Gurminder Sangha’s favorite room at Fresno City College’s new West Fresno Center is the second-floor library. Looking east through the room’s spacious windows, he can pick out Gaston Middle School just minutes down Church Avenue.

Sangha, a dean at the satellite campus, hopes the students at Gaston are looking back – and seeing the campus as part of their future.

“I think we’re going to have a great partnership with Gaston, so students come to Edison (High School), and come to us,” Sangha, who oversees educational services and career technical training programs, said during a tour of the new campus with The Bee’s Education Lab. “That’s our goal.”

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The new 40-acre campus, an $86.5 million project funded mainly through bond measures and a Transformative Climate Communities grant from the state, was deliberately planned for Fresno’s westside. A lack of educational investments and high poverty rates plaguing the area have stymied graduation rates and pathways to college for southwest Fresno students.

Leaders at the school have high hopes that the campus’ location, as well as its dual enrollment partnerships with neighboring schools and its unique technical training opportunities in electric vehicle technology, will help rewrite the story of west Fresno.

Now, it’s less than two months away from opening its doors to students and putting those hopes to the test.

Staff will start moving into the facility July 24. Then the West Fresno Center will open its doors to students for the start of classes August 7.

“This is a project of love,” said State Center Community College District Chancellor Carole Goldsmith, “that’s been planned for by a lot of people.”

What students can expect at new Fresno City College campus

The campus’ 32-thousand-square-foot academic building will be the first part of the West Fresno Center to open its doors, according to Harris Construction spokesperson Ashlee Horner.

The 75-thousand-square-foot Automotive Technology Center, where students can learn to service and repair both electric and diesel vehicles, isn’t expected to be completed until spring 2024, she confirmed.

In addition to general education, the two “anchor programs” at the west campus, Goldsmith said, are associate’s degrees in social justice and public health.

“This project had probably over four dozen community meetings … Then we had additional dozens upon dozens of meetings at the campus with faculty and staff and students. Those two degrees,” she said, “were the top desires that our students wanted.”

Students also have options to study pre-nursing or medical assisting at the west campus’ academic building, which will be outfitted with general education classrooms, computer labs, a biology and chemistry prep room and lab, and a medical assisting prep room and classroom.

There’s spaces dedicated to other student services, too. That includes an office with enclosed cubicles for students to meet one-on-one with counselors, a library where students can check out graphing calculators and laptops, a tutoring center with dry-erase tables, and a lounge with comfy couches and ample charging stations.

“We want to duplicate much of the services that we have at our main campus,” said Lataria Hall, Fresno City’s vice president of student services, adding that the services will be on a modified scale to fit the smaller campus.

Outside the academic building, students will find a water feature in front of the academic building, a second-story terrace, and walking and biking trails along the perimeter with exercise equipment along the paths.

On Church Avenue in front of the West Fresno Center, there’s also a new bus stop intended for students who rely on public transportation to get to the campus. Ensuring there were sufficient bus routes to the campus was another concern that surfaced at previous community meetings.

“There’ll be an extra bus route coming out here,” Goldsmith said. “That’s a promise that Lee Brand made and Ashley Swearengin started. You have three mayors,” she added, now including Jerry Dyer, “making sure transportation will get out here.”

There are also over 380 parking spots for commuters, school leaders said.

Many enrolled students are from west Fresno zip codes

Approximately 716 students have registered for classes at the West Fresno Center this fall, according to Fresno City College President Robert Pimentel.

Some of those students will go between both of Fresno City’s campuses. Only 77 will attend classes exclusively at the west campus.

The top two zip codes represented among those students are 93722 and 93706, according to data provided by Fresno City College. 93722 covers the area north of the 180 and loosely follows the 99 up to Herndon, and 93706 covers the area west of the 41 and largely south of the 180.

This was another topic of concern in previous community meetings: whether the campus would truly serve west Fresnans, or if the shiny new campus would draw people from more affluent areas and invite gentrification.

The most popular major among the students registered for the west campus by far is the pre-allied health associate’s degree. The program is considered a gateway to many careers in the medical field, including nursing and dental hygiene. Of the students registered for classes on the west campus, 207 have it listed as their major. The second most popular major is business administration with 51 students, followed by psychology with 39.

These figures don’t include high school students participating in dual enrollment opportunities on the campus.

So far, Edison High School and Washington Union High School are planning to send students to the West Fresno Center, Pimentel said.

They still have to figure out how to coordinate the schedules between Fresno City College and the K-12 districts, as well as transportation between the campuses.

Other districts have expressed interest in dual enrollment opportunities with the West Fresno Center’s automotive technology programs further down the line, including Central Unified, Pimentel said.

When can you see the west Fresno campus for yourself?

Community members can see the campus for themselves before classes start.

Fresno City College is hosting two open houses for the public at the campus this summer: one on Aug. 4 from 4 to 6 p.m. and another on Aug. 5 from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.

The campus is located at 600 E. Church Ave. Attendees are encouraged to enter the campus driving east off of S. Walnut Ave.

The Education Lab is a local journalism initiative that highlights education issues critical to the advancement of the San Joaquin Valley. It is funded by donors. Learn about The Bee’s Education Lab at its website.