Southern California Military Academy

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Southern California Military Academy was a private, all male military academy boarding school located in Signal Hill, California at the corner of Cherry Avenue and 21st Street. It had classes from K through 9th grades.

1 History
2 Famous alumni
3 Trivia
4 External links

[edit] History

The school was started by former teachers at the Long Beach Military Academy. [1]

The academy was purchased by John Brown University in 1947, becoming affiliated with the Brown School for Girls near Glendora and the Brown Military Academy for boys in San Diego. [2]

The academy closed in the late 20th century.

Alvarado Elementary School, part of the Long Beach Unified School District, is now located on the site of the academy.

The academy's last year of operation was 1987. The academy at that time was run by a family by the name of the Hurtes. The last Commandant was Colonel James Shaha, (USA Ret.) The school was ultimately closed when the Long Beach School District took over the property through eminent domain, thus closing the school forever. Some attempts to reopen the academy at a different location were talked about, but never got off the ground.

[edit] Famous alumni

Ben Westlund, Oregon state senator and independent candidate for Oregon governor in 2006. [3]

[edit] Trivia

Because the academy was close to the border with the city of Long Beach (a city that completely surrounds Signal Hill), it was often thought that the academy was in Long Beach. The school used Long Beach as its mailing address: 2065 Cherry Avenue, Long Beach, California 90806.

SCMA shared the same year of founding and motto ("Character Before Career") with a totally unrelated prep school in New York, The Stony Brook School.

SCMA was originally a 1st through 12th grade school but eventually became a kindergarten through 9th grade school when it closed.

Many of the students, uniforms and school motto were used in Sylvester Stallone's film "Over the Top." The storyline for the movie had his son attending a military academy. Although a forgettable movie, many of the students had small roles. The film was not shot at the academy however; it was filmed at Pomona College during the summer of 1986.