College of the Sequoias (COS) is a public two-year community college in Visalia, California. The college is named for the Giant Sequoia trees native to the nearby

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primarily ...

mountain range.

History

College of the Sequoias was originally established in 1926 as Visalia Junior College as a department in the city high school. Its mission at that time was to provide inexpensive, lower-division college education to local high school graduates who intended to transfer to a traditional four-year college. Visalia Junior College was later expanded and a campus was built in 1938. The campus was built on what is still the college grounds. In 1949, it expanded further and formed the College of the Sequoias Community College District.

Campus and centers

College of the Sequoias' main campus is in Visalia, but it also has full-service centers in Hanford and Tulare. Each location offers the full-range of general education offerings and students services, but each also features a flagship program. The Visalia main campus is the home of Nursing and Allied Health, the Hanford Center (opened in 2010) is the home of the Public Safety Academy, and the Tulare College Center (opened in 2012) is the home of Agriculture. COS offers classes at many other locations. These include: Corcoran,

Dinuba Dinuba is a city in Tulare County, California, United States. The population was 21,453 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Visalia-Porterville metropolitan statistical area. The Alta District Museum is located in Dinuba in a restored rai ...

Exeter Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal comm ...

, Farmersville, Hanford,

Ivanhoe ''Ivanhoe: A Romance'' () by Walter Scott is a historical novel published in three volumes, in 1819, as one of the Waverley novels. Set in England in the Middle Ages, this novel marked a shift away from Scott’s prior practice of setting st ...

Lemoore Lemoore (formerly, La Tache and Lee Moore's) is a city in Kings County, California, United States. Lemoore is located west-southwest of Hanford, at an elevation of . It is part of the Hanford-Corcoran Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA Code 2 ...

, Lindsay,

Orosi Orosi can refer to: * Orosi district, in Cartago province, Costa Rica * Orosí Volcano in Guanacaste province, Costa Rica * Orosi, Iran * Orosi, California Orosi (from ''Oro'', Spanish for "Gold") is a census-designated place (CDP) in Tulare Co ...

, Porterville, Strathmore, Three Rivers, Tulare, and Woodlake.

Academics

The current enrollment of COS is 11,141 students, and the college offers a variety of transfer, vocational, and community-based classes, including the fire/police academies for Tulare and

Kings Kings or King's may refer to: *Monarchs: The sovereign heads of states and/or nations, with the male being kings *One of several works known as the "Book of Kings": **The Books of Kings part of the Bible, divided into two parts **The ''Shahnameh'' ...

counties. College of the Sequoias is accredited by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC).

Student life

Sports

The college athletics teams are nicknamed the Giants, and COS sponsors 14 teams which participate in the

Central Valley Conference The California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA) is a sports association of community colleges in the U.S. state of California. It oversees 108 athletic programs throughout the state. The organization was formed in 1929 as the Calif ...

Notable alumni

* Wilson Alvarez – American football player * Creed Bratton – American musician The Grass Roots and actor The Office * Bonnie Bryant – First golfer to win on the LPGA Tour playing left-handed * Joseph James DeAngelo - convicted as the Golden State Killer and the

Visalia Ransacker Joseph James DeAngelo Jr. (born November 8, 1945) is an American serial killer, sex offender, burglar, and former police officer who committed at least 13 murders, 51 rapes, and 120 burglaries across California between 1974 an ...

in 2020, was a police officer in Exeter from 1973 to 1976, same time as when the Ransacker crimes occurred in neighbouring VisaliaNew York Times, April 25, 2018 *

Crystal Galindo Crystal Galindo (born 1983) is an American visual artist, of Yaqui and Xicana descent. Her paintings are known for celebrating Chicanas and indigenous communities; and they give a strong sense of pride. She has been recognized for using bright colo ...

– Xicana artist *

DeeAndre Hulett DeeAndre Hulett (born December 29, 1980) is an American retired professional basketball player. Hulett averaged 24.2 points, 13.1 rebounds and 4 blocks per game in his senior year of high school at Arthur Hill, and received all-state honors. After ...

– American basketball player * Dannie Lockett – American football player * Devin Nunes – U.S. Representative for * Steve Perry – American singer and songwriter best known as the lead vocalist of the rock band Journey *

J. G. Quintel James Garland Quintel is an American animator, voice actor, director, writer, producer, and storyboard artist. He is best known as the creator of the Cartoon Network series ''Regular Show'' (2010–2017), in which he voiced Mordecai and High Fi ...

– Animator who created the

Regular Show ''Regular Show'' (known as ''Regular Show in Space'' during its eighth season) is an American animated sitcom created by J. G. Quintel for Cartoon Network. It ran from September 6, 2010, to January 16, 2017, over the course of eight seasons a ...

for

Cartoon Network Cartoon Network (often abbreviated as CN) is an American cable television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. It is a part of The Cartoon Network, Inc., a division that also has the broadcasting and production activities of Boomerang, Car ...

* Sheldon Richardson - American football defensive tackle for the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League (NFL). * Windham Rotunda - American professional wrestler currently signed to the WWE under the ring name Bray Wyatt. * David Valadao – U.S. Representative for

References

External links

Official webpage
{{California Community Colleges System California Community Colleges Educational institutions established in 1926 Schools accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges Universities and colleges in Tulare County, California 1926 establishments in California