Fresno City College’s West Fresno Center Advanced Transportation Center is finally open for the spring semester.
This is the second building that opened at West Fresno Center after the academic building opened in the fall of 2023.
Diesel Technology Instructor Wyatt Jones feels fortunate to be a part of the new building and for his students to work with new equipment for their education.
“We are going to do everything in our power to be the best community college career technical education program in the Valley, if not, why not the state of California?” Jones said.
The Diesel Technology Wing where Jones teaches didn’t have a designated location at the main campus. Students would typically have work on the side or outside the automotive shop at FCC.
Jones was a former FCC student and is as excited as his new students are to work in the new building.
“We’re here to give our students an education and have them learn something and be able to walk away with more than just a piece of paper,” Jones said.
The new building looks modern and big on the outside, but the true size isn’t evident until people go in the building. The inside has white walls and flooring that shimmers in the new lights.
The transportation center has more than 65 donated cars and trucks – some that are running and some that are not – for students to practice on.
“We look forward to bragging about it more because we’re going to do big things here and this is only the beginning,” Jones said.
The new center also plans to have a section for welding that is yet to be completed. However, Jones said the welding program at the main campus is now using the old automotive center.
Automotive technology majors Cody Huckabee and Armando Meza first heard of West Center through a presentation in one of their classes.
Huckabee didn’t think he could be a part of the West Fresno Center when it opened. He is now gaining work experience at that promised campus alongside Meza.
“Oh hey, it actually happened,” Huckabee said.
Both Meza and Huckabee worked in the old FCC automotive department and are more than happy to finally have room to work on what they want to do.
Because of limited space at the main campus, it made it frustrating for students who wanted to work on cars as part of their major, but weren’t able to.
“It’ll be like first come first serve,” Meza said. “You’ll be pretty much lost for the whole day.”
Students would have to fight for open spaces to work on cars on the main campus. There would be times when students would have nothing to do because every space was being used. This happened so often that Huckabee and Meza called it “bottlenecking.”
Although the Advanced Transportation Center is open and functional for classes, it isn’t completely finished with its construction.
FCC West Fresno Center Dean Gurminder Sangha said that all the automotive technology programs were moved to West Center from the main campus except for the Automotive Collision Repair Technology program. That program is still being offered on the main campus and at the Career and Technology Center.
“We are 75% open which is amazing,” Sangha said.
Along with the opening of the new center, the West Fresno Center also opened their cafeteria located on the second floor of the Academic Building.
Access to food was one of the main concerns for students in West Fresno Center’s first semester, according to Sangha. Food trucks were brought in to provide food options, but they won’t make a return this spring now that the cafeteria is open.
Students can now have their textbooks delivered to the West Fresno Center. It was added this semester and can be chosen as a pickup location when ordering something through the FCC bookstore.
A shuttle from FCC’s main campus to the West Fresno Center has also started this semester. The shuttle picks up students in front of the Academic Building of West Fresno Center and drops them off in front of the Language Arts Building at the main campus.
This article has been changed from the original print publication on Feb. 7, 2023, to replace “West Fresno Campus” with “West Fresno Center.”
