Utah County to get 'Mormon academy'

PROVO — Nephi, Jacob and the brother of Jared.

Aside from being prophets found in the Book of Mormon, which is considered sacred scripture by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the ancient leaders have become learning resources for many Utah children who have found Christ in their school curriculum.

"The glue that holds knowledge to students is their religious belief," explained Glenn Kimber, the founder of Kimber Academy — a collection of private schools that focus on reuniting church and state with a heavy emphasis on LDS scriptures.

In February, Kimber's "Mormon method" will be coming to Utah County with a new academy, which will be located in either Provo or Orem depending on final student enrollment. Possible sites include a building in downtown Orem and a location near Timpview High School in Provo.

While Kimber couldn't estimate the level of interest in Utah County, he said that typical school enrollment for the K-12 academies is around 150 students. The numbers continue to grow, Kimber said, as parents and students realize the academic importance of including spiritual beliefs with secular knowledge.

"When you don't have religion and morality, the students do not have a reason to remember the material," Kimber said. "Therefore, they remember it only well enough to get a grade and then they promptly move on and forget it."

As a student in 1957, Kimber said he remembered taking pride in the American school system, which then ranked first internationally. Over the years, however, the U.S. began to lose its stronghold and by 1977 had sunk to the bottom of a list that ranked education in developed countries.

Kimber believes the quality of American education began to wane at the same time religion was being taken out of classrooms. With his curiosity piqued, Kimber focused his doctoral studies on investigating a possible correlation and said his worst fears appeared to be true.

"I was able to identify that when the politicians and the courts took religion out of the schools, academics went downhill," said Kimber, who received his undergraduate degree at Brigham Young University. "I realized that BYU has a high standard and the kids coming out of there get a darn good education, so why can't we do that in the high school or in the elementary schools?"

Acting to answer his own question, Kimber and his wife, Julianne — who is the daughter of author W. Cleon Skousen — started the first Kimber Academy in 1991.

Today, there are seven Kimber academies with five operating in Utah — in Murray, Layton, Logan, North Ogden and Eden — and two outside of the state, in Everett, Wash. and Farmington, N.M. Those academies are thriving and another will open soon in San Antonio.