A dream for decades, Bakersfield College opens center in Arvin

Yahoo

07-02-2025

Mariachis, folklorico dancers and specially-made cookies helped celebrate the opening of Bakersfield College's Arvin Educational Center, a project decades in the making.
The center officially started serving students last month, but on Thursday nearly 200 people showed up to commemorate the opening of the college annex, which is currently serving around 500 students in Arvin and Lamont.
"This center is not just a building. We can feel it, right? The vibrations of what its symbolizes: hope, opportunity, the belief that education has a power to transform all of our lives," said Arvin Mayor Olivia Calderon, who was one of several local officials to attend the ceremony.
Also in the audience to celebrate the center's opening were former Assemblyman Rudy Salas, former Arvin Mayor Jose Gurrola and civil rights leader Dolores Huerta.
Having a college extension in Arvin was a longtime goal of former Kern County Community College District Chancellor Jim Young, who led the district from 1978-1999. Young cut the ribbon at the center Thursday, even though it was completed decades after his retirement.
Bakersfield College had already been offering classes at Arvin High School, which sits directly across the street from the new center on Varsity Road, but it wasn't until 2016's Measure J provided the college with $502 million for facility upgrades that the dream for a permanent building became reality.
"I'm just pleased to be here because I'm gonna take a piece of that ribbon and give it to Jim Young, because he's the one who deserves it," said former Rep. Bill Thomas.
"For generations when you graduated from Arvin High, you crossed the street, it was an empty lot, and you had to figure out how you could get to Bakersfield College," Thomas said.
"I'm just very pleased to say that that student who just graduated, crossing the street enters Bakersfield College," can earn an associate degree, he said.
The 27,000-square-foot facility has eight classrooms including two computer labs and a science lab, a library, tutoring center, writing center, faculty offices, a food pantry and a lactation room.
Because of his commitment to the Arvin center, officials announced at the ceremony the facility's library will be named in Young's honor.
In addition to providing easier access to BC's programs, the Arvin center will offer special courses not available at other campuses, according to BC president Jerry Fliger.
"We try to put the workforce programs there that reflect the jobs in the area, and with Tejon (Indian) Tribe bringing in the Hard Rock Casino, the need for hospitality and culinary is gonna go through the roof," Fliger said.
The school will launch a media campaign in the spring to drive fall enrollment, Fliger said, and he expects the number of students attending classes at the Arvin center to easily double.
The college still has additional funding provided by Measure J, Fliger said, but the Arvin center was a high priority as it had been envisioned for so long. Fliger said BC hopes to expand its program offerings in the tech sector in the coming years, including programs for AI, automation and cybersecurity.
Brian Cisneros, 16, a junior at Arvin High, said he's already taking pre-college classes at the center.
Cisneros and his fellow AHS student Grace Velasco helped open the center with a folklorico dance performance with their dance group, Folklorico Mi Cultura, which was backed by the school's mariachi band, Mariachi Los Osos, with whom Velasco also sang and played violin.
"It makes things easier for the people in Arvin," Cisneros said.