In response to student demand, the Bearkitten Academy opened its doors on June 1, 1995. The original staff consisted of a director, two full-time teachers, three part-time temporary staff, and seventeen student workers. Shortly after opening, it reached its capacity of 58 children. The center offered Sam Houston State University students, faculty, and staff with children ages six weeks to five years access to a convenient, affordable childcare center. The program's goal was to make it possible for students with children to start or continue their education at Sam Houston State University.

The academy was housed in the former home of Miss Fannie Elkins, sister of Judge J. A. Elkins, who was a graduate of Sam Houston Normal Institute and a teacher in the Huntsville Public Schools.

After Miss Fannie died in 1962, Judge Elkins deeded the land where the house still stands and the land around it to Sam Houston State Teachers College. The Elkins family, for years, had operated a boarding house for the college students on the corner of the donated land.

The academy was successful in the beginning, but rising costs, lack of staff, and cost/efforts involved, including complications with ADA compliance, and space problems, finally closed the academy in 2003.