Vacant farmland remains empty

Plans to open an agricultural center is years away

RICHARD ESPINOZA Reporter @EspinozaReport

A new agricultural building is planting seeds for the future of education.

An agricultural center has been proposed on the vacant farmland, but faculty say it may not be constructed or open to students for a few more years. However, plans for the size and location of the proposed building have already been discussed.

Pierce College Vice President of Academic Affairs Sheri Berger announced that the new Agriculture Education Center will be located in the northwestern corner of the campus on Victory Boulevard and DeSoto Avenue.

Berger said the building will be approximately 8,800 square feet. It will include one general classroom, a laboratory, a meeting room and two faculty offices. She said the design also has two green houses and a parking lot for 80 vehicles.

In a email interview, Berger said the building was prioritized in the Measure J list of bond projects, and that the reconstruction will benefit the college community.

“This will allow faculty and students an innovative curriculum to prepare students for gainful employment in the agricultural industry,” Berger said.

Berger said the Agriculture Education Center will facilitate the college’s ability to prepare students for the agricultural workforce in fields such as plant propagation, plant breeding and seed production. “We want to prepare students academically for transfer to UC, CSU and major agriculture universities with a strong technical foundation in agricultural science,” Berger said. David Salazar, Chief Facilities Executive for Build LACCD Program Management, said that his college project team will be managing the construction for the building.

In an email interview, Salazar said that LACCD approved the venture because it would be beneficial to agricultural students. “The purpose for the building wellness.

Erin is doing a good job publicizing it and trying to get the word out,” Conrady-Wong said. “This is the first time we’ve

If there’s not a job, I’ll retrain, I’ll go back to school and figure it out. I’ll change paths. That’s typically how the trends go.”

Marmolejo said it is important for students to remember how beneficial it is to have a degree, even in the face of immediate prosperity.

“The benefits of having even an associate’s degree, but especially a bachelor’s degree, can be very beneficial over a lifetime for your career,” Marmolejo said. “A million dollars is what I’ve heard someone who has a bachelor’s degree make over someone who doesn’t.” done it, but hopefully whoever I pass the torch to for the following year with carry on similar initiatives,” Baker said. clehmann.roundupnews@gmail.com

Marmolejo said the college encourages its students to take a look at the long term perspective.

“In the short run, you can get a job 12, 13, 14 bucks an hour, but in the long run, if you have your BA, you can make 30-40 bucks an hour, as opposed to staying stagnant at that pay,” Marmolejo said.

Vice President of Student Services

Earic Dixon-Peters said he and his peers are seeking solutions regardless of the macro-causes.

“I definitely think there is some funding, structural concerns statewide—looking at how we are measured in accountability measures, success measures—but before we go to the state to ask what we can get from them, we need to look at our own data and say what are the gaps and concerns and the areas we need to address,” Dixon-Peters said.

Dixon-Peters said Pierce needs to do whatever is within its financial means to overcome the enrollment hurdles.

“We can address these areas with our own budgetary alignment and focus on that,” Dixon-Peters said.

Dixon-Peters said his office’s Stop Out and Part Time survey, combined with the College Promise follow up questions, were designed to look at and create feasible solutions to increase the number of part-time students and full-time students. will help provide instructional and greenhouse environments with a state of the art laboratory,” Salazar said. “The two green houses will allow students to learn greenhouse management skills and sustainable food production techniques for the 21st Century.”

Dixon-Peters said most students answered that they stopped attending college because of work. Two thirds said they were not full time because they have jobs.

“Then I asked how many jobs do we have on campus that are available for students, and when you look at our work study program, we only have 99 positions. So if I have approximately 13,000 students who are part-time, and two thirds say they are part-time because they have to work, and I only have 99 positions open for work study on campus, how can we be successful?” Dixon-Peters said. Salter said the college is looking for ways it can improve its performance and attract students.

Dean of Math and Science Donna Mae Villanueva said she is excited about the agricultural building.

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