I've attended this college for over two years now.
I came to this school because its the only community college that offers animation classes in my area, and they are really putting in an effort!
All classes are being updated right now. 3D animation is using the industry standard Maya program. The 2D animation department has finally moved on from Flash and are currently using Toon Boom Harmony, and Painter to Photoshop. Some classrooms received flatscreen tvs as replacement for the old and flaky projectors, so now our viewing experience has increased tenfold.
If a degree is too much for you, they offer certificates for the curriculum. We can skip general education and still get paperwork stating we completed a good chunk of classes. They have many certificates for different things, and they are currently under the process of implementing a new certificate for Video game development! Classes for this certificate will appear throughout the rest of this year as online courses only for the time being. When the process has moved along, hopefully some of these classes will be taught live.
The campus is beautiful, or at least, it will be. The gym is currently gone, they are building a new one that looks like its going to have a pool. There's also a new building that will probably be used for science classes, but is still under maintenance. You can still access the library, but the building is all wrapped up, they have a lot of fixing to do. So unfortunately there is a lot of construction going on right now. The bus stop has been temporarily moved, there are construction workers everywhere and there was a bit of noise for a while. Its all in the name of making the campus better. I believe people are using the theater as a temporary 'gym' for now.
This college can be very quiet and peaceful, if not deserted by the time the clock strikes 3 PM. The only place you'd find other students is the Grove, the Library, or another class with in-class working hours.
I hope to come back to this college many years in the future to see how all the construction turned out!
Aside from that, this place is very remote. You have a lovely view of the mountains, the Campus is up on a hill so towards the East you get a view of the City which is just amazing as it lights up at night. Do be careful, there can be a lot of animals that run around the campus. Deer especially. If you take the back road to the college, be careful on Cañada Road. I've witnessed foxes, bikers, deer, hawks, and quail scamper all over that road. I think its safer to take the Freeway home at night.
There are vending machines everywhere, but those are just snacks. The only places to get food/drinks is the Starbucks Cafe and The Grove cafeteria. The Grove has 2 star food. Really poor quality. The food is sometimes undercooked or cold and my friend straight up found a tiny pebble in her sandwich. A lot of people have wanted them to fix the food quality there for a while. Its still nice to have a food source on campus with cheap food, but good lord people... I can cook better than the food offered at the Grove! Gradeschool lunches offer more quality than this College does. I hope this gets fixed sometime.
Information is not always available easily. I rarely hear about clubs and where to find them. I didn't understand the student service center until recently. First time I attended this college, I only had night classes. The tents they set up for student helpers that morning were completely empty, so I had no one to ask for help. Some of the campus buildings are confusing, a lot of people have difficulty finding their buildings let alone classrooms. Beware the theater building, its incredibly easy to get lost in there!
The police patrol the grounds nearly 24/7. I haven't heard of any crimes or thefts happening around so I feel as though the campus is generally safe. The closest town area is probably a 10 minute drive after all. If anyone is in need of gas, there should be a station in that town to fill up luckily.
Teachers are either super fun, super eccentric, or super boring. That's a given for any college really. Some classes you may feel should simply just be online classes. But there were quite a few that I had fun with. I've made a lot of friends here, and we have a LOT of talented students.
This campus is the only community college to participate in the Campus Movie Fest event which I believe happens almost every year. Students have a week to film / animate a 5 minute film about anything, and get a chance to win a spot in the Cannes Film Festival in France. Some of the students the past two years have made it in! The college has never been so proud to see how far their students have come!
So this college has been improving itself physically and mentally. Buildings and classes are under construction, but that just means its going to be better than before! I've picked the right place, I love it here! read more