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Ten years ago, city officials started thinking about how to redevelop Downtown San Diego. About five years later, carefully chosen investments were made in Downtown infrastructure— rebuilding parks, public spaces and retail areas. Peter Hall, president of the Centre City Development Corporation says it was, and is, all part of the effort to make Downtown San Diego a "24-hour city" where people live, work and play.
"It used to be a 12-hour city, when people came here to work and for government business, then went home to the suburbs. So we started working on the retail and entertainment sectors and got the public here in the evenings and on weekends," he says. And now comes the third leg of the plan — education. "In order to have a residential downtown community you have to deal with the educational component, as well as cultural and recreational amenities," says Hall.
To move the issue along, CCDC entered into a joint venture in 1993 with one of the city's oldest and neediest preschool/elementary schools — Washington. The school at the corner of Date and State streets, was renovated and adjacent land was purchased to create Amici Park. "Amici is the Italian word for friends," says Hall. "We created a park that serves as a shared resource: a playground during school time and a public park on weekends and holidays."
And Washington isn’t the only school using city resources. At Harborside School on Kettner Boulevard, for example, the Downtown area literally becomes part of the classroom. Founded two years ago by John and Christy Walton, the school (which educates children from 3 years old through eighth grade) is based on the belief that real life experience is necessary for a well-rounded education.
Dr. Ginger Hovenic, the school's executive director, says Harborside takes advantage of everything the city has to offer, as if Downtown were one big textbook. "Starting at 3 years old, children are already going to the harbor and to Coronado on the ferry, for example," she says, "to learn about transportation."
For physical education, students take the trolley to a local indoor rock climbing establishment or use the YMCA's gym. They travel by public transportation to Balboa Park and nearly all its museums, the Zoo, Old Town, the Mexican Consulate and the San Diego court system.
City Tree Elementary School's focus is character-building. "We teach character traits like responsibility, caring and sharing every day. We do it by showing students how to treat one another, through books, Bible stories and our discipline policy," says Ruth Ely, one of the school's founders and its director for 22 years. Each week students work on developing one trait and through a reward system of buttons, necklaces and crowns, build up their self-esteem. "Their button shows that someone actually living here — not just in a book or the Bible — exemplifies a particular trait."
Students begin school at City Tree as early as age 2 and continue through the sixth grade. The school is an outreach of First Presbyterian Church and integrates Bible-based teachings and educational excellence, says Ely, who retired in September, taking the title of director with her. Tom Kind is now the school's principal, and Sue Kennedy is assistant principal.
Even the Children's Museum/Museo de los Nintildeos is getting into the school business. The museum's charter school for third and fourth graders opened its doors Sept. 8, with classes taking place inside the museum's main gallery. Robert Sain, the museum's executive director, says the school is using the museum's exhibitions and associated artists to teach "basic, meaningful life skills that meet state criteria by unlocking the resources of this museum and eventually using the resources of other cultural institutions in the city."
San Diego High School is located on Park Boulevard while right next door, for adults, there's San Diego City College. At $12 a unit, City College is a very affordable way to get a college degree, further a professional education or retrain for another career. Everything required for a general, two-year college education program is offered.
Although many City College students come straight from high school, the average age is 28 and a good portion are looking to switch careers. Ron Manzoni, vice president for instruction at the school, says environmental control technology is a particularly popular program. "It focuses on how to build, repair and maintain air conditioning and refrigeration units. Salaries are very good and we have one of the outstanding training programs in the country. Particularly for women, this is a great field to get into," he says.
Also popular is the school's small business accounting program, a new, 12-week computer repair program and a biotechnology training program for lab assistants.
Two programs offered by the school's Center for Applied Competitive Technologies have become national modelseth;the automated equipment technician program and the advanced computerized machining program. "The first one trains technicians to keep a factory going and the other one, known as CAD/CAM, teaches people to use big machine tools for making parts, to design on a computer screen and to use machine code," explains Joan Stepsis, dean of the Center. Salaries for graduates often start at between $25,000-$35,000 a year, she says.
"We are the only game in town now, the only college even teaching manufacturing technology and machine technology. And we have the only really modern manufacturing laboratory at any school of higher education in the county," says Stepsis.
Should your interests extend to building and design, the Newschool of Architecture has a full range of undergraduate and graduate courses, all given at night.
"We get traditional students out of high school and a lot of mid-career people who want to switch jobs, everyone from attorneys and accountants to sales people or those in construction," says Mike Stepner, the school's dean.
The school offers three tracks — traditional design architecture, building technology and urban planning. All courses can be taken as part of a continuing education program, and very often specialized professional courses are offered, such as last year’s Law for Architects, says Stepner.
Students at California Western School of Law on Cedar Street take advantage of the Downtown locale when they participate in its popular clinical internship program. Although internships take place at law firms in and around San Diego County, Katherine Curriden, public relations manager at the school, says a large percentage of students intern close-by with Downtown law firms or the court system.
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Cal Western is an independent, accredited law school that requires a bachelor's degree and LSAT scores for admission. The average student is 27 years old and many are in the midst of a career change. Last month, the school broke ground on a new law library, which should be ready to go in January 2000.
And this is just the short list. Educational opportunities outside of the traditional classroom abound Downtown, at places like the Reuben H. Fleet Space Center, the Maritime Museum and the art and history museums.
"There's no area in the county that has the abundance of educational opportunity we do Downtown, from child care through continuing adult education," says Peter Hall of CCDC. "It’s a rich field."
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