The View from Here: A Sense of Place

Last week, I had the opportunity to take an impromptu “field trip” with some of my colleagues on a Friday afternoon after school. Some of us were talking about how we had never walked up to the Buckeye Tree (pictured in the accompanying photos), so we decided to take the short hike up the hill to experience it together. It is so beautiful there—especially in the late afternoon and early evening—and the view is simply breathtaking. You can see the beautiful surrounding hills with cows grazing peacefully, the dramatic skyline, all of our campus buildings, fields, and green spaces, and the city of Santa Rosa and coastal range stretching out to the horizon. 

 

When contemplating this amazing view, I simply feel a sense of gratitude, awe, and wonder. Each day I think about how lucky we are to be in this community together. This is such a special, fortunate, and almost unimaginable place to call home, and one of my most important aspirations and goals is that each of our students and all of our community members feels an authentic sense of home here. This is our place—your place—to explore, create, imagine, and dream. 

To that end, I have some important news and updates to share as we plan for the next phase and design of our campus, our home, and how that will inspire and impact us moving forward. 

If you have been to campus recently (or if you are coming to Big Night Out tomorrow) you have (or soon will) notice the fencing at the back end of the plaza. That is the staging area for our new Community & Performing Arts Center. 

We have just received our building permit from the city of Santa Rosa and construction will begin in earnest this spring! Please check out this brief video to get a rendering of what the building will look like as well as how we intend to utilize it.

The Community and Performing Arts Center will be used in many ways, from current programs like our music concerts and theater performances to spoken word events and storytelling. We can imagine our rock band jamming in this new space or a battle of the bands event with artists throughout Sonoma County. We can envision large events with stories and shared human experiences from people throughout our region. 

We are also excited about a speaker series and this being a regional space for the exchange of ideas on big topics like climate action, economic policy, racial and social justice, global affairs, among many others. We can imagine the use of our campus and this center for teach-ins, conferences, and other gatherings related to the topics and issues that you are dedicated to and the impact that you want to have both regionally and more broadly. The Community and Performing Arts Center will also have a film and sound system that will allow us to play films and become a potential destination for film festivals and student film productions. 

Most importantly, the Community & Performing Arts Center will enhance our sense of place and our sense of community. We look forward to sharing updates with you as construction continues to unfold. We expect to complete the project in the 2023-2024 school year and we can’t wait to invite you all to opening night!