Santa Rosa Junior College just opened its newest campus addition in Windsor: A Public Safety Training Center. The multi-purpose facility provides college-level curriculum classes to students who are interested in pursuing emergency medical careers, fire protection technology, in-service training for public safety and criminal justice. 

The need for another training facility arose when the space provided by the previous building became too overbooked. Next to the previously existing gym facility sits the new $5.7 million building, at 7,355 square feet that can approximately fit up to 376 people. This has many benefits when regarding larger classroom capacity and enhanced class scheduling. 

According to the Press Democrat, Associate Dean Larry Brown voices that this has been nothing but pure success; “We’re loving it” says Brown, “Everybody is using it.”. 

Besides being the Dean, Brown also oversees the Intensive Basic Police Academy. 

“I don’t want to turn students away because agencies need people on the streets to provide public-safety, this building allows us to more efficiently and effectively and safely train public safety students.” says the Dean and this helps accommodate abundant space for everybody.

According to the Director of the National Park Service Park Ranger Academy, Brian Marvin, tells the Press Democrat how “Lots of public safety training is hands-on and you can’t do it all in the classroom — you need to be able to get out in the gym,” which is critical when pursuing any of these careers. 

Not only will it offer much more space for students, but it also features an acoustic sound partition that can divide the room in half, permitting the instructors to teach two classes at once.

The completion of the facility was originally aimed towards mid-April when Construction started last October, though due to the heavy rainfalls we experienced last winter it postponed the project several months. 

“All the kids here are absolutely lovely,” says registrar Page Munksgard, “Due to being a quite unique program, we have kids flying in from all over the country, but there are many who are from Southern California as well.” 

She mentions how special the Ranger Academy compares to the other programs, and how this is one of the few schools that offer this program. According to Munskard their institute stands out from others because they provide lots of different agencies and personnel which contribute to the success of the facility. 

“We’re here for the students and their parents are trusting us and they are just all such great kids overall,” explains Munskard when asking what she enjoys most about the program. 

Before the extension about an average of 250 to 300 students were using the original building from early morning to late at night, at least six days a week. It also meant that often remedial training was forced to schedule on Sundays. 

Now with the new facility right next to the original, there is no question that things are to run much more efficiently and space-friendly. 

According to project manager Heather Chicieri, the construction process was “pretty smooth” and she says that it has been “a great experience” to the Press Democrat. She also highlights how the project stayed within the budget, and to say the least, they are “happy with the building”. 

This new building is great news for anybody looking to fuel start their career as a future police officer, paramedic, firefighter, a corrections officer, or park ranger.