In May 2024, Orcutt Academy unveiled its brand-new gym. Many programs have since had the chance to use it and finally feel at home.
Few sounds rival a swish on the basketball court, but for Orcutt Academy, the presence of a home crowd at their new multi-use gym is pretty close.
“It's a feeling of comfort," junior boys basketball player Isaiah Soto stated. "We have more students showing up and this time it actually feels like home.”
“It's a good feeling of not having to go to another school and like travel all over there just to have our own practice,” junior girls basketball player Elizabeth Johnson added.
For the past 14 years, the basketball programs had to travel 2.3 miles away to Lakeview Junior High for practice and games, according to the coaching staff.
“Having to be offsite at a junior high is kind of embarrassing for them as high school students and telling other kids, yeah, come to our game at the junior high,” Girls Basketball Head Coach Theresa Kendrick explained.
The soccer programs also dealt with the same issue before this season, having to constantly travel all over Santa Maria to find fields to practice on.
Senior girls soccer player Stephanie Garcia Silva said it was difficult "having to pack all our girls in a van, coordinate who's going with who, who's taking who to the field. It's just nice to be able to have a home field for the sake of school spirit.”
Thanks to a large maintenance push at the district level, their home field was ready by the start of the season in November.
“Being able to use our home field and have it be our permanent field is incredibly gratifying and I'm grateful to have it there," she said.
The multi-purpose gym will also host volleyball games and it has a stage for the theater department's use.
“It's kind of surreal. You look around and you see all these fans come to support you and you're in this brand new gym and it just kind of feels like a dream,” Kendrick said.
"Having our first home game here and able to get a victory with the first game in this building was a cool, cool moment for me having been here for so long," Boys Basketball Head Coach Ryan Smalley said.
Smalley has been at Orcutt Academy for the last ten years.
The $12.5 million facility and adjacent parking lot were funded primarily by Measure G, a bond measure approved by school district voters in 2016.
