Watsonville
– Mount Madonna School will dedicate its new, $5 million middle
school and high school campus Saturday.
Congressman Sam Farr and Supervisor Ellen Pirie will speak at
the dedication, which is not open to the public.
Watsonville – Mount Madonna School will dedicate its new, $5 million middle school and high school campus Saturday.
Congressman Sam Farr and Supervisor Ellen Pirie will speak at the dedication, which is not open to the public.
The new campus, designed by Anderson Brule Associates of San Jose, includes two fully equipped science labs, a video production facility, a two-story library and desktop publishing room with 18 new IBM computers.
The campus also is wired for a variety of information technology services including wireless broadband and lines to interconnect the campus to the Mount Madonna Center where the elementary school is housed, just off Highway 152 at 491 Summit Road.
“It is wonderful to be in our new home,” said Sadanand Ward Mailliard, a member of the school’s executive committee. “There has been so much work on the part of so many over the past three to make this possible. Under the leadership of our contractor and with the cooperation of our entire community, we not only got the job done but did so with an eye to aesthetic and quality that will stand the test of time.”
The new campus hosts a total of 116 students in grades six through 12.
The campus is situated on 350 acres overlooking the Pajaro Valley on the top of Mount Madonna, between Gilroy and Watsonville. The 20,000-square-foot structure took two years to build. It opened three days before school began on Sept. 7.
An outdoor amphitheater that will be used in conjunction with performing arts classes will be ready in about two years.
Founded in 1979, Mount Madonna School is an independent, state-recognized CAIS accredited private school that serves children from preschool to high school. Mount Madonna School has 194 full-time students schoolwide with an average class size of 12 students.
“Each day I look at the redwoods and listen to the birds and realize how lucky I am to see trees and not pavement and fences, and hear the ravens instead of noisy cars passing our school,” said sixth grader James Clifton, from Morgan Hill. “The new campus is awesome. It has super-nice everything.”
