One of the interesting things about writing this blog is that most of our communication with readers occurs through the back channel. We have also found that our audience includes many of the people involved with the issues about which we write, and that is gratifying because it means we are providing useful information. We appreciate the private communications as much or more than the public comments we receive.
Case in point is our article yesterday about the new Rancho Mission Viejo School. We wrote that:
The Capistrano Dispatch is reporting that Capistrano Unified School District has selected a name for the K-8 school being built in Rancho Mission Viejo’s Planning Area 2:
“Capistrano Unified school board selects name for its next K-8 campus in Rancho Mission Viejo: Escencia School.”
We’re still confused by the proper spelling of Esencia/Escencia. We’ve usually seen the new Planning Area 2 village spelled “Esencia” (without the first ‘c’ – see this Register article, for example) and that is the proper spelling of the Spanish word, but on the other hand, CUSD and some others have been consistent in spelling it “Escencia.”
One of our well-placed readers immediately reached out to us to clarify the spelling: Planning Area 2 will be named ESENCIA, with only one c. We know that Esencia is Spanish for “the essence” and we are told it was selected as the village’s name to reflect the hope, promise and aspiration associated with creating a new community from the ground up. There you have it. E-S-E-N-C-I-A.
Our reader was also kind enough to share with us the rationale behind selecting the name Esencia for the Rancho Mission Viejo school. Both Rancho Mission Viejo and Capistrano Unified School District share the belief that naming a local school after the community in which it is located establishes a link and an identity for both the school and its surrounding community. Examples from this 20 year tradition between RMV and CUSD include Las Flores K-8 School in Las Flores and Ladera Ranch School in Ladera Ranch.
We thank our reader for the clarification and are happy to pass along this information to the rest of our audience.
While I appreciate a unique name, you have to admit it sounds a little like a name for a yogurt that makes your potty experience better or a shake to help seniors maintain bone structure.
Ha! I have to imagine that naming a community is one of the hardest things for a developer to do. Rancho Mission Viejo seems to alternate between generic Spanish words and historic, geographical and family names. Esencia works in large part because it is generic and unoffensive, but I thought there were other more authentic choices available for the school. Let’s just hope that the future cityhood committee uses a different naming convention, otherwise we will be living in the City of Ciudad.