Clovis Community College held a groundbreaking for their new Applied Technology Building at their campus on Monday to kick off the month of May. The new building is a part of the Measure C funds that “[allow for the improvement] of the learning environment at Clovis Community College as well as other colleges in the district,” according to Deborah Ikeda, Vice President of the Board of Trustees for the State Center Community College District.
Ikeda then went on to thank former chancellor Dr. Bill Stewart for his lead as the Measure C Committee Chairperson and helped in the leadership to pass the “largest bond measure in the history of our district” according to Ikeda.
Dr. Carole Goldsmith stepped to the stage after Ikeda and spoke about how the new building will help add to the community. “Our current students and our future students will have access to state of the art facilities and various short term career and technical education programs.”
Goldsmith continued with her thoughts on why she believed this and the fruition of the building to be so important. “As we think about our economy, what we do here, what we grow, we feed the world right? We grow all [sorts] of commodities, but we also grow college ready students.”
Under the leadership of Dr. Lori Bennett, President of Clovis Community College, Goldsmith reminded the crowd, “For the last four years [Clovis Community College] has been named by the California Campaign for College Opportunity as not only one of the fastest growing community colleges, but one of the best for transfer to a four year.”
Dr. Lori Bennet spoke about the work that has been done at the new site and future projects that she was specifically excited about.
“We plan to break ground soon on our new athletic field which will include our own soccer field and a track around it.” She then went on to say that Clovis Community will be adding a new entrance to their parking lots as well as extending those parking lots out to Chestnut avenue. Bennet also mentioned that they will be adding a sidewalk and plants to the corner of Behymer and Willow avenue. These improvements to Clovis Community will all occur within the next year according to Bennett.
The building itself should be a “U-Shape” that will house a science lecture hall that will also double as a performing arts theater. In addition, there will be classrooms, student study space, an open computer lab, office space, and a “large meeting room” where Bennett says groups will be able to finally meet on campus.
“We want students to choose Clovis Community College based on our academic excellence, our innovation and our student achievement. This building will help us continue our tradition of excellence and innovation in the classroom.”
Before the groundbreaking, Bob Petithomme, Managing Principal for Darden Architects, the architect firm selected for the design of the building, spoke about how he was excited for this building and to see the “next chapter in Clovis Community begin”. His hopes include that the large collaboration space in the new building will “become a real hub for academic and social activities on the campus for years to come”.
A number of elected officials and dignitaries including Councilman of the City of Clovis Vong Mouanoutoua, Shannon Major representing Senator Andreas Borgeas, Andrea Soto Alvarez representing Senator Melissa Hurtado, and Dan Marano representing Assemblyman Jim Patterson handed out proclamations celebrating the groundbreaking for the new building.
The program ended with an invitation for a photo opportunity at the site of the groundbreaking, just in front of the space where construction was already underway.