February 6, 2007: opening day at our new campus at Number One, Rolling Hills Prep Way. A very dense fog hung over the South Bay that morning as I drove to school around 6:00 a.m. I wanted to stand at the front gates to welcome teachers and students to our new home.
The previous 6 months had proved extraordinarily difficult for the Husky community. After ending our 14-year lease at Malaga Cove on June 30, we had packed all our belongings into 20 trucks, only to be informed by the general contractors on July 3 that the new campus "might not be completely ready" by September 1.
"How many days might we have to wait?" I asked.
"Could be a few days. Could be a few weeks."
"What!"
Our Board of Trustees acted swiftly and decisively. By July 10 they had located and signed a lease on classrooms at Torrance Presbyterian Church on Crenshaw Boulevard, right across the street from our Oak Street gym. Classes would operate at the church, and the administrative offices would operate out of the gym. Did it matter that, each Friday, teachers would have to pack up their classrooms so that the church could use their rooms on the weekend? And then unpack everything again each Monday morning? Well, yes, but it would only be for a few days. But days turned into weeks, and then into months: 6 frustrating months of packing away each Friday and unpacking again each Monday morning.
So, February 6, 2007, was exciting on so many fronts. By 7:15 a.m. teachers, and then students, were emerging from the thick fog in the parking lot and excitedly entering the gates: passing beside the four white pillars, proudly declaring Disciplined Minds, Sound Character, Healthy Bodies, and Creative Spirits. We began with our very first all-school morning meeting and, as we dispersed to classrooms from the meeting, the sun broke radiantly through the fog: a perfect metaphor for shedding off the past six months' challenges, not to mention the dawning of a new day for our schools.
Ten years later, we remember the work of those who came before us: a visionary and passionate Board of Trustees who dedicated large chunks of their lives and their philanthropy to establishing our permanent home; a faculty who endured extreme discomfort for six months, and students and parents who maintained confidence throughout. The Husky Spirit kept us all together and moving forward through some of those darker days.
Ten years on, and now well established at One RHP Way, we eagerly anticipate our third generation of growth: with expanding enrollments in both schools, additional land just added to the campus, and buildings about to be put up to further support academics, arts, and STEM, we take pride and offer humble appreciation for the work done in the past 36 years. As we celebrate past success, we focus firmly on the future.
Here's to the Husky family!
(Copies of newspaper articles from February 2007 are
here)
