By Ana Gomez Salcido 
A groundbreaking ceremony was held to start the construction for a new facility at the Southwestern College Higher Education Center in National City, this Wednesday, August 31.
The new two-story building will expand course sections and programs in National City with new classrooms, laboratory spaces and a teaching clinic. It will also feature a community room and be home to the Center for Business Advancement. The center will offer support for small business owners through the San Diego Contracting Opportunities Center, Small Business Development Center and the Center for International Trade Development.
The modernized spaces for the Business Development area will be ready November 2016. The building has an estimated budget of $22.5 million and is set to open in fall 2017.
“This new building of about 20,000 square feet will allow students to take additional science courses as well as others,” said Southwestern College Interim Superintendent and President, Robert Deegan.
“In this area we have a dental hygiene program, and a lab technician program were the prerequisites are anatomy, physiology, and microbiology, and now we are going to be able to have those labs here,” said Deegan. “It just provides more options for students in National City and surrounding communities to take more of the classes that they need to achieve their unique educational goals.”
The dean of the Higher Education Center at National City Christine Perri, Southwestern College Governing Board President Nora Vargas, and National City Mayor Ron Morrison, joined Deegan at the groundbreaking ceremony.
National City’s Mayor mentioned that at the arrival of SWC to National City, there were only a few classrooms expected to meet the students needs for around five years, but in the first months, the need outgrew the few classrooms and the construction of a higher educational facility started at the city’s downtown, and now, it still continues to grow.
“The higher education building has always been critical not only for National City but for the entire South Bay,” Vargas said. “We are helping fuel the economic growth by training hundreds of business entrepreneurs and those services will only be expanded by consolidating all of our small business resources in one location here in National City.”
SWC student Freda Hernandez was also part of the ceremony and mentioned the importance of having the opportunity to learn within one’s community.
“The opportunity to take science and lab requirements here where we live is very important for community members of National City,” said Hernandez. “This is the beauty of the higher educational center in National City, and the one in San Ysidro and in Otay Mesa: the opportunity to learn in your home or community.
The $389 million general obligation bond known as Proposition R, approved by voters in November 2008, is being used for construction, reconstruction and modernization of facilities on the Chula Vista campus and at the Higher Education Centers in National City, Otay Mesa, and San Ysidro.