{"id":5417,"date":"2026-08-13T05:07:50","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T05:07:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lumeamara.online\/?p=5417"},"modified":"2026-08-13T05:08:00","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T05:08:00","slug":"philanthropist-donates-1m-for-san-marcos-high-schools-elings-wells-family-wellness-center","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lumeamara.online\/?p=5417","title":{"rendered":"Philanthropist Donates $1M for San Marcos High School\u2019s Elings Wells Family Wellness Center"},"content":{"rendered":"

Philanthropist Betty Elings Wells has donated $1 million to San Marcos High School\u2019s Royal Pride Foundation to support the school\u2019s Building Community Wellness Project.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The gift will help build a new wellness center on campus to provide physical and mental health<\/a> services to students and families. It will be designed to be \u201cwelcoming, private, and accessible,\u201d according to the Royal Pride Foundation, the nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting San Marcos High School. It will include multiple therapy rooms, space for group counseling, and areas for wellness education and programming \u2014 intended to \u201cnormalize care and make support more approachable\u201d for students, families, and staff. The school will collaborate with local mental health organizations to develop a \u201cmental health framework\u201d centered on prevention and early intervention for the community, the foundation said.<\/p>

Philanthropist Betty Elings Wells and San Marcos High School Principal Dare Holdren. | Credit: Courtesy<\/figcaption>

In recognition of the gift, the center will be named after the Elings Wells family. Betty Elings Wells is quite a prolific donor in Santa Barbara, giving away large sums of money to schools and nonprofits around town and leaving a string of facilities \u2014 and, yes, Elings Park \u2014 named after her family in her wake. Her former husband, Virgil Elings, made pioneering contributions to nanoscience \u2014 and essentially kickstarted nanotechnology \u2014 while teaching at UC Santa Barbara. Meanwhile, Betty was a real estate investor, property manager, and Virgil\u2019s business partner. The two of them made a fortune \u2014 and a name for themselves at the university, donating millions to research projects and facilities over the years, alongside other philanthropic ventures in Santa Barbara.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Their children, Michael and Jeffrey, both engineers, are San Marcos High graduates.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI care deeply about supporting students and their well-being,\u201d said Betty Elings Wells. \u201cToday\u2019s high school students are navigating extraordinary academic, social, and emotional pressures, and they deserve access to comprehensive mental health services in an environment where seeking help is normal and encouraged. My hope for the Elings Wells Family Wellness<\/a> Center at San Marcos High School is for it to be a place where every student feels seen, supported, and empowered to thrive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Betty\u2019s recent contribution is believed to be the third largest donation in San Marcos High School history<\/p>\n

The new Elings Wells Family Wellness Center will be \u201ca cornerstone of the Building Community Wellness Project, which also includes new facilities supporting the Cottage Health Care<\/a>ers Academy,\u201d according to the Royal Pride Foundation. Next door to the academy\u2019s new mini-campus, the wellness center will provide hands-on experience for academy students interested in behavioral health professions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis integration creates a real-world learning environment \u2014 a living laboratory for future health and behavioral health professionals \u2014 and a unique bridge between student well-being and workforce development,\u201d according to the foundation<\/p>

An early rendering of the new Elings Wells Wellness Center at San Marcos High School. | Credit: Courtesy<\/figcaption>

Overall, the Building Community Wellness Project has an estimated cost of $11 million, approximately half of which will be funded through state bonds for facility improvements. The school has been working over the past couple of years to raise the remaining $5.5 million through private donations \u2014 $5 million of which has now been secured, including the most recent gift.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe San Marcos community is deeply grateful to Betty Elings Wells and her family for their extraordinary generosity and belief in our students,\u201d said Principal Dare Holdren. \u201cThis gift allows us to respond more effectively to the mental health needs of our school community and to create a space where students feel safe, supported, and empowered to seek help when they need it. Just as importantly, it strengthens our ability to build meaningful community partnerships that support a proactive, whole-school approach to wellness.\u201d<\/p>\n

Construction of the Elings Wells Family Wellness Center is projected to begin this June<\/p>\n

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Philanthropist Betty Elings Wells has donated $1 million to San Marcos High School\u2019s Royal Pride Foundation to support the school\u2019s Building Community Wellness Project.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5428,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[918,569,919,917,152],"class_list":["post-5417","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-family-wellness","tag-donates","tag-high","tag-marcos","tag-philanthropist","tag-schools"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lumeamara.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5417","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lumeamara.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lumeamara.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lumeamara.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lumeamara.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5417"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lumeamara.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5417\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5427,"href":"https:\/\/lumeamara.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5417\/revisions\/5427"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lumeamara.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lumeamara.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lumeamara.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lumeamara.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}