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Tara Nooteboom, 14, recently recalled the way Vistamar School looked when she first laid eyes on it.
That was around May, and it was hard to imagine the new private high school operating out of a warehouse seemingly void of character.
"White walls, concrete floors -- I mean, they had hardly done anything to it," Tara said. "And to see it about a week ago, it was just amazing how much it has transformed."
Vistamar, the South Bay's newest private high school, has come along way. In just a few short months, a giant industrial box off Aviation Boulevard in El Segundo has been carved out, retrofitted, built up, wired and painted to create a 21st-century campus.
When the first crop of students arrives today, they'll be met with striking shades of orange, green and blue (only they have fancier names like Montana agate and luna pier). A cluster of classrooms and offices wraps around a commons area where teachers and students will be encouraged to discuss academics amid banks of computers. There's even a casual student hangout reminiscent of a college lounge.
"It feels cozy, like a home," said Alyssa...