BC shares Measure J progress report, thank you with Renegade Promenade

Oct. 15—Saturday's visitors to Bakersfield College's Panorama Drive campus who hadn't been there in a while might have noticed a few changes.

Actually, a lot of changes.

That was part of the idea behind the college hosting its first-ever open house-style Renegade Promenade on Saturday.

"We wanted to hold this event because it's been a long time since the community's been up to BC with the pandemic and such," said Cheryl Scott, executive director of the Bakersfield College Foundation, which assists the college by seeking community engagement and support. "And it would not be recognized by people who have not been on campus in the past couple of years."

The renovations, upgrades and improvements have all been made possible by Measure J, a bond measure of more than half a billion dollars voters approved in 2016, which is now really starting to reshape the campus.

That's why the event was also a thank-you to the community for making the new opportunities for students possible, said Nan Gomez-Heitzeberg, a member of the Kern Community College District's governing board, and also a longtime former administrator.

"So many people voted for it," she said of the measure, which garnered 65 percent of the vote. "And think about the number of people who actually have been up on campus to get the full impact of those three buildings that have been completed, well, that's not as big a number."

Almost six years since its approval, residents got a chance Saturday to receive performances and progress reports from those the dollars were intended to support, whether it was through watching performances of BC's drum line or Jazz Combo, or touring through the new facilities, including a multistory Student Center, a new Science and Engineering Building and a renovated Veterans Center, which was the first of the campus upgrades completed.

Joseph Melgar, a Renegade student employee, U.S. Marine Corps veteran and New Jersey transplant who came to Bakersfield right after leaving the service in 2021, said the center has been like a second family to him.

He dealt with anxiety and depression after leaving the military, an all-too-common experience, he said, but the support at BC was there right away through its Veterans Center, whether it was through counseling, financial assistance and advice or just having a community to become a part of again.

"I would say we do our best to accommodate your situation and offer support, and not only stop at education — and make sure as a veteran or as (someone on) active duty ... you're aware of your rights," he said, whether that means getting help with a home loan or if someone needs a person to talk to.

Gomez-Heitzeberg also noted the new Science and Engineering Building was probably the "crown jewel" of BC's recent investments, as a state-of-the-art facility meant to not only bolster the college's recently added four-year degree paths, but also be a great place for students to gather and study.

The Reeves family was part of the intended audience for the Renegade Promenade, with both parents Karen and Dave walking away impressed as they toured the $65 million, 71,000-square-foot, with their children Emma, an eighth-grader, and Mason, a junior in high school.

Emma takes part in a local robotics club, but what she saw at BC seemed to have made an impression on her as well.

"I mean it's very different that the robots that we build in our class — it's definitely more advanced," she said. "It'd be a lot of fun, I think."

In a nearby robotics lab, Anycia Reyes, a job development specialist with the college, and Paul Buchanan, a BC student who plans to be on the college's four-year path to study industrial automation very shortly, shared the college's progress with the family of Ridgeview High freshman Jacob Black, who had also recently started looking at the robotics programs in the Kern High School District.

Buchanan and Reyes excitedly talked about the college's opportunities, and Buchanan noted some of his cohorts are being offered jobs before they even finish their program at BC because the skills are in such demand.

"Well, it's really good, too, that Bakersfield is getting these things," said Black's grandmother, Jacqueline Alexander, who works at Aera Energy, a BC partner that helped create the STEM Success Center on campus. "Because people who wanted to do this before would have to go down south or north to find somewhere else that would let them do that. Now that they have the STEM center and this robotics lab, now they can stay home and do their first two years here."