Santa Margarita Catholic High School began as a dream of the late Bishop William R. Johnson. He saw the need and possibility of a Catholic high school in south Orange County and shared his vision with several prominent businessmen in the area. The Bishop's enthusiasm was contagious and soon the campaign began. Beginning in 1985, the Church and business community worked together to fund and build an extraordinary educational facility. With God's blessing, a handful of dedicated people, and the generosity of donors, the campus you see today established its roots. The school opened in the fall of 1987 and the Charter class graduated in June 1991. With the addition of the three-story classroom building in 1990, Santa Margarita can accommodate 1,700 students.
A tour of the present campus reveals a combination of charm and modern technology. An atmosphere of serenity prevails side-by-side with the enthusiasm of students and faculty. With the beauty of the Saddleback Mountains as a backdrop, Santa Margarita provides an ideal environment for students to learn and play. Carefully selected faculty and staff provide excellent academics and a wide variety of extracurricular activities. The school is Catholic and teaches traditional values and behavior.
Central to the campus is the Sacred Heart Chapel with its prominent bell tower that chimes hourly. The chapel was remodeled during the school's 20th anniversary through a generous gift from the Birtcher family, longtime SMCHS benefactors and supporters of Catholic education. The renovated chapel provides a true spiritual center of the campus, a beautiful location where faith traditions are practiced.
The greatest asset of Santa Margarita is its young people. On any given day one can see the smiles of happy students, hear the laughter of young people with their future ahead of them, and the confidence that they can succeed. As one student put it, "We're all winners just being at Santa Margarita. We feel fortunate and thankful to have the opportunity to attend such a great high school." These young people feel self-assured partly because they are taught to give back to the community through Christian service. The Christian Service Program at SMCHS seeks to develop in each student the habit of seeing the world they live in as God sees it and to become God's hands, God's feet, God's heart. Recognizing the needs of others and finding a way to meet that need, gives young people a sense of purpose and an awareness of the power to make a difference.
Since the school's inception, Santa Margarita Catholic High School has achieved much success. In 1995, SMCHS became the only Catholic school in Southern California to offer a comprehensive Auxiliary Studies Program (ASP) to help students who learn differently. The school was accepted into the prestigious International Baccalaureate in 1997 and is only Catholic School in Orange County to offer the academically-rigorous IB program, giving students the opportunity to graduate with an internationally-recognized diploma or certificate. The school also offers Advanced Placement courses and an Interdisciplinary Program which emphasizes hands-on learning and weaves together subjects reaching beyond traditional disciplinary boundaries. In 1998, the United States Department of Education awarded SMCHS its highest honor – the Blue Ribbon, an award given to only the nation's finest schools. In addition, the Visual and Performing Arts Program received recognition for "Distinction in the Arts" from the National Endowment for the Arts at the 1998 Blue Ribbon ceremony in Washington D.C. Santa Margarita's dance, song leading, and cheerleading squads regularly compete at the national level and have all won national championships. The choir has been invited to perform several times in prestigious music halls such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall, The Los Angeles Walt Disney Concert Hall, and the Orange County Performing Arts Center. These are just a few of the school's many accomplishments.
Santa Margarita's athletic program includes 14 sports with 24 CIF-sanctioned teams. SMCHS also offers club sports including ice hockey, roller hockey and equestrian. Home of the Eagles, the school has won more championships than any other school in Orange County. Distinguished alumni include Heisman trophy winner Carson Palmer, NFL quarterback for the Cincinnati Bengals; Olympic gold medalist Amy Rodriguez of the U.S. Soccer Team; Kris Farris, who while playing for UCLA, won the Outland Trophy, awarded to the best United States college football interior lineman; and Brian Finneran, who plays for the Atlanta Falcons and was the recipient of the Walter Payton award as a senior at Villanova University.
Santa Margarita begins its twenty-third year under the direction of Principal Raymond R. Dunne and President Paul M. Carey. SMCHS joins a growing number of private schools nationwide that utilize a president-principal model. The model allows the principal to focus on academics, athletics and the religious aspect of the school while the president works to maintain and grow the financial health of the school, overseeing fundraising efforts, alumni affairs, advancement, community relations and facilities planning.
The school's campus continues to mature with a focus on the future. The Eagle Athletic Center, phase two in a series of campus projects, opened in the spring of 2010. The environmentally-friendly building, on par with top universities across the country, features a state-of-the-art weight room and fitness center, a 5-foot-by-8-foot interactive smart board in a room of plush theater seats for teams to analyze game tapes, athletic offices, classrooms, trainers' room, wrestling training facility, team locker rooms and a third floor reception area for events.
The center is the first LEED-certified (an internationally recognized green building certification) building in the Diocese of Orange and in Rancho Santa Margarita. The first phase of the campus build out - a new aquatics center - opened in the fall of 2007 and boasts an Olympic-size swimming pool and stadium seating. There's still more to come: a new academic building and performing arts center are planned.
Traditions are being established everyday in many areas of school life. However, one attitude prevails among the faculty, staff and students: a desire to reach one's full potential and strive for nothing short of excellence. Excellence through commitment and hard work has been the standard from the beginning, even before the dream became reality.
