of them being Mr. John P. Gifford of the U.S. Department of Education. With the help of Mr. Gifford and Grunke’s persistence, the Seventh-day Adventist Church was awarded Camp McQuaide for conversion into a school facility on August 13, 1948. The cost? Contrary to popular church tradition, no money was paid. Not even the bargain $1 the government had asked of Santa Cruz County earlier that year. According to a War Assets Administration document MBA was purchased at no cost. “In legal terminology…the camp will be 'sold' at 100% discount.”

There was little time for celebrating however, as there was much work to be done. A very clear condition of the transaction was that the Seventh-day Adventist Church develop the land into the school laid out in its proposal. This was no small task considering the remains of Camp McQuaide included over 600 old buildings and acres of cement. Despite the pristine location, Monterey Bay Academy did not start out as an aesthetically pleasing campus. There was so much work to be done, some folks unkindly labeled the endeavor as “Grunke’s Folly.” The good pastor never faltered however, and with the help of his wife, Ruth, persevered until his vision was realized. Monterey Bay Academy was established in 1949, only a year after Grunke and his wife had begun to convert the campus into a school. The school’s motto “Where land and sea unite to inspire,” was created by Ruth, while the school’s name, Monterey Bay Academy, was chosen by Pastor Grunke.

Since 1949, Monterey Bay Academy has served as a place of learning and spiritual growth for more than 8,000 students and has seen 95% of those students go on to college and a variety of careers. As a part of the world's largest protestant school system (there are more than 5,000 Seventh-day Adventist schools around the globe) MBA has continued to grow and develop into a fully functional school facility for boarding and day students. MBA?s classrooms, library and assembly auditorium are kept current with emerging educational technologies. The grounds, which include 3/4 mile of private beach, are beautifully kept, with expansive lawns, flower beds and Monterey Pine and coastal Cypress trees that frame amazing views of the Pacific Ocean from almost any location on campus. Through the continued support of a very committed alumni, the girls' and boys' dorms, cafeteria, music department, and library have recently all undergone extensive renovations.

More than 55 years later, Grunke’s vision is still being realized as MBA continues to look for new ways to give students a top notch education and every opportunity to experience the eternal benefits of a relationship with their Creator. No one explains this vision as well as Pastor Grunke himself:

“I believe God selected the site by the sea for a boarding academy. Take a boy or girl from ordinary pursuits, teach them faith and confidence in God, and they can go from MBA and do extraordinary things in God’s name.”