Mt. San Antonio College

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Mt. San Antonio College
Image:mtsac_seal2.jpg
Established 1946
Type Public
Location Walnut, California, USA
President Dr. Christopher O'Hearn
Website www.mtsac.edu
Mt. SAC Campus
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Mt. SAC Campus

Mt. San Antonio College (commonly called Mt. SAC; pronounced as the word "sack") is a community college located in the Los Angeles suburb of Walnut, California, next to California State Polytechnic University, Pomona which is just over a hill.

Mt. SAC was founded in 1946 as a part of the 109 member California Community Colleges system. It is the largest single-campus district with more than 27,000 (Fall 2006) full-time equivalent credit enrolled students, with a total enrollment of more than 40,000 (Fall 2006), exceeding even that of many of the nation's largest universities. The current president of the college is Dr. Christopher O'Hearn, who joined the college in 2003. Its most recent past president is Dr. Bill Feddersen.

The school has a planetarium, horse range, and a track field. There is a new, modern baseball complex considered the best college baseball complex in California, a football field, a driving range, and a soccer field. It has an olympic-sized swimming pool, tennis courts, and an equestrian range. The school also has a 15 acre Wildlife Sanctuary that supports a large variety of native species of birds, mammals, and insects. It consists of a lake, swamp, stream, pond, meadow, and forested area. It is one of the last "safe" places for nature to exist in Walnut due to over-development and over-population. Tours are given mainly to grade school children but are available to the public (minimum 15 people) if you contact the school and ask when Wildlife Sanctuary tours are available (909-594-5611). It also has a performing arts center, and a campus cafe (which serves Starbucks coffee, and has a Carl's Jr. restaurant within the campus of Mt. SAC.). There is an aviation and aircraft maintenance program. In many respects, it has the wide accommodation and mammoth size one would expect at a larger four-year establishment. The school already has programs in partnership with four-year schools to which students can arrange to receive a bachelor degree.

Mt. SAC Banner Showing Mt. San Antonio ("Mt. Baldy") after which the school is named
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Mt. SAC Banner Showing Mt. San Antonio ("Mt. Baldy") after which the school is named

Mt. San Antonio College promotes diversity among its students. The campus exhibits a population with ethnically diverse backgrounds.

In 2006, Mt. SAC began to accept online applications as opposed to the paper applications.

Contents

[edit] School Activities

[edit] Forensics

Mt. SAC has an award winning forensics team headed by Liesel Reinhart and Ken Klawitter. The program has won numerous national and regional speech and debate tournaments, including many readers theatre events, in which a group of four or five students performs readings of selected works, animating them with voice effects, costumes, and inventive acting (props are not allowed).

[edit] Sports

Mt. SAC supports athletics however emphasizes academics. Mt. SAC has a strong community college football program, as well as basketball, volleyball, tennis, and swimming.

[edit] Cross Country Invitational

Mt. SAC is home to the largest Cross Country Invitational in the world. The Cross Country course at Mt. SAC is considered one of the most challenging in the nation. The runners start on a mile long airstrip and run over three hills. The Valley Loop is a flat loop in the beginning of the race where runners usually overtake others. The first mile, due to the flat, hard surface, is extremely quick. This mile is immediately followed by the switchbacks up the side of the first hill. The switchbacks are very technical as the runners are often closesly packed entering this area, and the hill itself is both steep and loose packed. Arguably most challenging is the infamous "poop out" hill, which is the steepest hill on the course (as well as one of the shortest). The final climb runners must conquer before a steep descent to the flat finish area is Reservoir Hill, the path to which features several very steep switchbacks. The end of the race is also designed for speed, and wraps right around the spectator area for an exciting finish.

In 2006 over 24,000 elementary school, middle school, high school and community college athletes competed in the 3 day event.

[edit] Student government

Mt. SAC Sign
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Mt. SAC Sign

The Associated Students of Mt. San Antonio College is the student government of the college and is one of the largest campus organizations. Its budget of over $600,000 comes from a fee paid by students. Though the fee is optional, the majority of students are not aware of this and the school neglects to mention this.

The Associated Students is made up of: Executive Board, Senate, and Student Court. The 2006 Spring term officers (Executive Board) are:

  • Board of Trustees Rep: Christopher McKay,
  • A.S. President: Miguel Del Mundo,
  • A.S. Vice-President (Business): Anthony Ruiz A.S.
  • Vice-President (Activities): Breeanne Batson

[edit] External links