Providence School’s Prayers Answered with New Campus in Santa Barbara

Roughly five years ago, Providence School faculty members walked through the former Girls Inc. property on Ortega Street and said a prayer.

Now, after decades of searching — and, school leaders emphasized, praying — that vision became a reality on Thursday, after Providence broke ground on what will become the Christian school’s first permanent home.

Currently their preschool through 6th-grade students attend classes at the school’s Calle Pinon campus, while the middle and upper school students attend classes in portable buildings at a leased site on Canon Perdido Street.

“Now we have a place to settle,” Providence Board Chair Joshua Keith said, describing the new campus as “God’s amazing provision” and a place dedicated to Him. “We’ve had a distinctive Christian education but without a formal building.”

Bringing together Providence’s middle and upper school students, the new campus will serve up to 250 students in grades 7-12. Advancement Director Kellie Landrum said the school’s preschool through 6th-grade students will remain at the San Roque campus, while the school will end its lease on the current Canon Perdido Street campus once the new site opens.

The project will also renovate the site’s historic front building, adding classrooms, offices, and a state-of-the-art science center, while a new two-story structure will bring several new spaces to the campus —- including a 300-seat spectator gymnasium, prayer chapel, performing arts and fine arts/digital arts studios, and an Engineering Center for Providence’s Engineering Academy. 

Bottenfield Construction is serving as the project’s general contractor, with construction expected to take roughly two years.

More than 100 current and former boardmembers, faculty, parents, students and supporters gathered at the groundbreaking after being shuttled from the junior high parking lot, bringing together many of the people who have been involved in the project over the years.

Metal structural beams lay horizontally on support tables, inviting community members to sign their names and celebrate the project as well as the people who helped make the dream a reality. 

“Leave your mark, bless this campus,” a sign read.

Matt LaBrie, an alumni parent and member of the school board and Capital Campaign Committee, said the school’s community has remained committed to its students regardless of the facilities available to them.

Tuition ranges from $14,400 for full-time pre-K students to $26,700 for upper-grade students — but for families who value the school’s education, costs have never been a deciding factor.

“We would send our kids to this school if it was in a cardboard box,” LaBrie said.

Providence currently enrolls 382 students, with an average class size of 16. The school reports that 100 percent of its graduates are accepted to four-year colleges, while nearly half of its faculty members hold master’s degrees. 

Caroline Corazza, Providence’s interim head of school, has been with the school for 10 years and explained that after years of envisioning what a permanent home could look like, the school began seriously considering the Ortega Street property in October 2021. 

“God has never lifted his finger off of this property,” Corazza said.

Providence has raised approximately $17 million toward its $24 million goal, including $5 million used to secure the property and $12 million raised through its “Coming Home” capital campaign, according to Corazza.

After expressions of gratitude, reflections on the school’s history and a student band singing scripture to the community, nine student representatives took turns breaking ground on the new campus.

The students represented different generations of Providence students — the youngest will have the opportunity to experience the new campus, while older students will eventually return for reunions and celebrations.

After the students broke ground, faculty and boardmembers stepped forward, taking turns with the shovels as applause rippled through the crowd. Providence boardmember Jason Eldred said the new campus is intended to become a place not only for students, but for the wider Santa Barbara community.

“It’s going to serve the city and neighborhood, a place of wisdom for a city we care for so much,” Eldred said.