Mission Viejo

Mission Viejo, CA

Mission Viejo is a city located in southern Orange County, California in the Saddleback Valley and has been named the safest city in the US according to a 2007 Morgan Quitno crime statistic survey. Mission Viejo is considered one of the largest master planned communities ever built under a single project in the United States, and is rivaled only by Highlands Ranch, Colorado in its size. As of the January 1, 2009, the city had a total population of 100,242.

Mission Viejo is suburban in nature and culture. The city is mainly residential, although there are a number of offices and businesses within its city limits. The city is planned and features a very large number of single-family homes, some condominiums, a two-year community college, and a regional mall.

Mission Hospital is the largest hospital in south Orange County and serves as the area’s regional trauma center. It also offers one of two CHOC (Children’s Hospital of Orange County) locations providing outstanding care for children. Mission Hospital is a critical asset to the region. It is undergoing a multi-year campus expansion, which includes emergency services, conference and medical office space as well as a new in-patient hospital tower. Other medical facilities and offices have clustered around the hospital. It is conveniently located off the I-5 Crown Valley Parkway exit about half a mile from the freeway.

The city’s name is a reference to Rancho Mission Viejo, a large Spanish land grant from which the community was founded. There is no Spanish mission in Mission Viejo, and the name is an ungrammatical use of a masculine adjective with a feminine noun. The correct Spanish term meaning “old mission” is “misión vieja.”

Recreational activities abound; the city has numerous recreational areas such as the newly remodeled Norman P. Murry Community and Senior Center there are about two parks per square mile. The city has three golf courses, The Mission Viejo Country Club, Casta del Sol Golf Course, and the Arroyo Trabuco Golf Club. At the center of the city is a man-made lake, Lake Mission Viejo, a private association for Mission Viejo residents with custom waterfront homes, condominiums, boat rentals,and swim beaches.

Mission Viejo is served by two school districts, the Capistrano Unified and Saddleback Valley Unified School Districts. Capistrano Unified serves the eastern, northeastern, and southern portions of the city with eight schools. As of 2006, all high school students in the Capistrano Unified portion of Mission Viejo attend Capistrano Valley High School. Students from western Mission Viejo (north of Oso Parkway and west of Marguerite until Alicia Parkway) attend Saddleback Valley’s Mission Viejo High School. Far northern Mission Viejo attends Saddleback Valley’s Trabuco Hills High School, though most of that school has students from Rancho Santa Margarita and Lake Forest.

Education

Silverado High School, Mira Monte High School, and Pathfinder are continuation and adult schools within the city. Silverado High School provides a day school environment while Mira Monte, which shares the same campus, is strictly independent study.

Saddleback College, near The Shops at Mission Viejo and Capistrano Valley High School, is a large community college in the southern half of the city. In addition, the University of California, Irvine, Chapman University and Soka University of America are nearby in adjacent cities.

Skateboard parks are included in some of the recreational facilities throughout Orange County as well such as; Bebee Park, Rancho Santa Margarita, Laguna Niguel, Laguna Hills, San Clemente, Costa Mesa, Huntington Beach, Vans Skatepark at the Block at Orange, Etnies of Lake Forest, and Anaheim West.

La Tierra Elementary is scheduled to be shut down in June 2009 due to budget cuts. It was chosen due to its small size and minimal student body. The school will remain closed until further notice. Mission Viejo residents refer to La Tierra as “The Little School With a Big Heart.” Students there are reassigned to Del Cerro Elementary.

O’Neill Elementary, the city’s first elementary school, closed in June 2009 also due to budget cuts in SVUSD. Students in the Deanne Home community surrounding the school will be moved to nearby De Portola Elementary. Students living in the homes north of the lake will be moved to Melina Heights Elementary in Rancho Santa Margarita.

Capistrano Unified

  • Barcelona Hills Elementary School
  • Bathgate Elementary School
  • Carl Hankey Elementary School
  • Castille Elementary School
  • Philip J Reilly Elementary School
  • Viejo Elementary School

Saddleback Valley Unified

  • Cordillera Elementary School
  • Del Cerro Elementary School
  • Del Lago Elementary School
  • De Portola Elementary School
  • Glen Yermo Elementary School
  • La Tierra Elementary School -closed in June 2009
  • Linda Vista Elementary School
  • Montevideo Elementary School
  • O’Neill Elementary School -closed in June 2009

Private

  • Al Ridah Academy- an Islamic Elementary School [7]

Middle school

  • Newhart Middle School-CUSD
  • La Paz Intermediate School-SVUSD
  • Los Alisos Intermediate School- SVUSD

High school

  • Capistrano Valley High School-CUSD
  • Halstrom High School (formerly Futures High School) -CUSD
  • Mission Viejo High School-SVUSD
  • Trabuco Hills High School-SVUSD

College

  • Saddleback College

For more information visit their official website City of Mission Viejo