By Pat KRAMER

Mission College President Monte Perez, Ph.D., welcomed city officials, community leaders and members of the public to the college’s new Sunland-Tujunga campus at a ribbon-cutting event held March 28. The campus is located at the Commerce Center, 7200 Foothill Blvd. in Tujunga. Classes for the first eight-week semester officially open on April 10.

Crediting Nina Royal, chairperson of the Mission College Sunland-Tujunga Campus Committee, for her perseverance, Dr. Perez spoke about the hard work that went into planning and coordinating city approvals to open the new campus. Present at the event were former Assemblywoman Patty Lopez, LAUSD Trustee Ernie Moreno, STNC President Krystee Clark, and many others who were instrumental in bringing the community college to Sunland-Tujunga.

Royal began working on bringing Mission College to the area in 2007 by helping to get Measure J passed, which was to provide funding for a satellite college in Sunland-Tujunga. The principal location selected for the campus was the former K-Mart property, now vacant; however, in order to open, Royal said the K-Mart property would have to overcome some legal hurdles.

“The hope is that the campus will expand to that site sometime in the next few years,” said Royal. “Meanwhile, we need to populate the classes because that will further validate the need for Mission College in this region.”

Chef Louis Eguaras, department chair of Mission College’s Culinary Arts program, said that he hoped by opening this satellite campus, students can get a start in classes for menu planning, sanitation safety and nutrition. At Mission College’s main campus, 700 to 800 students are currently enrolled in the Culinary Arts program, which prepares them for jobs in many top restaurants and hotels in Southern California and across the country.

In addition to the Culinary Arts program, the initial schedule of classes includes art, music, computer applications and English as a Second Language. Mission College is a fully accredited community college offering both credit and non-credit courses.  Students can enroll by going online to www.lamission.edu/sunland.

  Pat KRAMER