Page 9 - 2017-18 LBS Annual Report_Final_Neat

YOU SAW THE WHOLE PICTURE

“For Laguna to continue growing in the future, it has to continue to attract
people with horsepower, people who will make a difference—and who will
remember the role Laguna played in their lives.”

JIM TAYLOR
Trustee Emeritus ’07-’13 & Parent – Michael ’84, Whitney ’04, and Matthew ’08

When it comes to building a quality school from the shape what the school looks like and make sure the character
ground up, Jim Taylor has hands-on experience. In the was maintained but modernized.”
summer of 1964, Taylor—then a young neighborhood Indeed, during his tenure, Taylor and his wife, Denise,
boy living in Hope Ranch—helped build the Laguna were important to the Campaign for Laguna in the 1990s.
Blanca School art building alongside then-Headmaster He was also a member of the Master Planning Committee
Jack Adam’s son, Art, and other Laguna students. He may and helped choose what is now the site of Laguna’s Lower
not have realized it then, but that summer job five decades School campus in Montecito. With
earlier set a lifetime relationship in motion—one in which a great deal of foresight, he helped
Taylor would play a significant role in growing Laguna increase Laguna’s scholarship fund Today, Laguna
awards $1.6m in
Blanca in new and wonderful ways. so that a more diverse representation financial aid to
Taylor graduated from UCLA, where he studied of deserving students could attend, qualified families
economics and anthropology. He later went on to and he helped push for sustainable each year.
Harvard Business School and in 1971 returned to Santa building solutions and technology
Barbara to start his own business, American Capital enhancements.
Management, which is still owned by the Taylors today. Although Taylor’s involvement was very much
Not long after returning to the Santa Barbara area, he found associated with Laguna’s physical campus, he feels Laguna’s
his way back to Laguna Blanca—as a parent to Michael ’84, legacy is more than just beautiful land and buildings. It’s the
and “Laguna Lifers” Whitney ’04 and Matthew ’08. students who take what they learn here and go on to change
Taylor’s involvement as a Laguna parent spanned three the world. It’s an environment where students can excel and
decades, including 13 years on its Board of Trustees, during want to do great things.
two distinctly different time periods. It gave him a unique “For Laguna to continue growing in the future, it has to
perspective on Laguna’s continued role in the community continue to attract people with horsepower,” he says. “People
and in our students’ lives. who will make a difference—and who will remember the
“It was hugely rewarding,” Taylor says. “I could see the role Laguna played in their lives.”
work I was doing reflected in real life. I was able to help

8 LAGUNA BLANCA SCHOOL