Valley High celebrates newly renovated performing arts center

Valley High raised the curtain on its newly renovated performing arts center this week.

The $37 million project created a nearly professional space for students and the community to enjoy, school officials said at Monday’s ribbon-cutting celebration.

“I just think about being a student,” Superintendent Lorraine Perez said of having a professional theater on campus, “and having access to perform on a stage and not have the first time that you are on a stage like this be somewhere else outside of your community.

“To have access to this at this age is a game-changer,” she added.

The project was funded by the 2018 measure approved by voters that allowed the school district to sell bonds to raise $232 million for various infrastructure and improvement projects.

The theater can seat a little over 1,000 audience members and has professional-level lighting and audio systems.

“The best community arts center here in Orange County belongs to our students,” Trustee Katelyn Brazer Aceves boasted at the ceremony, calling the building a “beautiful symbol” that the community and district leaders, “we really believe and invest in our students and all are welcome here.”