Victor Valley College has a long history of being there for the community it serves. And with a growing roster of degrees and certification programs, cutting-edge training facilities and strong relationships to the business and professional communities, those ties are deeper than ever before.

The college, which first held classes in 1961 and moved onto its campus in 1965, has about 40 major courses of study. It offers online and distance-learning programs for students who can’t travel to the main or satellite campuses, and currently has around 13,000 students. The main campus supports a planetarium and performing arts center, as well as multiple men’s and women’s athletic programs.

But it’s in the classroom where Victor Valley College is really taking off these days.

Expanded Nursing Program

The college continues to beef up its nursing program, which draws several hundred students per year. It works with the area’s hospitals to ensure that students have plenty of real-life training opportunities, and also utilizes its own technologically advanced simulation lab.

VVC is building other programs literally from the ground up, including the Eastside Public Safety Training Center, a solar project on the main campus and the Westside Workforce Development Center.

Solar Plant/Training Facility

The solar plant, a project in tandem with SolFocus, is the largest plant in North America to use concentrator photovoltaic systems. The one-megawatt plant will meet about 30 percent of the college’s electricity demand, and will also act as a teaching facility and learning lab as curriculum is developed around solar energy technology.

Eastside Public Safety Training Center

The 41,500-square-foot Eastside Public Safety Training Center, a $32 million facility that’s the first project to result from Measure JJ, $298 million, voter-approved bond measure, also breaks new ground for the college. It will train students for firefighting, paramedic, police and corrections careers, and also be available for use by public safety agencies across the region. Set to open in late 2011, the LEED-certified facility will feature a five-story fire tower and a nine-lane indoor shooting range with virtual and live-fire training simulators.

Other projects in the works include a new workforce education center in Hesperia, as well as a new, $14 million administration building on the main campus.