Mt. SAC Celebrates Completion of New Agricultural Sciences Building

When Herman Weskamp joined the Mt. San Antonio College agricultural studies faculty in the 1950s, he took up residence on campus in a converted military latrine.

Weskamp was just one of five teachers in the agriculture program at that time, as the program was just beginning to take root.

Friday, Weskamp was on hand to see the latest milestone in the program's development at the school's official opening of a new 34,000 square-foot, $25.2 million Agricultural Sciences building.

"The program has done nothing but grow," Weskamp said, reflecting on his start at the program over 50 years ago. "It has changed with the times and they are teaching things we didn't even know about then."

Agriculture Professor Tom Visosky, who has been at Mt. SAC for over 30 years and was a student of Weskamp's, said that the "state-of-the-art facility" will allow for the continued expansion of the program's offerings.

The facility is designed to accommodate classroom and hands-on learning, with features like "smart classrooms," Visosky said, and new surgery facilities where students can observe or get first-hand experience with animal operations.

The building, funded mostly with money from the $221-million Bond Measure R, will serve students from the school's horticulture, animal science, and veterinary technology programs and intends to complement a 18,000 square-foot livestock facility that was completed in 2003.

Professor of Horticulture Sciences, Dave Lannom, hailed the new facility as one of the "premier" in the country during a dedication ceremony Friday, but said that the staff and faculty drive the program's success.

"This faculty has a passion for students," Lannom said, "and we have a passion for our subject matter."

Horticultural Sciences student Laurie Jutzi echoed the sentiment, saying that the "building wouldn't have a heart" without the agriculture faculty.

Friday's opening ceremonies marked a significant milestone for Animal Sciences Professor Dawn Walters, who said it had always been her dream to work on a farm and to care for livestock.

"You know what I did today that was kind of neat?" Walters said. "I got ready for work and got in my big red pickup truck and as I drove to work, I drove down Farm Road, and I saw horses out in the pasture — I saw our new little filly out there running with her mom — and I saw cattle grazing out in the fields and I saw our students out there on tractors mowing the farms."

The moment struck Walters.

"I thought, 'I'm living my dream,'" Walters said. "And this building is an avenue to make sure that dreams come true."