On February 8, 2019, Cypress College hosted the Science, Engineering and Math (SEM) Building Groundbreaking event, the first of many groundbreaking events that will be hosted on our campus. This building is the first project that is being funded by the Measure J bond, a $574 million bond centered around the construction of state-of-the-art facilities.
On one of the clearest days Southern California has seen in the past weeks, students, faculty, and members of the surrounding community gathered in Lot 7, in front of the SEM building, to get more details on what is to come when construction is complete. The day started with people arriving on campus that morning to enjoy donuts and other refreshments before the event started. With the sun shining and not a cloud in sight, not to mention blue and gold balloons lining the path from the parking lot to the school library, event-goers mingled, smiling and laughing, as they enjoyed the pressure-free day.
At 10 am the event started and everyone proceeded to Lot 7 to watch the presentation, where details about the new building were talked about, including how the building will have bigger lab rooms and expanded classrooms, state of the art technology and new equipment, 100 seat digital classrooms, and other features that will help future students flourish. The presenters showed a picture of what the finished product will look like as well as gave a timeline on when the building would be complete.
Kelan Tuzani, 21, a kinesiology major who attended the event, said that even though he attended the event for extra credit, the event left him really excited about what was to come. “…My astronomy teacher, Michael Frey, was mentioning how state of the art everything’s gonna be and I think it’ll be really cool for the future students.” Tuzani also stated that he’s excited for the immersive classrooms and he supports the new construction of the building.
Jason Hernandez, 18, a business major at Cypress, stated, “First of all I think it’s great to remodel it. Obviously we need remodeling inside, however, with the new building I feel like it’ll attract more people to come to this college and the new technology will help us learn more.” Hernandez said that he attended the event to see how the building would turn out and who would be affected the most- “Especially since I’m undecided right now- I want to do business but I’m thinking of switching to science..”
The building is the first instructional building to be built on the Cypress College campus since 1976, according to an article released by the campus, and will encompass 106,023 square feet. Features will also be included to facilitate further expansion in the future. Classes will begin taking place in this building during the Fall semester of 2021.
