Clovis Community College Honored at City Council Meeting

April 3, 2023 - April was officially recognized as “Community College Month” by the City of Clovis during the first meeting of the month last Monday. A proclamation was read by Councilman Matt Basgall.

“Whereas, according to the National Center for Education Statistics, across the nation, public community colleges serve over 7 million students; and whereas, the California Community Colleges: the largest system of higher education in the nation with 116 colleges serving more than 1.8 million students, is an essential resource for the State of California, its people, and its economy.”

He continued, “Whereas, the California Community Colleges bring higher education within the reach of every Californian through their open admissions; low enrollment fees, financial assistance programs, academic and career guidance, outstanding teaching by dedicated faculty, exceptional career training, and specialized support

Halterman

CONTINUED FROM FRONT PAGE

Services Department employees are behind the scenes proving support, many of them are serving our community by providing transportation services throughout Clovis and into portions of Fresno, or by creating active recreation opportunities for all ages at either our recreation sites or the senior center.

We are often asked about the new buildings being built on Third Street just east of Clovis Avenue. This area is known as Landmark Square and currently has a new senior center and transit hub under construction. The property is planned for a new Fresno County Library as well.

As the buildings have come out of the ground, we have received many questions about the facilities, their design and use. Below are the answers to many of those questions:

What are the new buildings for? There are currently two buildings being constructed:

Rodeo

CONTINUED FROM FRONT PAGE based on real ranch work. Some events, like team roping and steer stopping, may be familiar to the average Clovis Rodeo attendee, but dry work, cow work, cutting, sorting, branding, and doctoring are all unique to ranch rodeo.

“It’s all based on the western heritage and everyday ranch work,” Thompson added, “There’s not an event out there that’s not services for students who need extra help with the transition to college or to the mastery of college-level coursework; and whereas, the State Center Community College District is one of the largest and successful community college districts in the region, serving over 53,000 students annually at our four colleges and center - Fresno City College, Reedley College, Clovis Community College, Madera Community College and the Career Technical Center.”

Dr. Kim E. Armstrong, President of Clovis Community College, stated that through Clovis Community partnerships and quality, high education have been brought to Clovis. She also stated that Clovis Community leads the state in California transfer rates.

“We are proud to be here in Clovis, thank you.”

Councilman Drew Bessinger believes that being afforded the opportunity to attend community college and transfer “is a bargain”, and stated that he was “very happy” that Clovis Community was “right on the border” of Clovis city limits.

The Clovis Senior Activity Center, A Smittcamp Family Legacy, and the William H. “Harry” Armstrong Transit Center. The senior center building is over 29,000 square feet and includes multiple rooms for programs and activities for anyone aged 50 or better. Four thousand square feet of the building is for a planned St. Agnes medical clinic. The transit building has a waiting area for passengers, offices, and a meeting/ training room.

What inspired the design? The buildings are on the site of an old rail line and the former Clovis Lumber yard. The architect incorporated the look and feel of the old barn-like building when designing the new buildings at Landmark Square. When the Clovis Lumber building was demolished, the corrugated metal roofing was saved. This metal roofing has a beautiful rusty patina that has been coated to prevent further rusting and has been installed as a design feature on the exterior, and a little on the interior, of the Landmark Square buildings. Also, the two different colors of exterior wood siding pay homage to the lumber industry and its done on the ranch every day of the year.”

The top team this year was the “Dot Seven” team; JD Triffon, Reed Helsel, Brett Behlen, and Tyler Willis, who each took home a special Clovis Ranch Rodeo saddle.

Second place team “West of the Sierras” team members Stacey Schmidt, Carly Piazza, Johni Santucci, and Brooke Jackson, took home very special sets of stirrups leftover from the canceled 2020 event.

The cowgirls of “West of the Sierras” took first place in the 2019 competition.

DONNA MELCHOR Owner/Publisher dmelchor@clovisroundup.com

55 Shaw Avenue #106, Clovis, CA 93612 Ph: 559-324-8757

Email: info@clovisroundup.com www.ClovisRoundup.com

Follow us on social media, @ClovisRoundup

BILLY XIONG Operations Manager ads@clovisroundup.com

STAFF REPORTERS: Samantha Golden J.T. Gomez Carole Grosch impact in the creation of Clovis. When will they be finished? We hope to open the senior center and transit hub in late Fall 2023. Keep an eye on the City of Clovis social media pages for our grand opening events.

Who are the new buildings are named after? The Clovis Senior Activity Center, a Smittcamp Family Legacy, is named after the Smittcamp Family. The Smittcamp family has generously donated $1 million toward the construction of the new building. The prominent agriculture, food, and beverage company family has been an integral part of Clovis for over 80 years. Patriarch Earl Smittcamp enjoyed many bridge games and activities at the senior center, and his family supports our mission of creating active leisure opportunities for our senior citizens. The family philanthropy is in honor of their parents, Earl and Muriel Smittcamp and their lasting legacy to the community.

The William H. “Harry” Armstrong Transit Center is named after the former Clovis City Councilmember who served as an elected

Both teams will be invited to the Western States Ranch Rodeo Association’s finals in the fall.

As part of the ceremony after the event, two participants were recognized for their age. Presley Carver, 12, was the youngest to compete in Saturday’s Ranch Rodeo, and Tucker Slender, 89, was the oldest. Slender was given the same award four years ago, and continues to compete every year with his team of mule riders.

As always, Rodeo Association volunteers

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: Peg Bos - Let’s Talk Clovis

ACCOUNTING SERVICES: Teresa Stevens, CPA (559) 326-7072 teresa@tmstevenscpa.com

STORY IDEAS/CALENDAR: Laurann Kanamu calendar@clovisroundup.com

CUSTOMER SERVICE Catherine Kenney info@clovisroundup.com

FOR ADVERTISING AND SALES: Office: 559-324-8757

Email: info@clovisroundup.com official for 46 years. Harry was instrumental in the initial passing and renewal of Measure C which provided much needed funding for public transit, streets, and freeways including Highway 168. Harry was a true statesman with strong ethics and values and a commitment to “Do the right thing.” The lobby of the transit center will display a life-sized bust of Harry along with plaques outlining his many accomplishments and service to Clovis and its residents. arrived early to prepare the grounds for the event, managed the livestock during the event, and stayed after to clean up. Volunteers are essential to the function of all Clovis Rodeo events. “The bottom line is, we couldn’t do it without all this help,” Thompson said about the volunteers, “because nobody gets paid here, even our judges don’t even get paid.”

The dedicated employees of General Services and I are proud to serve the people in our community. Whether it’s our Personnel and Risk Management staff helping internal and external customers, our facilities maintenance staff keeping our buildings in top shape, our transit operators and staff providing essential transportation services, or our recreation and senior center employees creating active recreational opportunities for all ages, we are committed to providing the best service to our community. The motto of General Services is “We Exist to Assist” and we do indeed.

The next Clovis Rodeo event of the month will be Jackpot Roping on Sunday April 16th at 7AM.

The Clovis Roundup is a custom publication. Reproduction by any means of the entire contents or any portion of this publication without written permission is prohibited. The appearance of any advertisements in this publication does not constitute support or endorsement for any product, person, cause, business or organization named therein, unless specifically noted otherwise in the advertisement. All costs associated with producing, printing and mailing Clovis Roundup are entirely funded by our advertisers. To show your appreciation of their support, we ask you to consider patronizing these businesses and services as the need arise. PROUD