Santa Ana, Calif. (September 1, 2015) – Santa Ana College will mark its centennial with a birthday party on Saturday, September 19 from 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Held on the Santa Ana College campus at 17th and Bristol Streets, the community celebration will feature a Disneyland Resort-sponsored Imagination Playground booth hosted by Disney VoluntEARS, an educational community expo, vintage car display, live musical and dance performances, sports clinics, a mariachi flash mob and a spectacular fireworks show set to music to cap off the evening’s festivities.
Presented by Union Bank, the evening also includes a variety of local gourmet food trucks, a wine and beer garden, a giant birthday cake and complimentary cupcakes for 3,000 attendees. The multicultural birthday party is part of a series of 100th birthday celebrations planned through commencement June 3, 2016.
On the fall morning in 1915 on the grounds of Santa Ana High School, what began as Santa Ana Junior College with 24 students and 11 professors has grown - one hundred years later - into a vibrant and diversified community college that serves nearly 30,000 students each semester on a 65-acre campus with three educational centers.
“We are very pleased to invite the entire community to Santa Ana College as we celebrate a birthday party 100 years in the making. There will definitely be something for everyone—music and dance, children’s activities, sports clinics, vintage cars, college history, awesome community resources and of course, birthday cake!” said Santa Ana College President Erlinda J. Martinez, Ed.D. “We’re also grateful to our community partners and friends led by Union Bank, who have generously supported the Santa Ana College Centennial, and are enthusiastic about welcoming the community to Santa Ana College as we celebrate our past and our boundless future.”
Festivities will be held on the football practice field on the Santa Ana College campus located at 1530 West 17th Street in Santa Ana. Parking is free on campus lots 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 and tickets to the Beer and Wine Garden hosted by Downtown Inc. start at $25. All food truck purchases can be made by cash or credit card. RSVPs are requested at www.sac.edu/100/Events/Pages/default.aspx.
For additional information about Santa Ana College’s centennial celebration or to sign up to receive centennial news, visit www.sac.edu/100 or call 714.564.6075.
About Santa Ana College
Santa Ana College (SAC), which is turning 100 years old in 2015, serves about 18,000 students each semester at its main campus in Santa Ana. The college prepares students for transfer to four-year institutions, provides invaluable workforce training, and customized training for business and industry. In addition, another 11,000 students are served through the college’s School of Continuing Education located at Centennial Education Center. Ranked as one of the nation’s top two-year colleges awarding associate degrees to Latino and Asian students, the college is also recognized throughout the state for its comprehensive workforce training programs for nurses, firefighters, law enforcement and other medical personnel. SAC is one of two comprehensive colleges under the auspices of the Rancho Santiago Community College District.
From its Orange County Regional Sheriff’s Training Program and Fire Academy—the first accredited Regional Fire Academy in California—to its Centennial Education Center, one of the largest providers in the California Community College system of non-credit adult education programs, and its Career Technical Education program, which supplies the community with high-demand specialists in auto and diesel technology, welding, manufacturing technology, speech language pathology and more—SAC has always had its finger on the pulse of what employers need to flourish.
In keeping with the college’s “Boundless Future,” SAC, one of 12 California community colleges selected to offer baccalaureate degrees, will launch its four-year degree in the high-demand field of Occupational Studies in fall 2017.
Visit www.sac.edu to learn more.
###