College Report: December 2022

Dec 14, 2022 —

California Poet Laureate Lee Herrick

Lee receiving award On November 18, FCC English instructor and poet, Lee Herrick was selected as California’s 10th Poet Laureate by Governor Gavin Newsom. The Governor and First Partner, Jen Siebel Newsom, made a special visit to FCC to personally let Lee know of this special appointment. Lee has been teaching at Fresno City College since 1997 and has educated thousands of students and advanced awareness of and appreciation for literary arts and humanities within the community. In 2015 he was selected by the Fresno Arts Council as the Poet Laureate for the City of Fresno, serving in that role for two years inspiring young people to express themselves through writing. Lee co-founded LitHop in 2016, a free poetry event that takes place in several venues in the Tower District and features readings by poets and writers from all walks of life. See the links below for news coverage of this announcement.

GV Wire: Fresno’s Literary Reputation Polished Again With State’s New Poet Laureate

Fresno Bee: Newsom names California’s new poet laureate. He adds to Fresno’s legacy in the art form

Parking Structure

A long-awaited ribbon cutting ceremony was held on November 30 for the FCC Parking Structure. The five-level structure, one of only a few in the City of Fresno, has 864 total parking stalls with an additional 125 stalls in adjacent lots. The $18.3 million project is located near the intersection of Weldon and Blackstone and was funded through Measure C passed by the voters in 2016. Students will be able to park for free until Fall 2023 when parking permits will again be required on campus.

Scholarship Donation

Group with giant check On December 2, Fresno City Councilmember Esmeralda Soria presented a check to FCC President Robert Pimentel for $50,000 to endow scholarships for Dreamers. The ceremony was held at City Hall with Dream Center counselors and students in attendance for the special announcement.

Buss Passes Return for Students

Sam the Ram in front of bus Starting January 3, FCC students will once again be able to receive a Fresno Area Express (FAX) transit system pass when they purchase their FCC student body card. Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer made the announcement on November 30. In addition, Fresno City Council Vice President Tyler Maxwell, sought a PG&E grant and was awarded $100,000 to help offset the cost of the student fare program for State Center Community College District.

Fresno High Neighborhood Holiday Home Tour 2022

The OAB Auditorium was included in this year’s Fresno High Neighborhood Holiday Home Tour. The tour of the Historic Fresno High Neighborhood and Tower District was held on December 5. The OAB Auditorium was one of five sites included in the tour. This 26th Annual Holiday Home Tour included three amazing houses, the new CTE Lab at Fresno High, and the OAB Auditorium. A special pre-tour event was held at Moto Delicatessen & Bodega. The Fresno City College City Singers, under the direction of FCC music instructor Jennifer Heder, gave a special performance from 6:30 – 7:00pm. that evening.

Sports Update

The Fresno City College Athletic Department continues to be a household name in the Central Valley and a powerhouse in the California Community College Athletic Association. The fall sports season has proved to be great start for the FCC Rams in wins, playoff appearances and Bowl Game Invitations.

FCC Women's Soccer

girls fighting for soccer ball The Fresno City College Women’s Soccer team has been the staple program this year leading the pack of the Ram sports arsenal. The women’s soccer team boasts a conference record of 12-1-1. Overall, the feisty team has a 17-4-3 record. The team outperformed its opponents in the first and second round of playoffs outscoring Taft College and City College of San Francisco. The team recorded an emotional and historic win in the Elite 8 knocking off the #1 seed Folsom Lake College to advance to the CCCAA Final four. The team lost in the semi-finals to Chaffey College 1-0 on December 2 at American River College. The program captured the 2022 Central Valley Conference (CVC) Championship as well. The FCC women’s soccer team has made 21 consecutive playoff appearances, and 8 final four appearances (2 consecutive). The program has also recorded one CCCAA State Championship.

FCC Men's Soccer

men fighting for soccer ball The Rams men’s soccer program recorded a conference record of 7-2-1. This record earned the team a Co-Conference Championship title with sharing rights to Taft College. In the last week of the season the team tied with Taft College pushing the conference record to an even ratio. The Rams earned a playoff berth with a bye in the first round and then faced-off against fellow district college and conference foe Clovis Community College in the second round ending their season 15-4-3.

Giving Tuesday

The 2022 #GivingTuesday campaign for Fresno City College was a great success because of the tremendous generosity of our donors and supporters who believe in helping our students. FCC met its goal of raising $40,000. The funds will benefit the Ram Pantry, which helps provide food to needy students. Fresno City College is grateful to all those who contributed to the #GivingTuesday effort including those who provided matching funds:

Fresno City Councilmember Esmeralda Soria gave a $5,000 matching donation and then provided an additional $5,000
State Center Community College Foundation treasurer Chris Morse and his wife Michele with $4,000
Foundation board member Gina Cuttone and her husband, Shawn Patty with $2,000
Donors Barry and Peggy Maas with $2,000
Other generous contributions included a $2,000 donation from

Fresno City Councilmember Nelson Esparza and $2,000 from Patrick Milutinovich.

Fire Academy Graduation

The Fire Academy ceremony for Class 58 will happen at 6:00pm on December 9 in the OAB Auditorium. Twenty-nine cadets completed the 1004 hours required by the California State Fire Marshal’s Office Accredited Fire Academy to earn their Firefighter 1 and 2 certifications and numerous other certifications. Additionally, 25 of the 29 cadets have been hired as interns by North Central Fire Protection District, Kingsburg Fire Department, Selma Fire Department, Sanger Fire Department, and Hanford Fire Department.

Automotive Technology Program Hosts Legisative Tour

people in lab On Thursday, December 1, Assemblymember Joaquin Arambula and State Senator Anna Caballero were on campus for a tour of the Automotive Technology Program with a presentation that included an overview of the work and their current partnerships in the automotive industry. In addition, the Ideal ZEV Workforce Pilot Project for Zero Emission Vehicles or ZEV was discussed to develop curriculum, ZEV instruction and training for high school and automotive students in the Central Valley Region. Currently, the Automotive Technology Program has ZEV grant partnerships with Clovis High School, Central High School and Kerman High School.

FCC Football

3 football players The Ram football team finished their season beating Butte College 13-10 at the Northern California Bowl on December 3 in a wet and hard fought battle. JoNation Dejohnette (Clovis East) was named the Northern Championship Bowl MVP and Ah’Marion Gaines-Smith (Central High School) was named the Northern Championship Bowl Offensive Player of the game. They combined for 233 yards and 41 carries with the help of Nick Harper (Yosemite High School).

While losing the first two games this season, Head Coach Tony Caviglia and his coaching staff led the Ram football team back on track during the third week with a win against American River College scoring 42 points. One of the highlights of the season for the Ram Football team was knocking off the former State Championship contender Laney College. The program would then go on a four-game winning streak capturing Coach Tony Caviglia’s 200th win and also reclaiming the historic pump in the Battle of the Pump game against district and conference foe Reedley College. The team ended the season with 7 wins and 4 losses overall and 4 conference wins and 1 conference loss.

FCC Wrestling

The FCC Wrestling team is ranked #1 in the north and has 12 wrestlers heading to the State Championships in Lemoore on December 9 and 10 vying for a State Championship bid . They have won every dual meet scheduled this season. The FCC Men’s wrestling team is 7-0 overall and 2-0 in the Coast Conference. Head Coach Paul Keysaw and the Rams captured the State Dual Meet Championship defeating No. 2 Cerritos 26-15 on November 20.

FCC Volleyball

volleyball team playing Although Fresno City College’s volleyball team didn’t make it to the CCCAA State Championships, the team recorded its 17th consecutive conference championship. The team ended the season 16-0 in the conference and 23-8 overall. The 2022 Conference championship would make the 14th consecutive championship and the 15th undefeated championship in Head Coach Kieran Roblee’s tenure. In addition, this is the 10th consecutive undefeated champion as well. At the finale of the 2022 season Coach Roblee and the Rams racked 159 consecutive conference wins since the 2012 season. Coach Roblee earned Coach of the Year accolades and along a Central Valley Conference Championship. Fresno City College hosted the CCCAA State Champions for the second year in the row December 2-4 in the FCC Gym.