About 1,000 students and residents gathered under a cloudless sky in Christopher High School's airy quadrangle for the school's opening ceremony Friday afternoon. Flanked by imposing classroom wings, guests focused their attention on the stage set up underneath the school's monumental entrance. At one end of the stage, a painting of a cougar mirrored a live caged version lounging in a patch of sun. Yellow and pink hibiscus plants lined the front of the stage and various speakers took to the podium as audience members used programs to shade their eyes from the bright afternoon sun.

"Christopher High School is no doubt the finest high school in California, if not the nation," said Superintendent Deborah Flores.

Built in part by millions of dollars from Measure P, the school facilities bond voters passed in November, the campus cost about $120 million so far and is largely a product of the community's support, Flores said. She concluded her speech by drawing on her experience at the fall concert put on by the Christopher and Gilroy high school choirs. The two choirs came together to sing "It Takes a Village" from the African proverb of the same name.

"CHS is one of the most visible symbols of how seriously Gilroy takes this proverb to heart," she said.

Though the light breeze picked up during her speech, knocking over a couple flagpoles and popping a few of the gold, teal and black balloons dotting the campus in clusters, Flores later said she thought the ceremony went off without a hitch.

When Principal John Perales came to school this morning, he was startled by the live cougar lying on his desk. Mischievous contractors from Gilbane, the general contractor that built the school, had warned Perales that they would have a surprise waiting for him.

"I thought it was going to be a guy in a cougar costume," Perales said after the ceremony. "I was scared to death!"

Opening CHS was the "chance of a lifetime," Perales said. "Opening this high school could not have happened without the hard work and support of many people in our community. We are CHS."

When garlic magnate Don Christopher, for whom the school is named, took the microphone, he received a standing ovation that only subsided after he waved his hand in acknowledgment. Christopher and his wife, Karen, donated millions of dollars in land and grants to make the high school happen. Karen Christopher also recently donated $10,000 to the school for library books, he told the audience. The couple watched the progress of the high school from their own home nearby, he said.

When the school district approached Christopher several years ago, asking if they could name the school after him and his family, "I just about fell down," he remembered. "There's only one answer and the answer is 'anytime.' I was so pleased I can't even tell you. I was in the right place at the right time with the right people. I just got lucky."

Sophomore class president Katharine Bright concluded the afternoon by reminding her fellow students that much is expected of those "to whom much is given."

"There are no excuses, only learning opportunities," she said. "The decisions we make today will affect the ones we make tomorrow. With these principles as a foundation, leaders are made. That is exactly what is going on at Christopher High School right now. This is a time of beginnings, of firsts, of the future and we are the ones that are going to make it happen."