TEMECULA—Saint Jeanne de Lestonnac Catholic School broke ground on a much-anticipated expansion project May 17th, with church and community leaders such as Bishop Alberto Rojas and Riverside County Supervisor Chuck Washington in attendance. The event began with Bishop Rojas presiding over Mass at the school, followed by a groundbreaking ceremony.
“The importance of our Catholic Schools is to maintain the integrity of the human being and to guide students to become good people. This is why this expansion project is so important, there is so much need in the world, and this new building provides a place which will continue to educate with these Gospel values,” said Bishop Rojas.
Commenting on the new building, Supervisor Washington said, “The opportunity to educate more students and to prepare them for a future with the foundation and standards that Catholic education provides can only produce quality students and quality adults.”
The new building will allow for 450 to 500 additional students on the existing preschool through high school campus. The building will include multiple classroom spaces, STEM labs, a culinary arts kitchen, a film production studio, a chapel, art studios, and administrative offices. Saint Jeanne’s educates the whole child by offering a rigorous curriculum and providing access to global educational institutions through the Order of the Company of Mary Our Lady.
Sister Ernestine Velarde, ODN, President of Saint Jeanne de Lestonnac School, explained, “The Company of Mary educational centers are identified by living the values of the Gospel, educational excellence, openness to a plural and diverse world, with a social and caring commitment to the needs in our communities and the world. This new building will provide continued support for this mission and will allow students for many generations to come, a place for them to develop and foster their God given talents.”
Saint Jeanne de Lestonnac Catholic School has been educating in the Temecula Valley for 27 years. The current campus was constructed in 1999 and the projected completion of the expansion project is in the fall of 2023.