Saratoga News
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Photograph by Zach Beecher
Campers walk past the cyclone fences that separate the children from the construction project at the Walden West Outdoor School. Phase 1 of the four-phase project, the construction of a 9,000-square-foot lodge, is about to begin.
Construction begins on lodge at Walden West
By Shannon Burkey
It has been two years since the Walden West Outdoor School began a fundraising campaign to raise money for a much-needed upgrade of its 25-year-old facility, and now phase 1 of a four-phase plan is about to begin.
The groundbreaking on phase 1 is set for Sept. 29, and those involved with the school are elated to see their hard work raising funds finally come to fruition, Walden West director Anita Parsons said.
Walden West was founded in 1950, when it took over the 35-acre facilities of the former Valley Christian High School in the Santa Cruz Mountains off Sanborn Road. The school is a field trip destination for middle school children who visit during the school year for weeklong camps with their teachers and classes to learn about science and the environment. During the summer, it operates as a day camp for children.
At the time it was founded, the existing buildings were modified to accommodate the needs of the campers and staff, but no new facilities were built. Temporary trailers were also brought in to serve as the kitchen and dining hall and were only supposed to last for two years. However, 25 years later, they are still in use. With time taking its toll on the buildings, plans were made to upgrade the facilities, and fundraising began.
Over the past two years, the Walden West Outdoor School Foundation, a nonprofit corporation established in 1996 to support the school, raised $6 million through various fundraising efforts and private and corporate donations for the upgrade. And now, with permits in hand, the plans are being set in motion.
On July 31, an airplane hangar located at the front entrance to the complex, which was used as office space for the staff, was torn down and the area fenced off. In its place will soon be a 9,000-square-foot lodge that will house a kitchen, dining hall, office space, indoor amphitheater and a mezzanine area for the campers on rainy days.
"The new lodge will provide a central place for everybody who comes up here," said Parsons. "It will bring the facility together and provide more of what we need for the kids."
Parsons said she anticipates the construction of phase 1 to last a year. After its completion, they hope to begin on the next three phases of the project, which include upgrading the sleeping cabins and building a new science discovery laboratory. Throughout phase 1 construction, fundraising efforts will continue in hopes of raising the money needed to finish the project. Parsons estimates the school needs an additional $2.5 million.
The school, which is owned by the Santa Clara County Office of Education, does not receive funding from the state because it is considered a field-trip site. Although it charges schools for coming to the facilities, money is still tight, and looking to outside donors is important for the survival of the school, according to Parsons.
"We are in a completely different situation than other schools," Parsons said. "We do everything we can to keep the money coming in."
To date the school has received many generous donations that have helped get the upgrade under way, including $1 million from the foundation president, Abby Sobrato and her husband, John, and $250,000 from Hitachi Data Systems. The Santa Clara County Office of Education, Flextronics and the Valley Foundation are other donors.
