Keeping a Heritage of Education at One West Campbell Avenue
On the main street of Campbell Ave, an imposing structure stands proudly. Once upon a time it welcomed students of Campbell High School to run on its lawns, learn in its classrooms, laugh in the hallways, and carve their names into the windowsills - quite a few residents of Campbell have fond memories or stories that came from their time in the building. When the Campbell High School closed and became the Campbell Community Center in the mid 1980’s, the future of an aging, 1930’s sole example of Spanish Colonial Revival built by New Dealers was uncertain.
A nod to the Ship of Theseus philosophical puzzle: what constitutes a school? It’s not the students - they come and go and change as they grow. It’s not the teachers, new ones get hired and treasured ones retire. It’s not the curriculum, any good curriculum evolves and changes with new information and reflective of educational needs. It’s not the building either, schools can move, open, and close while retaining their identity.
Today, the building lives as a vibrant school, though for a younger crowd - the sign out front reads “DaVinci Academy of Silicon Valley”, a TK-8 academy that has been around since 1986, opening their own doors in Palo Alto around the same time that the Campbell High School doors were closing. The academy opened as a subsidiary of the Delphi Schools - a private education system with a philosophy of creating independent students who master each progressive step in their education before proceeding to the next step.
When the academy’s lease ended at their previous building, they sought around for a fitting home that could accommodate their specific program needs. It needed space for a library, as the students read hundreds of books each, annually. It had to have a science lab so that practical chemistry, physics, and biology experiments by the students could be done. It had to have bathrooms on each floor, lunch rooms, elevator access, the works. It was hard to find a fitting space, something that allowed for a wide breadth of educational programs.
Campbell Community Center, Building A, had all of this - and itched to become a schoolhouse again. The classrooms were newly re-modeled and refurbished with central heating, new wiring and grounded outlets installed, and various other changes that gave the historic building’s interior a face-lift - but it still kept all the charm of its age. The slight cracks in the stucco, wood-clad windows, the ornate tiling around the black water fountains in the hallways reflect the nobility of its age; the remnants and sigils of a student body that is now of retirement age carved into the banisters, doors, and window frames that exist as a veni, vidi, vici. Students today, (equally forbidden to vandalize) can trace long-forgotten missives “DW”, “JL+Nobody”, and “I LOVE DOROTHY - ANDY” and wonder whether Dorothy and Andy stayed together.
Today, DaVinci Academy forges its own identity as part of the Campbell community. Local residents often see their blue-uniformed students going on field trips to local parks, museums, and visiting local Campbell businesses to learn about urban life and work. They volunteer with the Community Center, raking mulch chips over bare areas and planting, with the Campbell Toy Drive, and doing vocal performances for the Campbell community. They participate in parades, Oktoberfest Fun Runs, and are as much a part of Campbell today as the building is.
Alumni of Campbell High School sometimes come knocking on the doors out of curiosity and remembrance, and while child safety requires the doors to stay locked, interested residents, particularly those with grandkids in the K-8 range, should check out an Open House event. They can share stories of their time in the classrooms and see what still stays the same. Perhaps Andy and Dorothy will make an appearance - and perhaps their grandchildren will be able to grow and learn in the same hallways that they once did.