New Bishop Gorman High School opens in Summerlin master plan

On Sept. 5, more than 1,000 students from throughout the entire Las Vegas Valley started school at Summerlin's newest private school, Bishop Gorman High School.

The $93 million, 187,000-square-foot school is located on 36 acres in The Mesa Village at Hualapai Way and Russell Road near Interstate 215, the Las Vegas Beltway.

The campus houses a 5,500-square-foot alumni memorial chapel, biology, chemistry and physics labs, learning centers, a college-style lecture hall, a performing arts theatre and dozens of athletic fields and gymnasiums.

Joseph A. Pepe, Bishop of the Diocese of Las Vegas, and Dr. Richard Facciolo, Chancellor and Vicar for Education for the Diocese of Las Vegas, were on campus to welcome students to the new school.

Pepe started the day with a prayer and blessed 40 crucifixes that will be hung in the classrooms throughout campus.

Similar crucifixes hung in the classrooms of Bishop Gorman's former campus at 1801 Maryland Parkway, where the high school was located for more than 50 years.

The hanging crucifixes are only one of many similar traditions planned for the new campus, according to Pepe.

"Our decision to move our campus to Summerlin represents a new chapter in our history. But we're still an old school with a strong legacy and many well-defined traditions that will continue for years to come," he said.

"It's exciting to think that we are already establishing and carrying on traditions at our new school," said 17-year-old student, Jillian Davis.

The new students were also greeted by dozens of staff members who distributed maps of the new large campus.

The facility uses the school's colors, orange and blue, on multiple design and architectural elements throughout the campus, including walls, flooring, lockers and even the striping on the gym floor.

"There's a lot of spirit at our school," said Alissa Capovilla, a 17-year-old student. "That spirit is strong no matter where our campus is located. Summerlin is Bishop Gorman's new home now."

Bishop Gorman High School is one of three new schools that opened in Summerlin for the 2007-2008 school year. Others include The Adelson School, the state's first Jewish high school, and Wilbur and Theresa Faiss Middle School, a public school operated by the Clark County School District.

Currently, there are 22 public and private schools open in the master-planned community.

That number will only continue to grow, according to Kevin Orrock, top division executive of The Howard Hughes Corp., developer of Summerlin.

"As development continues, additional public and private schools are planned to open in Summerlin," he said. "The community already has a well-established reputation as one of the most abundant and educationally diverse master-planned communities in Las Vegas. We have every intention of maintaining that position for decades to come."

Summerlin began to take shape in 1990.

It is a 22,500-acre master-planned community located along the western rim of the Las Vegas Valley.

The community is currently home to more than 95,000 residents. With about 7,500 acres still to develop, including its urban core, Summerlin Centre, Summerlin is continuing to unfold.

The community is home to more than 100 neighborhood and village parks, more than 150 completed miles of the Summerlin trail system, nine golf courses, a dozen houses of worship, shopping centers, medical and cultural facilities, business parks and more than 100 actively selling floor plans.

Homes are available in a variety of styles -- from single-family homes to townhomes, condominiums and lofts. Prices range from the low $200,000s to more than $2 million.

Custom home sites in The Ridges are priced from the $500,000s.

Luxury apartment homes offer monthly rents starting from the low $1,000s.

For more information on the master-planned community, visit summerlin.com or call 888-898-5015.