Pacifica Christian High School

Pacifica was founded in 2010 with a gift by businessman David Bahnsen with a group of other interested parties. Bahnsen attended Newport Christian High School (NCHS), where his father had been a teacher. The city purchased the former site of NCHS in 1988 when the founders retired and the school closed. Bahnsen said that when Newport Christian closed it left "a geographic disparity" as there was no longer any religious private schools in the area. Pacifica was modeled after its sister school in Santa Monica, California. The lease agreement with the city at West 15th street required the city be allowed to continue to use some of the facilities. They purchased the campus for and opened the location to students in 2021. It is a mile from the beach where oil had previously been drilled. Newport Christian High School NCHS was originally founded as Huntington Valley Christian High School in Fountain Valley out of Huntington Valley Baptist Church in 1971 by Willard May, The Reverend, who also headed and taught at the school. May was ordained in 1854 by the Alliance World Fellowship. The year the school opened there were 18 students. The School relocated to Costa Mesa and finally Newport Beach in 1981, NCHS was founded with a marine science program that became nationally recognized for its equipment such as a mini-submarine and an 82-and-a-half-foot Yacht (RV Conqueror), Brian Alters, a professor of evolutionary biology at Chapman University and alumnus taught in the program. It was founded in 2002 and opened in 2005. == Student life ==

The school has an Associated Student Government, Prefect Board, Hiking Club, Prayer Club, and several other student-run clubs. House System Students are organized into four Houses: St. Matthew, St. Mark, St. Luke, and St. John. The houses are intended to create multi-grade communities that offer mentoring, friendly competition, and long-term connection across classes. == Athletics ==

Pacifica has several athletic teams. Varsity and junior varsity teams compete in CIF Southern Section. There are boys and girls varsity teams for basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, tennis, volleyball, and water polo. Girls only varsity teams for beach volleyball, flag football, and softball. Boys only varsity team for baseball. Junior varsity sports include boys baseball, basketball, and soccer. Girls can also cheer and dance on the Sideline team. And both genders have a surfing team that competes in the Scholastic Surf Series League. When the school opened, Brandon Gonzalez joined the faculty as the athletic director and head coach of varsity girls soccer. His first year, he ran the program from Redmond, Washington, where he was the athletic director at The Bear Creek School. As of 2025, Gonzalez was still in the position. In 2021, former major league baseball player Chris Gomez joined the faculty to found and develop the varsity baseball team. While he was head coach, the team had a record of 36 – 26, played in the division championships, and were first in their division for two months. He was named San Joaquin League Coach of the Year for the 2023 – 2024 season. Beau Amaral, the son of major league player Rich Amaral, was his assistant coach, and stepped in as head coach beginning in fall 2024. Jeff Berokoff, a former basketball player for San Diego State University, is the coach of the varsity boys basketball team. Titles • Boys golf, varsity, San Joaquin South League title, 2018 • Girls basketball, varsity, Western League title, 2019 • Boys basketball, varsity, CIF-SS Regional Championship title, 2023 • Girls cross country, varsity, San Joaquin League title, 2024 == References ==