Contra Costa College, in San Pablo

San Pablo, California

San Pablo is a city in Contra Costa County, California, United States. The city of Richmond surrounds nearly the whole city. The population was 29,139 at the 2010 census. The current Mayor is Paul V. Morris, and the current Vice Mayor is Cecilia Valdez. Current Councilmembers include Arturo M....

, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

, is the west campus of the Contra Costa Community College District

Contra Costa Community College District

The Contra Costa Community College District is a community college district that encompasses three community colleges in Contra Costa County, California - Contra Costa College, Diablo Valley College and Los Medanos College. Headquarters office is located in the George R...

. It is part of the California community college

Community college

A community college is a type of educational institution. The term can have different meanings in different countries.-Australia:Community colleges carry on the tradition of adult education, which was established in Australia around mid 19th century when evening classes were held to help adults...

s system, one of the three college systems in California.

History

The college was founded in 1950 on a temporary location housed at the shuttered Kaiser Shipyards

Kaiser Shipyards

The Kaiser Shipyards were seven major shipbuilding yards located mostly on the U.S. west coast during World War II. They were owned by the Kaiser Shipbuilding Company, a creation of American industrialist Henry J...

 in Richmond, California

Richmond, California

Richmond is a city in western Contra Costa County, California, United States. The city was incorporated on August 7, 1905. It is located in the East Bay, part of the San Francisco Bay Area. It is a residential inner suburb of San Francisco, as well as the site of heavy industry, which has been...

. In 1957, a permanent campus was opened on Mission Bell Drive in downtown San Pablo.

Several premier programs call the college home, including:

• The Center for Science Excellence, which works to increase the participation of students of color and women in the science, technology, engineering and math.
• Associate Degree Nursing Program, which has seen its graduates past the state NCLEX exam at rates of 95 to 100% in the last 10 years.
• High-Performance Computing
  High-performance computing
  High-performance computing uses supercomputers and computer clusters to solve advanced computation problems. Today, computer systems approaching the teraflops-region are counted as HPC-computers.-Overview:...
  
   Center, a pioneering program which teaches the emerging science of computer clustering
• The Advocate
  The Advocate (Contra Costa College)
  The Advocate is a student newspaper published at Contra Costa College, a community college in San Pablo, California. The paper is published weekly during the school year and has a circulation of approximately 2,500. An online edition, "AccentAdvocate," is also published...
  
  , the college's nationally-honored weekly newspaper, which has won eleven National Newspaper Pacemaker Awards
  National Pacemaker Awards
  The National Pacemaker Awards are awards for excellence in American student journalism, given annually since 1927. The awards are generally considered to be the highest national honors in their field, and are unofficially known as the "Pulitzer Prizes of student journalism."The National Scholastic...
  
   since 1990.
• The Contra Costa College Speech and Debate Team, which is one of the top community college teams in the nation.

The college is flanked by Abella Center

Abella Center

Abella Center formerly International Marketplace and originally El Portal Shopping Center is a mixed-use city services, business, shopping center and housing village transit-oriented development that was formerly a mall in San Pablo, California....

 to the south.

Middle College High School

The college campus is also home to Middle College High School, whose students take college classes in addition to regular high school courses. The high school is part of the West Contra Costa Unified School District

West Contra Costa Unified School District

The West Contra Costa Unified School District is the school district for western Contra Costa County, California. It is based in Richmond, California...

.

Notable graduates

• Courtney Anderson
  Courtney Anderson
  Courtney Jerome Anderson is a former American football tight end. Born in Greenville, Texas, Anderson attended high school in Richmond, California and played college football at Contra Costa College and San Jose State University. He was drafted by the Oakland Raiders in the seventh round of the...
  
  , NFL tight end
  Tight end
  The tight end is a position in American football on the offense. The tight end is often seen as a hybrid position with the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a wide receiver. Like offensive linemen, they are usually lined up on the offensive line and are large enough to be...
  
  
• Benny Barnes
  Benny Barnes
  Benny Jewell Barnes is a former American Football cornerback who played eleven seasons in the National Football League for the Dallas Cowboys...
  
  , NFL cornerback
  Cornerback
  A cornerback is a member of the defensive backfield or secondary in American and Canadian football. Cornerbacks cover receivers, to defend against pass offenses and make tackles. Other members of the defensive backfield include the safeties and occasionally linebackers. The cornerback position...
  
  
• Chris Roberson, Philadelphia Phillies
  Philadelphia Phillies
  The Philadelphia Phillies are a Major League Baseball team. They are the oldest continuous, one-name, one-city franchise in all of professional American sports, dating to 1883. The Phillies are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League...
  
   player
• Karleen Thompson, coach of the Houston Comets
  Houston Comets
  The Houston Comets were a Women's National Basketball Association team based in Houston, Texas, United States. Formed in 1997, the team was one of the best original eight WNBA teams and won the first four championships of the league's existence. The Comets were the first dynasty of the WNBA and...
  
   WNBA team
• John Kiffmeyer
  John Kiffmeyer
  John Kiffmeyer , was born on July 11, 1969. He was the first drummer of the punk rock/alternative rock band Green Day. He was given his nickname in reference to his hometown, El Sobrante.-Biography:...
  
  , (also known as Al Sobrante), the original drummer for the punk rock band Green Day

External links

• Contra Costa College - official site
• Middle College High School
• The Advocate - student newspaper