St. Mary's Celebrates Opening of New Abby Sobrato Junior High School

Benefactors, friends, and alumni joined the St. Mary’s community on May 17 for the dedication of the new state of the art Abby Sobrato Junior High building. 

The evening festivities began with mass in the parish church, followed by a  presentation, building tours and a family-friendly barbecue dinner. 

School principal, Sister Nicki Thomas, welcomed the community, then introduced Abby Sobrato’s eldest son, John Matthew, who spoke about his late mother’s commitment to St. Mary’s and her years of service to the parish/school community. 

Father Brendan McGuire, Vicar General of the Diocese of San Jose shared congratulations on behalf of the Diocese of San Jose and along with St. Mary’s pastor, Father Rick Rodini and Father Enzie Legattuta, blessed the new school building. 

Attendees were treated to student/teacher-guided tours of the new junior high building facility, including the new technology-integrated middle school classrooms, science lab, Spanish/art room, St. Mary’s community library, and a triple monitor digital wall, which serves as a donors’ acknowledgement wall, and a teaching tool for middle school students. 

A dedication wall is in place to remember Mrs. Sobrato’s innumerable contributions to the St. Mary’s community and to pay tribute to Sister Nicki Thomas’ decades long dedication to St. Mary’s school. 

The new Abby Sobrato Junior High replaces an obsolete 50+ year-old structure.

 This state-of-the-art building was designed with integrated technologies, including classrooms equipped with Apple TVs and wireless service that allow teachers and students to watch and produce digital class content that is displayed in high resolution on Sharp monitors. 

The library/media center is accessible to both school and parish, and the building provides collaborative learning spaces, throughout. 

The building dedication commenced one year to the date of the groundbreaking ceremony, that was held on May 17, 2013. 

Architect, Jeffrey T. Berg of Steinberg Architects and Devcon Construction worked together to design a building with a vision for the future, paying attention to both sustainability and technology. 

For more than 50 years, St. Mary’s School has provided a faith-based education dedicated to developing the whole child, for grades K – 8th.

For more information, contact St. Mary’s School, at 408-354-3944, and visit our website at www.edline.net/pages/StMarys_School.