A vision becomes reality

Danette Goulet

NEWPORT BEACH -- Five years ago, a Newport Beach couple had a vision of

the kind of high school they wanted for their four children. When they

didn’t find it in Orange County, Dori and James Caillouette decided to

create it.

Their vision has become reality. Sage Hill School, the firstprivate

nondenominational school in Orange County, will open its doors in Newport

Beach this September.

Nestled on a hillside between Newport Coast Drive and the San Joaquin

Toll Road, the 140,000-square-foot campus will encompass 22 of 30 acres

of agriculturally zoned land owned by the Irvine Company. The remaining

eight acres will create a barrier of coastal sage and a pond between the

school and the toll road.

“They’ve been very supportive of the project from the beginning, so it

wasn’t very difficult,” said Karina Hamilton, the school’s chief

operating officer.

So far, trustees have raised nearly $34 million toward an estimated

construction cost of about $60 million, with an additional $5 to $8

million expected for start-up costs, said Clint Wilkins, who will head up

the staff at Sage Hill.

The project will be completed in two major phases, the first of which

will be done by September. The second, Hamilton said, should begin in

2001.

The first phase, costing $30 million, includes the athletic fields and

four of the seven buildings. The first buildings will be a humanities

building, which will house 28 classrooms, a library with a 150-seat

multimedia lecture hall, a community center and a gymnasium.

Phase II, costing another estimated $30 million, will include a math,

science and technology building, an arts center and an aquatic center.

But the Caillouettes’ vision was for more than a nice view and a

brand-new school.

They were looking for a strong arts and community-service program on an

intimate campus with a diverse faculty and student body where their

children would have close interaction with teachers.

“[High school] is when they really learn to establish themselves,” said

Dori Caillouette. “Kids love to accept challenges and rise to the level.”

Part of that challenge needs to be serving the community, she added.

“We need to educate kids that they need to do for others,” Caillouette

said.

The Caillouettes also felt that it was essential to their children’s

growth for them to be surrounded by a diverse student body.

“Orange County is a diverse community and yet the groups tend to be very

segregated,” Caillouette said. “In small intimate classrooms, they learn

a lot about others.”

An alumnus of Newport Harbor High School, Caillouette said she never felt

challenged there, so they looked first to Polytechnic, a private school

in Pasadena, that her husband attended.

“We toured some outstanding schools all throughout California,” she said.

“We wanted it to be reflective of California and Orange County, not some

Eastern boarding school.”

As they toured, they began to build a diverse board of leaders throughout

South County.

“We looked for Hispanic leaders, African-American leaders and Asian

leaders -- the result was magic,” Caillouette said.

The first major donation they received came from an anonymous individual

who didn’t want it to be an elitistschool. That person donated $1.5

million toward financial aid.

Despite an annual tuition of $14,000, Wilkins said, they now have more

than $2 million in financial aid, which will allow between one-fifth and

one-fourth of the students to receive aid.

When Sage Hill opens, there will be a full ninth grade class with 125

students and a partial 10th-grade class of 50 to 75 students.

Wilkins said they plan to increase attendance by 125 students per year,

integrating juniors and seniors over the next few years until they reach

500 students in 2003 or 2004.

Mennette San-Lee, director of admissions and financial aid, said they

have received applications from more than 60 schools and 35 cities.

“We’ve received inquiries from as far into L.A. County as Long Beach and

as far south as San Diego, from Newport to Anaheim,” San-Lee said.

The class entering in the fall of 2000 has yet to be assembled. Deadline

to apply is Feb. 1, with decisions being made between March 10-15.