The San Marcos Health Careers Academy formally announced it is transforming with a new name and, soon, a new look in partnership with Cottage Health.
On Wednesday at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, the Santa Barbara Unified School District, Cottage Health and San Marcos High School leaders introduced the newly renamed program as the Cottage Health Careers Academy at San Marcos High School.
San Marcos students and community members filled the seats of the Ron Werft Amphitheater at 400 W. Pueblo St., where they learned more about the name change and the new facility that the academy will be getting in 2027.
“This isn’t just a new sign for our building. It’s a new era for our students,” said Dare Holdren, principal of San Marcos High School.
The renaming follows Cottage Health’s $1.5 million donation to the high school’s academy. For the next 20 years, the academy will carry the Cottage Health name, according to the school district.
The donation will support the newly expanded program through curriculum design, facility improvements, instructional materials, clinical preparation and other educational enhancements, according to the announcement from Cottage Health.
Beginning next fall, 240 students will have access to the academy after allowing ninth-grade students to apply. Before, only 10th- through 12th-grade students could apply.
The new facility is set to replace a group of portable classrooms near the back of the high school’s campus. Construction is expected to begin in June, Holdren said.
“This dedicated facility will be a crown jewel for our district,” said Hilda Maldonado, superintendent of the Santa Barbara Unified School District.
The classrooms will be designed to look like a modern medical center, she added.
The new facility has a $11 million fundraising goal. The high school is raising $5.5 million, and the district set aside the other half in bond money.
Frann Wageneck with the Royal Pride Foundation, a nonprofit organization that fundraises for San Marcos, said Cottage Health’s donation brought the project within reach of the fundraising goal and now needs $1 million.
She also announced on Wednesday that a local foundation, one that doesn’t want to be identified publicly, recently gifted the academy a matching grant up to $500,000. Any dollar amount donated by the community will get matched by the organization.
“That will bring us to our goal,” she said.
Former academy student Karen Garcia, now a clinical resource nurse in mother care and obstetrics at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, shared with the students in the crowd that the academy was fundamental to her nursing career.
“To be able to see them and maybe have them reflect themselves in me, it shows they can achieve this, too,” she said.
Hayden Jones, a sophomore at San Marcos and an academy student, sat with a group of her classmates on Wednesday to show student support for the changes coming to the academy.
She said she transferred to San Marcos High School specifically for the Health Careers Academy.
“The new building will really set us apart with better materials, resources and connections,” she said.
That isn’t the only change for the academy.
Through a recent partnership with Westmont College, some students can get guaranteed admission and financial aid to attend the university.
“By nurturing our local students, we both support our needs as a community and, most importantly, we are going to provide more of our students with the opportunity to build their careers and lives here in Santa Barbara,” Holdren said.