Capital High School names two interior spaces after significant contributors

The Capital High School Performing Arts Center will retain its name, while two interior spaces will bear the names of significant contributors to music and theater at the school.

Two instructional and performance-support spaces will be known as the Dan Lundberg Orchestra Pit and Paige Sorensen Scene Shop. The choices were finalized by the Olympia School District Board of Directors at a meeting on May 14.

The school convened the Capital High School Performing Arts Center Naming Committee to review community nominations, receive input, consider district procedure and develop a recommendation. 

“The committee had a very in-depth process, including considering ... what's the purpose of naming the building. We had a great amount of public comment on people both suggesting names,” said Donovan Jojola, Associated Student Body (ASB) student and member of the committee. 

Jojola presented the recommendations to the Olympia School District Board of Directors with Craig Ottavelli, a local resident and Co-Chair of the Committee and Principal Condee Wood, at the meeting. 

A rationale document stated the committee received nominations for several individuals with meaningful connections to the school, the district and performing arts education, including Dan Lundberg, Paige Sorensen, Kurt Cross, Paula Victor and C. Irvin Wright. 

“Our final suggestion is to name the orchestra pit the Dan Lundberg Orchestra Pit, and the scene shop, the Paige Sorensen Scene Shop. Both of these people are extraordinary people who have had an amazing impact on Capital High School,” Jojola said. 

Jojola said Dan Lundberg had decades of experience at Capital, “contributing not just as an orchestra teacher but also to graduation,” and Sorensen, “had a massive impact on the technical theater" at the school.

“The strongest and most sustained community input centered on Dan Lundberg and Paige Sorensen. Both were described as having made significant and lasting contributions to Capital High School performing arts, though in different ways and through different areas of work,” the rationale document states.

Lundberg was a “foundational figure” in the school’s music program, as a long-serving band director and district music leader. 

Sorensen was a “central figure” in the school’s technical theater, set design, backstage work and student mentorship. 

“The (committee) also received input urging caution about naming the entire facility after any individual. Some community members and committee members expressed concern that the PAC is a student-centered space and that naming the entire facility after one adult could unintentionally narrow the identity of a building intended to serve generations of students, artists, performers, technicians, educators, families, and community members,” the document states. 

Because of the concern, the committee decided to retain the name of the PAC, but also said the act is “not intended as a lesser form of recognition.”  

“Rather, it reflects the (committee’s) conclusion that the main facility name should remain centered on Capital High School students and the school’s performing arts program as a whole,” the rationale document states.

The committee followed a public process to decide on the name, including a solicitation of written nominations and rationale statements from the community, review of nominations, two public hearing opportunities, review of additional public input, consideration of feedback from the principal,  and committee deliberation using a rubric and discussion. 

The school board passed a motion to establish the name changes.