State Senator Scott Wilk, R-Santa Clarita, and Assemblywoman Christy Smith, D-Santa Clarita, presented a check for $397,000 to College of the Canyons on Monday in order to renovate a 44-year-old science building on the Valencia campus.
“We get to renovate and modernize three stories of a building that was built 45 years ago,” said Dr. Dianne Van Hook, chancellor of College of the Canyons. “That means that our students will be able to have access to state-of-the-art facilities in which to study and learn. It’ll be more relevant to what they need to be doing when they leave us, or when they enter the workforce.”
The funding comes from a bond passed by California voters in 2016, which Wilk says is only being released now due to the new governor.
“The voters back in 2016 passed a school bond, and at that time our governor was Jerry Brown, and he does not like school bonds, so even though there was billions of dollars sitting there, he only released about 10 percent of the funds,” Wilk said. “Governor Newsom has been much more engaged on this.”
The classrooms and laboratories at Boykin Hall are currently used primarily for classes in physical sciences, biology and chemistry. Renovations to the building are set to include bringing the concrete structure up to current seismic safety standards, reallocating interior and exterior space to make more efficient use of the facility, and expanding work stations to accommodate more students, according to officials.
“The college has been on the cutting edge of ensuring that they’re providing programming, whether it’s at the associate degree level, or transfer preparation to have their students ready for those career fields of the future,” Smith said. “We know that as California’s economy continues to grow that most of the professions that will be in highest demand, that will have the greatest employee need, are going to be the science, technology, engineering, and math fields.”
Wilk said that investing in science is important for two reasons: it gives students a competitive edge in the growing global economy, and it keeps the United States economy competitive as well.
“Obviously we’re moving, in terms of technology, quite rapidly, and in order to be able to compete with China and other countries, we have to have a greater investment in our young people and in their education,” Wilk said. “Having world-class facilities, particularly when it relates to science, will help them get the knowledge and training they need to be able to compete in a global economy.”
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