Stevenson School Opens New Academic Centers Built for Curiosity and Discovery
Ribbon cutting and "Curiosity First" conversation bring students, educators and scientists together to mark a new
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Ribbon cutting and “Curiosity First” conversation bring students, educators and scientists together to mark a new chapter in learning at Stevenson
PEBBLE BEACH, CA / ACCESS Newswire / August 31, 2026 / Stevenson School marked the opening of The Day Science and Engineering Center and The John Senuta Math Center on Friday, Aug. 28, completing the largest capital project in the school’s history and ushering in a new era for science, engineering and mathematics on its Pebble Beach campus.
The $45 million, two-story complex replaces the Lindsley Science Building, which had served Stevenson students since the late 1960s, and provides nearly four times the space previously dedicated to STEM subjects. The project was funded entirely through philanthropy.
Designed for discovery
Designed by Bohlin Cywinski Jackson with significant input from Stevenson faculty, the new complex brings mathematics, science and engineering together under one roof for the first time. Robotics and engineering students who previously worked across three separate campus locations now have a shared, purpose-built hub where projects can remain assembled and evolve over weeks or months.
The centers include six mathematics classrooms; six science laboratories with dedicated prep rooms; two dry-lab physics classrooms; and an applied science makers’ lab with adjacent woodworking and metalworking shops. A teaching kitchen connects culinary and food science programming with an outdoor garden and hydroponics system, while a rooftop platform provides a permanent site for astronomy observation.
Thirteen collaborative spaces throughout the complex give students room to work across disciplines, and three art installations by Stevenson alumni are integrated into the buildings.
The complex also introduces renewable energy to Stevenson’s Pebble Beach campus for the first time. Rooftop photovoltaic arrays and battery energy storage are complemented by daylight-harvesting LED lighting, stormwater bioretention and cloud-based energy management. Many of those systems are intentionally visible and instrumented, allowing students to study the performance of the building itself.
The new facilities are already expanding what Stevenson students can pursue. A Senior Research Program pairs students with researchers in the region to work under authentic research protocols, while long-term engineering projects – including a recent student’s prototype CubeSat satellite – now have dedicated space to develop over the course of a semester.
“So many of the fields that matter to this community, from medicine to engineering to environmental science, start with students being given room to investigate something properly. That is what Stevenson has built here,” said Dr. Steve Packer, Stevenson Trustee and Advancement Chair, CEO Emeritus of Montage Health.
“Curiosity First”
The Aug. 28 celebration marked the opening of the new centers while also highlighting the curiosity, exploration and discovery they were designed to inspire. The day centered not on the buildings themselves, but on the kind of thinking they were designed to encourage.
Following the ribbon cutting, students, faculty and community members gathered in Keck Auditorium for “Curiosity First,” a keynote and panel exploring how questions – and the willingness to follow them – drive scientific discovery. Dr. Dan Griffiths, President of Stevenson School, who came to school leadership following a research career in behavioural neuroscience, moderated the conversation.
“These buildings are an investment in how students learn, giving them the space and tools to ask bold questions, experiment and follow their curiosity,” said Dr. Griffiths. “Opening them with a conversation about curiosity felt especially fitting because that spirit of discovery is exactly what these centers are designed to inspire.”
David Krakauer, president and William H. Miller Professor of Complex Systems at the Santa Fe Institute, delivered the keynote. He was joined for the panel by Fiorenza Micheli P’25 ’31, the David and Lucile Packard Professor of Marine Science at Stanford University, based at Hopkins Marine Station in Pacific Grove; Jan Liphardt, associate professor of bioengineering at Stanford and Founder and CEO of OpenMind; and Darnell Adler ’22, founder of the personal safety platform Lifeline AI.
Adler won the 2026 Red Bull Basement World Final in June, taking the global title over a field of more than 138,000 applicants from 40 countries. He built Lifeline AI around a problem no one assigned to him, which is the very habit these buildings were designed to encourage.
This week, that work begins. Students are now attending their first classes in The Day Science and Engineering Center and The John Senuta Math Center.
A record-setting campaign
The centers are the cornerstone projects of the Remarkable Stevenson Campaign, which launched publicly in 2024 with a $60 million goal and concluded June 30 having raised $75 million from more than 2,500 donors. It is the largest successful capital campaign in Stevenson’s history.
“These centers are a powerful expression of what the Stevenson community can make possible together,” said Cynthia Chapman ’83, Chair of the Stevenson Board of Trustees. “The generosity behind this project will create opportunities for students for generations to come.”
The project was anchored by two $10 million lead gifts. Will Griffith ’89 and Calla Griffith funded The John Senuta Math Center in honor of longtime Stevenson mathematics teacher John Senuta. The Willametta K. Day Foundation funded The Day Science and Engineering Center in honor of Robert A. Day ’61, Matt Day ’63 and T.J. Day ’66.
“The numbers tell one part of this campaign’s story,” said Dr. Michael L. Jackson ’68, Campaign Chair. “What stays with me is the number of people who chose to invest in students they may never meet. That belief in the future of Stevenson and what our graduates will contribute to society is what made this possible.”
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About Stevenson School
Stevenson School is a private, co-educational Pre-K-12 boarding and day school on California’s Monterey Peninsula, with campuses in Carmel (Pre-K-Grade 8) and Pebble Beach (Grades 9-12). Guided by its motto, Suaviter in modo, fortiter in re – “Gentle in manner, resolute in deed” – Stevenson’s mission is to prepare students for success in school and in their lives beyond it, to foster a lasting passion for learning and achievement, and to help them shape a joyful life.
Media Contact
Katie Ray
Assistant Director, Communications
kray@stevensonschool.org
Photos from the Grand Opening can be found here.
SOURCE: Stevenson
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