Sageview High opening marks ‘new chapter’ for Tri-City students, teachers
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- Sageview High School opens this week to relieve overcrowding in Pasco, WA schools.
- Voter-approved $195.5M bond funded Sageview and Orion High School projects.
- New 300,000-sq-ft campus features 82 classrooms and state-of-the-art facilities.
Vicky Alvarez Molina, an incoming junior at Sageview High School, is all about the hype that’s been built up around her new school.
But the varsity golfer and violinist says the most exciting part will be walking across the stage to receive her diploma in 2027 as the first-ever graduating class of her new school — a picture she’s already painting in her head.
“I am proud to represent this beautiful, new school,” says Alvarez Molina, who is also one of three student representatives on the Pasco School Board.
“This is a new chapter in our lives, a powerful opportunity waiting to be embraced. A fresh, new start is coming our entire way — this is for the dreamers, the achievers and the leaders of tomorrow who will rise. We are the Lobos, and we protect the pack,” she said to a raucous applause.
Alvarez Molina’s comments were made in front of hundreds who showed up Monday morning to celebrate the christening of the Tri-Cities’ eighth and newest comprehensive high school.
Sageview High School, located at 6091 Burns Road, will serve 1,140 freshmen, sophomores and juniors when students return Tuesday, Aug. 26, for the first day of the 2025-26 school year.
The school’s story is more than two-years in the making.
In February 2023, voters passed a 21-year, $195.5 million capital projects bond to fund construction of Sageview and a choice career and college academy across town, Orion High School, also set to open this fall. Years before that, discussions were well underway on how Pasco School District would relieve overcrowding at two of Washington’s largest high schools, Chiawana and Pasco Sr. High.
As a result of Sageview opening, Chiawana will shrink from 3,150 students to just 2,270 and likely lose its title as the state’s largest high school. Pasco Sr. High, the state’s third largest, will shrink from about 2,600 to 2,100.
New Sageview HS ‘more than a building’
Teachers, families and community members showed up to this week’s ribbon cutting ceremony and grand opening dressed in whites, greys, blacks and the Lobos’ eye-catching forest green.
Students held signs in celebration and welcoming of their new school — one referencing the school mantra to “Protect the Pack — while the Lobos cheerleaders rustled their pom poms and the marching band played an electric number.
Pasco Superintendent Michelle Whitney — starting her third decade in public education and tenth year as superintendent — declared the two-story, 300,000-square-foot building the “home of the Lobos,” and thanked community members and staff who dedicated their time and efforts to open it.
“Today’s not just about a ribbon cutting. It’s about honoring a vision and the incredible collaboration that made it a reality,” Whitney said, acknowledging the community’s support for the bond. “With the opening of Sageview, we’re able to create school environments where students can be known, better supported and more connected, with increased access to leadership, clubs, athletics, academic programs and individualized support.”
“This is more than a building,” she continued, “it is a symbol of our community’s investment in the future. It represents courage, strength and power — the values of Sageview High School and the Lobos, who will call it home.”
Students led tours to community members to show off the new school’s classrooms, athletic facilities, state-of-the-art career and technical education spaces, theater, offices and library. Among those who got their first look at the school was school board President Amanda Brown, who called it “accessible” and “beautiful.”
“It sounds like this high school is laid out with the voice of community and the voice of staff and students,” said Brown, a Kennewick teacher who lives in the district.
Seeing the site go from dust to brick and mortar over the past two years is a “testament to the dedication the citizens of Pasco have to our community and to our students” to have high-quality facilities, she said.
That also means fewer high schoolers will be taught in portable buildings at Pasco schools. Brown said she student teached in a portable, which can be “isolating” for younger teachers and students.
“That is just really important to ensure success and show our students that we care about them,” she said.
Pasco freshmen go back to school Tuesday, Aug. 26. Sophomores, juniors and seniors start the next day on Wednesday.
The planning and inaugural principal is Raquel Martinez, who previously served six years at Stevens Middle School.
Sageview by the numbers
- The 300,000-square-foot building features 82 classrooms and is located on a 65-acre campus.
- About 1,100 students will call the building home when it opens in fall 2025.
- More than 1,400 tons of steel, 13,000 cubic yards of concrete and 170,000 precast masonry blocks were used its construction.
- Students and teachers can peruse the second-floor library’s 15,000 physical books.
- 6091 Burns Road is the school’s location. It’s also the share of support the Pasco School District bond received during the February 2023 election: 60.91%.
- Lobos booster club swag was on sale in the concessions area during the grand opening. Hats set attendees back $25, blankets $30, T-shirts $20 and sweatshirts $40.
This story was originally published August 18, 2025 at 3:22 PM.
