Click here to listen to this week’s JAM – Meet A Few Hillbrook High School Heroes.
In Episode 3 I mentioned a few key parts of the discernment process for the senior leadership team and the Board of Trustees, as we asked ourselves the question – should we add a high school to our JK-8? We needed to a) understand what is involved in the creation of a high school, b) design a program that was a compelling extension to our existing JK-8 program, and c) assess the level of interest in our market. As part of this process we assessed a range of risks – including understanding the long-term risk to the school of not adding a high school – and, by March 2020 we had reached a point where we were feeling confident about the basic value proposition. In other words, we had reached a point where we believed three things – 1) we had a compelling why and an inspiring design for a high school program, 2) we understood what was involved in the process of growing from a JK-8 to a JK-12, and 3) there was a real market demand for the school we hoped to design.
Saying that makes the process sound simple. It wasn’t. The process took a great deal of time, coordination and leadership, including the tireless leadership of two key people – our incoming Board Chair and Secondary School Exploratory Committee Chair Shannon Hunt Scott and longtime Board Chair Chuck Hammers. Both of these volunteer leaders ensured that the project continued to move forward from the moment we started, including through the biggest unforeseen challenge – the pandemic. Indeed, our presentation to the Board focusing on the design, process, and market demand took place on March 10, 2020. That’s right. March 2020. Three days later the entire world went into lockdown.
While we initially paused in order to manage through the pandemic, in January 2021 the three of us reconvened and decided it was time to move the project forward. At that moment, we realized we had two major things we still had to do before firmly committing to opening a high school. We had to find a site and we had to find a way to pay for it. Chuck took charge of finding a site. Chuck knew we had been focused on finding a location in Downtown San Jose, as we saw an opportunity to create an urban campus that would allow us to reach our vision – the city as classroom. Chuck zeroed in on two spaces only one block apart – the Moir Building, a 30,000 square foot historic building, and the Armory, a 20,000 square foot building that would serve as our gym. Together, these two spaces fit the needs we have for a 300 student high school.
As we zeroed in on the site, Shannon was helping us make sense of how we were going to be able to afford this project. Shannon laid the foundation for what has become the school’s most ambitious capital campaign in our history – a $15 million campaign that she and her husband, Kevin, launched with a $4 million pledge. Thanks to their combined work – finding a site and creating a pathway to pay for it, the Board was inspired in March 2022 to vote to add a high school.
To be clear, even after four years, the work has only just begun. Yet, thanks to these two Hillbrook heroes, we are on the cusp of the most transformative change since our founding in 1935.