Philanthropist Donates $1M for San Marcos High School’s Elings Wells Family Wellness Center

Philanthropist Betty Elings Wells has donated $1 million to San Marcos High School’s Royal Pride Foundation to support the school’s Building Community Wellness Project. 

The gift will help build a new wellness center on campus to provide physical and mental health services to students and families. It will be designed to be “welcoming, private, and accessible,” according to the Royal Pride Foundation, the nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting San Marcos High School. It will include multiple therapy rooms, space for group counseling, and areas for wellness education and programming — intended to “normalize care and make support more approachable” for students, families and staff. The school will collaborate with local mental health organizations to develop a “mental health framework” centered on prevention and early intervention for the community, the foundation said.

In recognition of the gift, the center will be named after the Elings Wells family. Betty Elings Wells is quite a prolific donor in Santa Barbara, giving away large sums of money to schools and nonprofits around town and leaving a string of facilities — and, yes, Elings Park — named after her family in her wake. Her former husband, Virgil Elings, made pioneering contributions to nanoscience — and essentially kickstarted nanotechnology — while teaching at UC Santa Barbara. Meanwhile, Betty was a real estate investor, property manager, and Virgil’s business partner. The two of them made a fortune — and a name for themselves at the university, donating millions to research projects and facilities over the years, alongside other philanthropic ventures in Santa Barbara. 

Their children, Michael and Jeffrey, both engineers, are San Marcos High graduates. 

“I care deeply about supporting students and their well-being,” said Betty Elings Wells. “Today’s high school students are navigating extraordinary academic, social, and emotional pressures, and they deserve access to comprehensive mental health services in an environment where seeking help is normal and encouraged. My hope for the Elings Wells Family Wellness Center at San Marcos High School is for it to be a place where every student feels seen, supported, and empowered to thrive.”

Betty’s recent contribution is believed to be the third largest donation in San Marcos High School history.

The new Elings Wells Family Wellness Center will be “a cornerstone of the Building Community Wellness Project, which also includes new facilities supporting the Cottage Health Careers Academy,” according to the Royal Pride Foundation. Next door to the academy’s new mini-campus, the wellness center will provide hands-on experience for academy students interested in behavioral health professions. 

“This integration creates a real-world learning environment — a living laboratory for future health and behavioral health professionals — and a unique bridge between student well-being and workforce development,” according to the foundation.

Overall, the Building Community Wellness Project has an estimated cost of $11 million, approximately half of which will be funded through state bonds for facility improvements. The school has been working over the past couple of years to raise the remaining $5.5 million through private donations — $5 million of which has now been secured, including the most recent gift. 

“The San Marcos community is deeply grateful to Betty Elings Wells and her family for their extraordinary generosity and belief in our students,” said Principal Dare Holdren. “This gift allows us to respond more effectively to the mental health needs of our school community and to create a space where students feel safe, supported, and empowered to seek help when they need it. Just as importantly, it strengthens our ability to build meaningful community partnerships that support a proactive, whole-school approach to wellness.”

Construction of the Elings Wells Family Wellness Center is projected to begin this June.