College Celebrates Its 75th Birthday

VENTURA —  Ventura County’s oldest institution of higher learning held a birthday bash Wednesday to celebrate its 75-year history.

“It’s nice to see the place looking as beautiful as ever,” Ventura Mayor Sandy Smith, a 1970 graduate, told a crowd gathered in the Ventura College cafeteria, where a 75-square-foot, nine-tier cake was served.

College President Larry Calderon, a student at the school in the late 1960s, said he sampled the range of courses offered before ultimately settling on a career in education.

“The chance I had to explore the different disciplines is the single biggest asset I look back at when I think of where I want to take the college,” he said. “I want to keep access open for others who, like I was, are right out of high school and don’t know what they want to do.”

The college was inaugurated in 1925 as part of the Ventura High School District, providing what amounted to as the 13th and 14th grades of education. The junior college, as it was known then, was housed in what is now Cabrillo Junior High School.

It became a two-year institution in 1952 and moved to its current 112-acre campus on Telegraph Road in 1955.