Flashy high beams

Michael Miller

They may still be learning history, but two first-grade classes from

St. John the Baptist Catholic School have left an indelible mark on

Orange County.

On Wednesday, students in Heather Cronin’s and Heather Cassara’s

classes got to sign their names to one of the steel construction

beams that will go into renovating the Orange County Performing Arts

Center.

“It’s making history, and we’re part of it,” said Sister Mary

Vianney, the principal of the Costa Mesa parochial school. “I told

the children if the building falls down in a million years’ time,

people will see their signatures and they’ll be all there.”

St. John the Baptist was one of five Orange County elementary

schools chosen last year to participate in ArtsConnect, a program

sponsored by the Performing Arts Center that provides arts education

to first- through fifth-graders. Students from St. John joined the

other four schools -- as well as Performing Arts Center executives,

private donors, and others -- at Wednesday’s ceremony, in which

participants penned their names on three of the beams that will form

part of the Renee and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall and Samueli

Theater.

As presenters spoke on an outdoor stage, construction crews worked

behind them on the half-completed structure. The new building,

featuring a 2,000-seat concert hall and a 500-seat theater, is

scheduled to open in September 2006.

“This is your concert hall,” Henry Segerstrom, the founding

chairman of the Performing Arts Center, told the crowd. “It belongs

to you. It was meant for you, and your children, and your

descendants.”

Segerstrom praised the many private donors who have contributed

funds to the $200- million construction project.

“The fact that the Orange County Performing Arts Center neither

solicits nor receives public funding makes their achievement all the

more remarkable,” he said.

Publicist Jennifer Mahal said the Center has raised about $125

million of the needed funds for the project, and expects to garner

the remainder through bonds. In addition to the concert hall and

theater, the new building will feature an education center, as well

as an outdoor plaza area.

“We are committed to reaching 500,000 K-12 students every year

through the development of this Center,” Center president Jerry

Mandel told the crowd.

* MICHAEL MILLER covers education and may be reached at (714)

966-4617 or by e-mail at [email protected].