E
nrollment skyrocketed from 75 students when the new
campus first opened in 2020 to nearly 450 by the end
of 2022. More than a dozen new faculty members also
joined the Warrior family. As the community grew, so too did
the opportunities for students. The expansion of the Genius Lab
— doubling in size to accommodate a Makerspace — allowed
for more collaboration, innovation, and creativity. The lab was
the perfect site for SJC's young space enthusiasts to take part
in the SpaceCRAFT Exploration Challenge – an international
competition that allowed them to virtually participate in space
exploration. Barb Shaw, STEM teacher extraordinaire and one of
Orange County's Top 25 Teachers according to Parenting OC, was
responsible for bringing this cutting-edge program to SJC.
A deepening sense of community was forged, fueled
partially by the return to safe outdoor activities like Fall
Festival Fun and Under the Harvest Moon. Students
came together through new common interest groups like
the Wave Warriors Surf Club, which met at dawn each
Thursday at Doheny Beach.
Fairmont SJC has grown into a
school where a culture of compassion
and generosity is prized alongside
academic and athletic achievement.
Students demonstrated their big-heartedness in 2021-
22 by participating in a number of community service
projects — from making blankets for children at CHOC
and Orangewood to the Spark of Love Toy Drive to a food
drive that yielded a whopping 1,643 pounds of food and
hundreds of dollars in gift cards.
