Click each to take a deeper dive into past senior gifts

Renaming Vista Montana to Stallion Ridge

(Google Maps)

“The best senior class gift we had [was when] they renamed Vista Montana to Stallion Ridge,” said Valderrama. It was a civic engagement project led by the class of 2016 where students at the time talked to the San Juan Capistrano City Council. This street is widely known as the entrance to campus. Interestingly, the final approval of changing the name of the street happened in 2016 due to the fact that previous attempts in 2015 were unsuccessful. For more information, The Express wrote a story on this topic on May 18, 2016.

RFTB Letters

(Kate Kowalski)

“It was so plain in our gym [before the letters]. So I think just looking for something that was semi-affordable helped decorate our gym a little bit,” mentioned Valderrama. RFTB (Ride For The Brand) has been a consistent motto for our high school, and thanks to contributions from the class of 2012, our gym has big and beautiful RFTB letters. In fact, RFTB chants were adopted in 2012 to build school unity and it has been fully embraced in the following years.

Metal Stallion Statue

(Kate Kowalski)

“The senior class president, Ryan St. Onge, found this cool metal horse driving out towards Palm Springs. [Him and a few friends] found it on the side of the freeway and they thought that would be pretty cool. They had a company come in and do the cement basing [so that the statue could remain] structurally safe,” stated Valderrama. The plaque underneath the statue reads: “This Sculpture Made Possible Through Efforts And Contributions From The Class Of 2013 With Special Thanks To Rancho Mission Viejo.”

Stone in the Badlands

(Kate Kowalski)

“Brooke Montgomery led the charge on this one,” highlighted Valderrama. The base of the stone used to be a flagpole. However, the location seemed to be poorly planned since it was fairly difficult to pledge allegiance to a flag that had its view obstructed by the scoreboard in the Badlands. The stone replaced the flagpole and the flag moved locations. The backside of the stone features the SJH logo and a quote provided by the Class of 2020: “Through adversity comes strength. Through strength comes greatness.” Though these seniors were denied the opportunity to walk at graduation, they dedicated this stone in the heart of the Badlands—reclaiming the space where they should have been able to celebrate this milestone.

LED Marquees at the Theater and Administration

(Brielle Lee)

“It was a dual project between PTSA. They raised about sixteen grand and the senior class gave whatever they had at the time, around a few thousand dollars. Then, ASB piggybacked and paid the rest of it,” said Valderrama. There are two signs–one by the theater and one by administration. The screen outside the theater states that it was “donated by the Class of 2015 and the SJHHS PTSA.”

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A Look at Past Senior Class Gifts