ANNOUNCER: MAJOR FUNDING FOR IDAHO EXPERIENCE PROVIDED BY THE J.A.

AND KATHRYN ALBERTSON FAMILY FOUNDATION, MAKING IDAHO A PLACE TO LEARN, THRIVE AND PROSPER.

WITH ADDITIONAL SUPPORT FROM ANNE VOILLEQUÉ AND LOUISE NELSON, AND JUDY AND STEVE MEYER, THE RICHARD K. AND SHIRLEY S. HEMINGWAY FOUNDATION, THE FUTURA CORPORATION, THE FRIENDS OF IDAHO PUBLIC TELEVISION, THE IDAHO PUBLIC TELEVISION ENDOWMENT, AND THE CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING.

(Music) IN 1890, AT THE DAWN OF STATEHOOD, IDAHO FOUND ITSELF IN DEPERATE NEED OF QUALIFIED TEACHERS.

TEACHERS FOR SMALL COMMUNITIES BEING DEVELOPED BY PIONEERS AND FARMERS.

Jim Kempton: “They were a significant part of the development in Idaho.

They are equally as important as the Gold Rush that brought people to Idaho.” ALBION STATE NORMAL SCHOOL WAS THE PLACE FOR TEACHER TRAINING IN SOUTHERN IDAHO.

ITS REMOTE LANDSCAPE THAT WAS CHERISHED BY STUDENTS AND STAFF, ALSO MADE IT A CONSTANT TARGET FOR STATE BUDGET HAWKS.

Patty Gailey: “They didn¬t want the school here.

They didn¬t feel like it was a proper placeo put a school, they thought it was out in the middle of nowhere.” FOR A HALF CENTURY, ALBION STATE NORMAL SCHOOL WOULD EDUCATE THE STATE.

PROVIDING TEACHERS TO SMALL TOWNS FULL OF FUTURE LEADERS, BUSINESS OWNERS, AND BANKERS WHO HELPED DEFINE WHAT IDAHO IS TODAY.

Jim Kempton: “They were the heart of the west.

They were the ones that were coming up as children of pioneers.

They had this attitude that, yeah, we can do this if we can just be given a chance to get an education.

And this was the place to do it.” Troy Mortensen: “People who went to school here touched Idaho.

I mean, their value system, their beliefs, their direction in life and how they believed about education.

That¬s why Idaho is Idaho today, I think, is because of te teachers that came out of this system.” WHEN THE SCHOOL WAS FORCED TO CLOSE, MANY THOUGHT IT WOULD BE THE LAST TIME WE WOULD HEAR OF ALBION.

BUT WITH A STROKE OF LUCK, NEW OWNERS ARE BREATHING LIFE INTO THE HALLS OF THE OLD CAMPUS.

Heather Mortensen: “Because it is really just a quiet, litte valley that is a retreat.

It¬s d of a getaway from the hustle and bustle and from work and come here and enjoy time with your family.” Jim Kempton: “They have a vision of how to make the site a destination site and that is starting to sort of blossom” WHAT HAPPENED TO THE OLD TEACERS COLLEGE¬AND HOW IS THE CAMPUS STILL FEEDING THE SMALL IDAHO COMMUNITY THAT FOUGHT SO HARD TO KEEP IT GOING.

NEXT ON IDAHO EXPERIENCE.

(Idaho Experience Open) (Music) IN 1893 ¬ IDAHO¬S SECOND LEGISLATURE APPROVED TWO STATE TEACHER SCHOOLS.

ONE IN LEWISTON AND THE OTHER IN ALBION, A SMALL TOWN IN SOUTHERN IDAHO.

Jim Kempton: “Albion was the county seat of Cassia County at the time and some of the best growth that we had here was when we had three bars and two hotels and a newspaper and a medical office.

And those kind of things associated with a county seat.” BUT MANY IN THE LEGISLATURE WEREN¬T CONVINCED PUTTING A STATE FUNDED SCHOOL IN SUCH A REMOTE PLACE WAS A GOOD IDEA.

Jim Kempton: “There was a lot of reluctance about doing something like that, putting Legislative money into a little tiny town in the mountains.

It was the far edge of civilizatio, so to speak, in terms of Idaho” Patty Gailey: “They thought it was out in the middle of nowhere which Senator Miller pointed out to them that all of Idaho was out in the middle of nowhere.

The population all over the state was very small” COLONEL JOSIAH E. MILLER - STATE SENATOR FOR CASSIA COUNTY HAD TO CONVINCE HIS FELLOW LAWMAKERS.

Patty Gailey: “They gave them conditions that if he was able o raise the funds and get the labor to build a building on his property and hold classes for a year ¬ then they would consider it.

WHEN COLONEL MILLER RETURNED TO ALBION WITH THE LIST OF LEGISLATIVE DEMANDS, THE WHOLE TOWN GOT TO WORK.

COLONEL MILLER PERSONALLY DONATED FIVE ACRES OF LAND FOR THE SCHOOL.

FIVE ACRES IN THE MIDDLE OF MARSH BASIN, A SMALL VALLEY OF GRASS AND SAGEBRUSH MEADOWS TUCKED UNDER MOUNT HARRISON.

Jim Kempton: “So the people of Albion pulled together their resources.

They built this building.

They quarried the stone out of two sites at two ends of the valley.

And they built the 1893 building all by themselves.” THE FIRST BUILDING WAS SIMPLE, AND SMALL - BUT BIG ENOUGH TO HOLD CLASSES AND HOUSE THE SCHOOL¬S ADMINISTRATORS.

Patty Gailey: “It took around $3,000 dollars plus their own labor to build this building.

Tk about a labor of love, I think, they just so badly wanted this school here.” THE BUILDING WAS FINISHED IN 1894.

HAVING MET THE DEMANDS, COLONEL MILLER RETURNED TO BOISE SEEKING MONEY FOR THE NEW COLLEGE.

Patty Gailey: “I think they were a little surprised that he provd them wrong.” THE STATE LEGISLATURE HAD NO CHOICE BUT TO APPROVE FUNDING.

Jim Kempton: “Funding for the educators that came in to teach was rocky at best.

The Legislature was often late in sending any money.” WHILE FUNDING WAS OFTEN SLOW TO ARRIVE, THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES FOR THE SCHOOL WASTED NO TIME.

THEY HIRED A PRESIDENT THE SAME DAY THE LEGISLATURE APPROVED FUNDING.

PRESIDENT F.A.

SWANGER ARRIVED IN ALBION AND OPENED THE SCHOOL THAT FALL.

Jim Kempton: “It was a campus for the poor.

It was a campus for the people who couldn¬t afford to go to university.

And yet, at the same time, they were the heart of the west.

They were the ones that were coming up as children of pioneers.

And so they had this attitude that, yeah, we can do this if we can just be given a chance to get an education.

And this was the place to do i” BECAUSE THE TEACHER COLLEGES WERE VITAL TO THE STATE, TUITION WAS AFFORDABLE FOR ALL.

IF TEACHER CANDIDATES SIGNED A PLEDGE TO TEACH SCHOOL IN IDAHO AFTER GRADUATION.

TUITION WAS FREE.

Patty Gailey: “They did not ever turn anyone away for lack of funds.” ALBION STATE NORMAL SCHOOL WAS A SCHOOL DEDICATED TO TEACHING TEACHERS.

THE TERM NORMAL DATES BACK TO THE 1700¬S.

Mychel Matthews: “When you go to college to learn how to be a journalist, they have to teach you the rules, the standards, the ethics, all the things it ts to be a reporter.

Not just grammar and communication.

Normal Schools taught the norms or the standards of being a teacher.” IT WASN¬T EASY TO CONVINCE A TEACHER TO MOVE TO A SMALL SETTLEMENT IN IDAHO.

Mychel Matthews: “We had so few actually incorporated towns or towns as we see them today.

There were many just neighborhoods that were miles from the next neighborhood.

And all of those, many of those at least had little one room schoolhouses.

And so if you look at it that way.

We would have needed a lot of teachers and that¬s a hard life for someone.

Most people that came here were farmers, ranchers, they wanted their kids to have a better life and that meant to be a businessman or lawyer and in order to do that, they had to be educated.

And so that was the real need, again on a very common sense level.” ON A PLACE BUILT ON MINING, LOGGING, AND AGRICULTURE.

TEACHERS WERE JUST AS IMPORTANT TO THE STATE.

Jim Kempton: “They were a significant part of the development in Idaho.

They were equally as important as the Gold Rush that brought people to Idaho.” THE SECOND BUILDING WAS FINISHED IN 1896 ¬ A MAGNIFICENT ADMINSTATION BUILDING NAMED SWANGER HALL.

WHILE THE COLLEGE HELPED DEVELOP THE SMALL CORNERS OF THE STATE.

THE STUDENTS HELPED DEVELOP LIFE ON CAMPUS.

BERNICE MCCLELLAN AND VERA EVANS BOTH ATTENDED ALBION STATE NORMAL SCHOOL.

BERNICE GREW UP ON A FARM OUTSIDE JEROME.

Bernice Palmquist: “I wanted to do something that, of course to support myself.

And I didn¬t always want to be on the farm.

At that time there were very few jobs for girls, other than maybe being a clerk or working in a dime store as you want to say.

So, basically, most of us girls wanted to be a teacher.” MAXINE STANSELL¬S MOM GREW UP IN ARIMO.

Maxine Stansell: “I don¬t know how much choice she was given.

Both of her parents had gone to normal school, both of her parents had been teachers before.

It was the depression.

And I think the idea of another paycheck was probably pretty appealing.

My guess is she was strongly encouraged to go to normal school.” AT THE TIME, THERE WEREN¬T A LOT OF JOBS AVAILABLE TO WOMEN, SO TEACHING WAS APPEALING.

ALBION STATE NORMAL SCHOOL WAS THE OBVIOUS CHOICE.

WHEN VERA EVANS STARTED SCHOOL IN 1935 ¬ SHE WAS JUST 15-YEARS OLD.

Maxine Stansell: “She was standing in line to register at Albion State Normal School and she looked up and saw a sign that you had to be sixteen.

And she wasn¬t going to be 16 until November fifth¬and it was September first.

So when it came time to put down her birth date she put down that her birth date was September 1, 1919.” VERA, MIGHT BE THE YOUNGEST STUDENT IN THE SCHOOL¬S HISTORY.

Maxine Stansell: “Of course that was the story in the newspaper that she had started just after her 16th birthday on September first¬of course that wasn¬t quite right.

She hadn¬t turned 16 until 2-months later” BERNICE STARTED SCHOOL IN 1940.

Bernice Palmquist: “It was a very small place.

Albion the college was the main center of everything.

One road in, one road out.

There was no traffic, we had no busses, no trains.

The only way out was walk, hike out or a private car.” BECAUSE ALBION WAS SO REMOTE - FIRST YEAR STUDENTS OFTEN STRUGGLED WITH BEING SEPARATED FROM HOME.

Bernice Palmquist: “And when you first went to school there, we called it the junior year.

Yu had a big sister and she would help you get acquainted with the rooms and the grounds¬that really helped.

We really got homesick at times but after the two years we all cried because we had to leave” BUT LIVING ON CAMPUS AND WITH LITTLE CONTACT WITH THE OUTSIDE WORLD MEANT TEACHER-CANDIDATES COULD FOCUS ON SCHOOL ACTIVITIES.

Bernice Palmquist: “We didn¬t always have class every day.

You might have maybe two classes.

The ones you didn¬t have you¬d have the next day but you¬d always be ready¬you could go to the library or you could study and so forth.

There was choir, there were various sports.

They even played football ¬ not the women, of course.

But I was surprised as I was going through the annuals recently to see how, you know, they actually had a football team.

And they had lots of activities.” (Music) TEACHER-CANDIDATES WOULD OFTEN GO ON TRIPS TO PLACES NEARBY AND WATCH MOVIES ON THE WEEKENDS.

Bernice Palmquist: “They did have a good sized room or a building there.

It was down near the post office.

And on Friday or Saturday night they would have a movie.” ON OTHER WEEKENDS, STUDENTS WOULD GATHER FOR A FORMAL DANCE.

HELD IN ONE OF THE BIG ROOMS ON CAMPUS.

MUSIC PROVIDED BY THE SCHOOL BAND OR MUSICIANS BROUGHT IN FROM NEARBY TOWNS.

Bernice Palmquist: “Every so often we would have to dress formal.

Long dresses, we would have an orchestra playing and it was very nice.

We looked forward to that.” Patty Gailey: “And they did love to dance.

And they had lots of dances.

In town and on the school they would have dances all the time.” AND OCCASSIONALLY...TEACHER- CANDIDATES WOULD FIND TROUBLE.

Bernice Palmquist: “I mean it wasn¬t all just straight and narrow¬you¬d have your fun.

There was some boys down there, we looked down from the dorm.

We looked down and there were a couple boys and they were yelling this and that¬you known down there and so we went and got a bucket of water and threw it out the window at them.

Of course you know what that does¬they determined that they were going to come up and catch us.

But they didn¬t get past the dean¬hahahahahahaha.” (Music) Patty Gailey: “When Swanger Hall was burning down, it was in the middle of the night.

And so the girls were not allowed to leave their dorm.

The boys were being evacuated from Miller Hall because it was so close to the building.

Well, two of the girls living in Comish, l they could think about was the piano in Miller Hall.

And they didn¬t want it to get destroyed, so they snuck out, ran over there by themselves, nobody was in the building because they had evacuated it, and hauled that piano out of the building, just the two of them.

And boy, she said, boy, the trouble we got into when they found out that it was us that did that.” NORMAL SCHOOL¬S ARE KNOWN FOR HAVING A TRAINING SCHOOL ON CAMPUS.

BUT ALBION NOT ONLY HAD A TRAINING SCHOOL ¬ IT HAD AN ENTIRE SCHOOL DISTRICT - AND THAT WAS UNUSUAL.

Jim Kempton: “Albion had on site, had a grade school, a high school, and then your normal school all located on one site.t was a school district all by itself.” IT ALLOWED TEACHER CANDIDATES AT ALBION NORMAL SCHOOL TO GET EXPERIENCE TEACHING.

Jim Kempton: “And I can tell you, that the kids that they taught are probably as rough around the edges as any that you would find anywhere at that period of time.” BY THE FALL OF 1950 ¬ LAWMAKERS AND THE GOVERNOR SAID UNLESS THE SCHOOL COULD GROW SIGNIFICANTLY.

THE STATE WOULD SHUT IT DOWN.

PRESIDENT SNYDER TRAVELED TO BOISE SEVERAL TIMES TO LOBBY FOR THE SCHOOL.

HE SENT TWO DOZEN STUDENTS TO THE STATE CAPITAL TO PLEAD WITH LAWMAKERS.

BUT THE LEGISLATURE AND GOVERNOR HAD ALREADY DECIDED THE SCHOOLS FATE.

Jimmy Kempton: “It was never officially closed by the Idaho Legislature; it simply was not funded anymore, which is tantamount to a closure, I suppose.

But the legislature never did bring itself to say we're closing this because of” IT WAS A FATAL BLOW TO THE SOUTHERN IDAHO COLLEGE OF EDUCATION.

THE FINAL COMMENCEMENT TOOK PLACE THE SPRING OF 1951.

THE GRADUATING STUDENTS WOULD BE THE LAST TO COLLECT DIPLOMAS FROM THE TEACHERS SCHOOL IN ALBION.

DESPITE NUMEROUS EFFORTS TO OPEN THE SCHOOL AGAIN.

THE BUILDINGS SAT VACANT FOR DECADES.

Bernice Palmquist: “Well, I was there, it¬s been a number of years ago and it was a shame because they were kind of deteriorating.” Jim Kempton: “The place was a mess.

There was grass that was knee-high, in some of the places, waist high.

The buildings had been hampered by the vandalism that had taken place, windows were broken, most of the windows were broken.

Roofs leaked.” IN 2007, THE OLD CAMPUS WENT TO AUCTION.

THE BUYERS, TROY AND HEATHER MORTENSEN SAW VALUE IN THE OLD BUILDINGS.

Heather Mortensen: “So we did want to renovate one of the buildings for lodging for families to come and corporations, and things like that, to come here for a retreat.

Because it is really jt a quiet, little valley that is a retreat.

It¬s kind of a getaway from the hustle and bustle and from work and come here and enjoy time with your family” MILLER HALL, NAMED AFTER COLONEL MILLER HAS BEEN COMPLETELY REMODELED INTO A DESTINATION RETREAT.

THERE ARE ROOMS FOR A COZY OVERNIGHT STAY, AND A LARGE HALL WITH A KITCHEN FOR FAMILIES TO GATHER IN THE MORNINGS AND EVENINGS.

BUT MILLER HALL HASN¬T LOST ITS HISTORICAL CHARM.

THERE ARE PLENTY OF PICTURES AND OLD BRICK STILL VISIBLE TODAY.

THE MORTENSEN¬S ALSO SAW VALUE IN THE DARK HALLS OF THE OLD BUILDINGS.

THERE ARE SOME WHO BELIEVE GHOSTS ROAM THE HALLS.

Troy Mortensen: “People have been breaking into the campus for 40-years and have their own ghost stories.

So we just kind of built on that, used our creative energy and came up with some ideas so the campus could kind of pay for itself.” PORTIONS OF THE CAMPUS ARE DEDICATED TO THE HAUNTED MANSIONS OF ALBION, A POPULAR HALLOWEEN DESTINATION.

Heather Mortensen: “And looking back at some of the pictures, even some of the aerial photos and the dead grass, and the old, dead trees and just to see the difference s amazing.” Troy Mortensen: “Just from being on campus it was magical to us.

And we thought, well, this is neat, we want to restore the history.

And so it worked out.” THE CAMPUS AT ALBION IS NO LONGER A COLLEGE.

BUT THE SCHOOL LIVES ON AT IDAHO STATE UNIVERSITY IN POCATELLO.

IN 2006, I-S-U¬S COLLEGE OF EDUCATION RENAMED ONE OF ITS BUILDINGS “ALBION HALL.” Mark Neill: “We wanted to honor that original heritage of Albion Normal School and so we took a building and named it Albion Hall to sort of recognize the roots and the connection that the College of Education at Idaho State has with the Albion Normal School.” Jenn Gallup: “It¬s really an honor to be able to work in a university that has had that sustained program for more than a hundred years.

And I think it really speaks to our ability to serve our students, serve the rural community, serve Idaho and I also think it speaks to our commitment to education.” I-S-U STILL ATTRACTS STUDENTS FROM SMALL TOWNS IN IDAHO ¬ LIKE ALBION DID.

BUT WITH MODERN TECHNOLOGY, STUDENTS ARE TRANSPORTED INTO RURAL CLASSROOMS WITH A CLICK OF A BUTTON.

RATHER THAN HAVE A GRADE SCHOOL AT I-S-U, TEACHER- CANDIDATES CAN TEACH ANYWHERE IN IDAHO AND STILL HAVE AN INSTRUCTOR COACHING THEM.

TECHNOLOGY ALSO ALLOWS TEACHER-CANDIDATES TO ATTEND CLASSES FROM HOME.

OR MONITOR REAL CLASSROOMS FROM AFAR.

Jenn Gallup: “Put the iPad on this little robot device and thn you wear a lanyard and as you walk across the classroom the swivl follows you.

And if I wanna pick up conversations from student groups, I can put swivl markers on the table and then I can listen to their conversations.

Then the students can take those ideas from that and reflect on it within their groups, practice it in their own classroom with that bug-in-ear coaching¬so again these two pieces of technology really provide that wrap-around support for students.” IN A WAY, THE SPIRIT OF THE ALBION TEACHERS COLLEGE LIVES ON.

PROVIDING THE NEXT GENERATION OF EDUCATORS FOR IDAHO.

A TRADITION THAT IS JUST AS IMPORTANT TODAY AS IT WAS A CENTURY AGO.

Troy Mortensen: “The people who went to school here, touched Idaho.

I mean their value system, their beliefs, thr direction in life and how they believed about education.

That¬s why Idaho is Idaho today.

I think, is because of te teachers that came out of this system.

And because they went, and they taught the teachers that teach today.” Mark Neill: “You can make a difference in this world in ways large and small that you may not recognize immediately but at some point in time, one of those students whose life you touched will come back to you¬and the greatest reward is when they come back and say¬you made a difference in my life¬that¬s why you want to be a teacher.” (MUSIC) ANNOUNCER: MAJOR FUNDING FOR IDAHO EXPERIENCE PROVIDED BY THE J.A.

AND KATHRYN ALBERTSON FAMILY FOUNDATION, MAKING IDAHO A PLACE TO LEARN, THRIVE AND PROSPER.

WITH ADDITIONAL SUPPORT FROM ANNE VOILLEQUÉ AND LOUISE NELSON, AND JUDY AND STEVE MEYER, THE RICHARD K. AND SHIRLEY S. HEMINGWAY FOUNDATION, THE FUTURA CORPORATION, THE FRIENDS OF IDAHO PUBLIC TELEVISION, THE IDAHO PUBLIC TELEVISION ENDOWMENT, AND THE CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING.