Ground Broken for Science, Math Building

In his first major action since assuming the presidency of Ventura College, Larry Calderon donned a hard hat Friday and climbed onto a massive backhoe.

He then thrust its bucket into the soft earth, scooping up a ceremonial load of soil on grounds that will soon house the college’s new $12.4-million math and science building.

“This is the first building dedicated to classroom space in 20 years,” Calderon told a crowd of about 50 college and district officials gathered for the groundbreaking ceremony.

“This is a major step for Ventura College as we look toward the 21st century.”

The complex, set to open in the fall of 1997, marks the end of a decade-long search for state money to replace 40-year-old science labs and house math classes all under one roof.

The biology, chemistry and physics classrooms that students now use are so old that gas pipes to lab stations are caked with rust, and the compressed air lines don’t work.

Water pipes are choked with 40 years of natural deposits. And years of lessons involving chemicals and noxious fumes have so corroded the tabletops and pipes in the organic chemistry lab that it was recently abandoned as a classroom for experimentation.

“It is about time [for the new building],” said 23-year-old Paul Herrera, a science major.

“If you go to Moorpark or Oxnard colleges, the equipment is nicer or newer. Here it works, but it’s a lot like driving a Volkswagen. It will take you where you want, but it is no Lexus.”

The new three-story, 60,000-square-foot complex will hold 13 classrooms equipped with computers linked to a central projection screen, 42 laboratories with modern lab stations, and a 40-station computer center wired to allow access to the Internet.

Math students, whose classes are now scattered throughout the campus from the gymnasium to the agriculture department, will benefit as well.

Currently, only calculus students have access to a math computer lab. When the new complex is finished, all math and science students will be able to do their homework on a computer.

Although there are concerns over how the district will pay for the building’s new equipment if a statewide bond measure for educational facilities fails at the polls next month, Dean Bob Renger said the new building is a landmark in the college’s development.

“This is a tremendously important step for Ventura College and a revitalization on a major scale,” said Renger, who heads the college’s math, science and engineering programs.