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| For Immediate Release | Contact: Frances Squire |
| Aug. 4, 2008 | Phone: (559) 934-2134 |
West Hills College Coalinga board approves bid for $9.4 million wellness center
Residents of Coalinga will soon see the beginning of a $9.4 million wellness center construction and renovation project at West Hills College Coalinga.
The West Hills Community College District Board of Trustees awarded a bid at its July meeting for construction of the new facilities to Wysong Construction Co. of Atascadero.
Eighty percent of the funds for the project will be contributed by the State Community College System Office with the other 20 percent being contributed from WHCCD general funds, according to WHCC President Willard Lewallen.
Work on the project is expected to begin in September, according to Lewallen, who said that activities that normally take place in the college gymnasium will be moved to other facilities in the community during the coming school year.
The college basketball team, which frequently draws a full house, will practice at the Coalinga middle school and its games will be held at the high school. The volleyball team will practice at the Baker Street Gym at the old Coalinga Middle School and will play its games at Coalinga High School, according to WHCC Athletic Director Mark Gritton.
Portable locker rooms will be provided during the yearlong construction.
In addition to remodeling the gym, the existing weight room will be remodeled into a dance studio and a new weight room, new locker rooms and permanent facilities for the college athletic trainers will be constructed.
Lewallen said that the facilities are badly needed to replace the current gym and locker rooms that were built in the 1950s. WHCC is home to as many as 200 student athletes a year.
Adaptive physical education facilities are another featured of the project, he noted. They will allow the college the opportunity to offer physical education and conditioning classes for students and community members with disabilities.
Completion of the project is expected in 2010.
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West Hills Community College District serves the west side of the San Joaquin Valley and is part of the California Community College System. Its two colleges, West Hills College Coalinga, which includes North District Center, Firebaugh, and West Hills College Lemoore, serve more than 6,000 students on campus and online each semester