By Dave Sabey

As someone who has built and managed critical infrastructure for decades, I can appreciate the need to look forward and construct something new.

After all, perhaps the most critical infrastructure we have is our schools, where we teach children needed skills and also connect them with their friends and neighbors within the walls of a community asset. The next generation deserve the best investment we can provide, and that begins with a high-quality school building.

But as a graduate son of another Highline High School grad (my Dad, Harold Sabey graduated in 1938), I can't help but look back and reflect on the history of the school and my own experiences there. I was in the Highline school district from Sunnydale Elementary on Des Moines Way where Mrs. Freit was my First-Grade teacher (I fondly remember each and every one of my elementary school teachers they were so remarkable), to Sylvester and then on to Highline High School. But it was at Highline High, in particular, where I learned the importance of community, met many good lifetime friends and where I received the inspiration to build my career and create something the community could be proud of. It's no accident that Sabey Corp. is headquartered right down the street in Tukwila, because I wanted this company and the jobs we create to be right here in the southend where I grew up. I love going around the country and jokingly saying that I didn't get very far in life, since my office is a very short distance from where I grew up.

It was at Highline High School where I met Lou Tice (my Highline Football Coach), who made an indelible impact on my life and helped me identify the tools I needed to build my career. He taught me the importance of teamwork and that no one person is bigger than the greater goal. He gave me the important tool of how to set very bold and high goals and then he gave me the confidence and the humility to believe that there were "moonshot" experiences in my future, "...if you can dream it, you can accomplish it. Seldom do you exceed you own expectations, so you better dream big" he would say. And then he would go on to say that the world belongs to the implementers. You must work hard and long with good people to accomplish great goals.

Lou also taught me that in all good endeavors, there should be no losers. I have never forgotten those ideals.

Because what I learned at Highline impacted my life so positively, I've tried my best to pass that forward and promote and invest in K-12 schools and universities throughout the state. We all need to do everything we can to invest in kids, family, and healthy communities so that the next generation can develop strong local roots and the skills needed to thrive in this world - which then stimulates the cycle of reinvestment back into the community indefinitely.

Unfortunately, at 90 years old the Highline High School Building wasn't in the best shape internally or externally to serve the community any longer. We still take pride in all that the original school provided to generations of high schoolers and at the same time we can be excited for what the new buildings will provide going forward. I am pleased to see that some of the historic look will continue on.

It is my hope that the newly built school will foster an environment that promotes learning, creativity, critical thinking, problem solving and serves as a source of innovation and excellence for this generation of kids. Outstanding schools have the potential to inspire young learners to grow into big thinkers and innovators.

This community and South King County have changed much over the decades. We are a transportation and trade hub, we have some of the brightest minds and global leaders in healthcare, technology, data, retail and right in our backyard. This region is at the forefront of the new global economy and it is up to those future generations to continue and grow that success. As a second generation Highline Graduate, it is my dream that this new facility will continue to provide the young men and woman that the world most needs now.

About the Sabey Corporation

Sabey Data Centers is one of the oldest and largest privately owned multi-tenant data center operator/developers in the world. Being privately-owned may mean that ours is never a household name, but to us, it means a complete focus on building value by serving one customer at a time.

Sabey Data Centers grew out of Sabey Corporation’s forty year history as a designer, builder and operator for leading innovators of the day: Boeing Electronics’ clean rooms, ADP’s first data center, McCaw Cellular’s first cell phone switches, and Exodus Communications, provider of the world’s first internet colocation services —all were breaking new ground in industries of world-wide importance.

Today, with more than two million square feet of mission critical space and another one and a half million under development, Sabey Data Centers continues to serve the world’s most exciting and exacting enterprises and institutions with customized data center solutions that are efficient, reliable and quick to market.

And trusted. Our clients’ satisfaction is our most prized asset; we’re committed to it from the beginning with design/build through construction into commissioning and operations with our superb critical environment management team. Our clients think of us as a trusted partner.