Hartnell College broke ground Thursday, Oct. 22, on its new Castroville Education
Center, which is scheduled to open in spring 2022.
An afternoon program of speakers and a traditional shovel ceremony were held at the project site, along Merritt Street just east of Highway 1.
Interim Superintendent/President Dr. Raúl Rodríguez paid special tribute to Hartnell Governing Board Area 1 Trustee Manuel Osorio, who has advocated for a Hartnell facility in north Monterey County since joining the board in 2015.
“He has been the driving force behind this center,” Dr. Rodríguez said. “We wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for him.”
Acknowledging his role, Osorio said, “As rewarding as this moment is for me personally,
I am looking forward even more to completion and opening of this center. Since last
December, we’ve had a sign marking this site. Soon we will have a building!”
The 13,750-square-foot Castroville center, which will be Hartnell’s fourth satellite campus, is scheduled for completion in spring 2022. The building design-build project between contractor Dilbeck & Sons Inc. and In Studio Architecture (ISA), both of Salinas. Its total cost, including furniture and equipment, is $13 million, not including operating expenses.
Work also continues on a new education center in Soledad and the expansion of its existing center in King City, both scheduled for completion in January.
Construction of all three centers, as well as projects underway on Hartnell’s Main Campus in Salinas, is being funded by Measure T, a $167 million bond measure approved in 2016 by voters of the Hartnell Community College District.
Among features of the Castroville center:
- Three classrooms, with interactive technology and flexible seating.
- Wet and dry science laboratories to support STEM, health care and agriculture training
- Student Success Center, including on-site tutoring
- Room available for community meetings
In addition to a variety of general education courses, plans are for the center to offer courses in food safety, agriculture production, agriculture automation and robotics, engineering and English as a second language.
“Students who come here can get the classes they need to transfer to a university,” Dr. Rodríguez said. “They can get training for a livable-wage job and career, ESL classes or anything else they want to do.”
Another speaker, Ocean Mist Farms President & CEO Joe Pezzini, said he appreciated the fact that Hartnell held community forums throughout its Salinas Valley district to make sure academic offerings at all the centers fit the desires and needs of residents and employers.
“On a personal note, my wife and I are both Hartnell alumni, and we’re lifelong residents of this area, with deep family roots in North and South County,” Pezzini said, “and to me, this truly is a dream come true, it really is – to create a space for Hartnell College to reach the community beyond Salinas.”
Lifelong Castroville resident Crystal Maldonado, set to graduate in May from North Monterey County High School, said the new Castroville center will be part of her educational journey toward becoming a pediatrician.
“I am very excited to see the impact that having a Hartnell campus in Castroville
will have on my community,” Maldonado said.
At the conclusion of the ceremony, Hartnell received a certificate of resolution from 29th District State Assemblymember Mark Stone, whose district includes Castroville.
“We look forward to this new center and the contributions it will bring to North County,” said Alec Manas, a field representative for Stone who attended the ceremony on his behalf.
Also speaking during the ceremony were: Candi DePauw, Hartnell Governing Board Area 7 trustee; Judge John Phillips, Monterey County District 2 supervisor; Clint Cowden, Hartnell dean of career technical education and workforce development; Kari Yeater, superintendent of the North Monterey County Unified School District; and Jackie Cruz, Hartnell vice president of advancement and development and executive director of the Hartnell College Foundation.