State of SRJC Petaluma campus strong

The Santa Rosa Junior College Petaluma campus opened a new student center this spring, one of several investments officials made over the past year at the 21-year-old campus on the city’s east side.

Jane Saldana-Talley, vice president for SRJC Petaluma, told a gathering of community leaders on June 9 that the Intercultural Center, or “Our House,” has become a commons for student activity.

“The center provides a safe, welcoming and relaxing space for students to gather, study, and learn together,” she said.

The campus has also in the past year reached out to adult learners, high school and middle school students and English language learners to attract new enrollment. The school’s new LiteracyWorks Center gave out 135 scholarships of $1,000-$1,500 to adults looking to further their education.

The campus also hired its first ever English language learner outreach coordinator, who helped attract a record level of English language learner enrollment.

Saldana-Talley said that the campus met its goal of raising $60,000 in the past year to purchase science equipment for a key physics class that students were previously required to take in Santa Rosa. The school is also planning to build new science labs with money from Measure H, the $410 million bond measure voters passed in 2014, she said.

“We will continue to stay focused on facilities master planning as a lead up to the eventual construction with Measure H bond funds of SRJC Petaluma science lab facilities and the revamp of student center areas,” she said.

Despite the recent additions to the campus, the school still has several unmet needs, Maggie Fishman, the SRJC board of trustees vice president, told the audience. These include a mobile computer lab, a new sound system for the multipurpose room and a child care center that would provide an option for parents to take classes.

“This is a big one,” Fishman said. “This would remove one of the big barriers to student success.”

Addressing the breakfast audience, Aaron Solorio, an SRJC Petaluma student said that the Intercultural Center has provided an intimate space for students to gather, share ideas and create a cohesive community that is lacking at the larger Santa Rosa campus.

“The Petaluma campus seems like a small community,” he said. “It’s like a family.”

Frank Chong, the president of SRJC, said that the school has the highest transfer rate to the University of California system among statewide junior colleges. He said that 75 percent of SRJC students who apply to UC schools are accepted. He acknowledged the audience of prominent Petaluma residents including politicians, business owners, nonprofit directors and educators.

“This is like a shareholder meeting,” he said. “You are all shareholders and investors in SRJC, and I want to say that your investment is doing very well.”

(Contact Matt Brown at matt.brown@arguscourier.com.)