Saddleback College (Saddleback) is a

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

community college A community college is a type of educational institution. The term can have different meanings in different countries: many community colleges have an "open enrollment" for students who have graduated from high school (also known as senior sec ...

Mission Viejo, California Mission Viejo ( ; corruption of ''Misión Vieja'', Spanish for "Old Mission") is a commuter city in the Saddleback Valley in Orange County, California, United States. Mission Viejo is considered one of the largest master-planned communities eve ...

. It is part of the

California Community College The California Community Colleges is a postsecondary education system in the U.S. state of California.California Education CodSection 70900(added to the Education Code by Chapter 973 of the California Statutes of 1988Assembly Bill No. 1725 sectio ...

system and awards over 300

associate degrees An associate degree is an undergraduate degree awarded after a course of post-secondary study lasting two to three years. It is a level of qualification above a high school diploma, GED, or matriculation, and below a bachelor's degree. The f ...

academic certificate An academic certificate is a document that certifies that a person has received specific education or has passed a test or series of tests. In many countries, a certificate is a qualification attained in secondary education. For instance, studen ...

s, and occupational skills awards in 190 programs. Established in 1968, Saddleback is the oldest and southernmost institution governed by the

South Orange County Community College District South Orange County Community College District (SOCCCD) is a public community college district in Orange County, California. It was founded in 1967 and has three separate campuses: Saddleback College in Mission Viejo, California, Irvine Valley Col ...

. Saddleback College is named for the

saddle The saddle is a supportive structure for a rider of an animal, fastened to an animal's back by a girth. The most common type is equestrian. However, specialized saddles have been created for oxen, camels and other animals. It is not kno ...

between the twin peaks of

Santiago Peak Santiago Peak is the southern mountain of the Saddleback landform in Orange County, California. It is the highest and most prominent peak of both the Santa Ana Mountains and Orange County; it also marks a border point with Riverside County. ...

and

Modjeska Peak Modjeska Peak is the northern mountain of the Saddleback landform in Orange County California. It is the second-highest peak of the Santa Ana Mountains, after Santiago Peak, whose summit is less than to the northwest. Modjeska lies within Clev ...

in the

Cleveland National Forest Cleveland National Forest encompasses 460,000 acres (), mostly of chaparral, with a few riparian areas. A warm dry mediterranean climate prevails over the forest. It is the southernmost U.S. National Forest of California. It is administered by ...

Academics

Saddleback College is the largest member of the South Orange County Community College District. The college awards associate degrees ( A.A., A.S) and academic certificates in over 100 areas of study. Not-for-credit Community Education classes are also available through Saddleback College. Saddleback College provides a Veterans Education Transition Services (VETS) Center. The program is devoted to helping veterans transition from combat to the classroom. VETS supports transitioning combat veterans through an extensive network of care givers in the civilian community, government, and non-profit organizations.

Accreditation

Saddleback College is accredited by the

Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges The Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC) is an accrediting organization in the United States. It accredits private and public colleges that provide students two-year education programs and confer the associate deg ...

. The

associate degree An associate degree is an undergraduate degree awarded after a course of post-secondary study lasting two to three years. It is a level of qualification above a high school diploma, GED, or matriculation, and below a bachelor's degree. The fi ...

nursing program is accredited by the

National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission The National League for Nursing (NLN) is a national organization for faculty nurses and leaders in nurse education. It offers faculty development, networking opportunities, testing services, nursing research grants, and public policy initiative ...

and the paramedic program is accredited by the Commission for Accreditation of Emergency Medical Services Programs.

Campus and surroundings

Saddleback College is located in

Mission Viejo Mission Viejo ( ; corruption of ''Misión Vieja'', Spanish for "Old Mission") is a commuter city in the Saddleback Valley in Orange County, California, United States. Mission Viejo is considered one of the largest master-planned communities eve ...

Orange County, California Orange County is located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area in Southern California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,186,989, making it the third-most-populous county in California, the sixth-most-populous in the United States, a ...

. A notable site on the campus is the Saddleback College Veterans Memorial, which was officially completed in 2010. A dedication ceremony was held on April 29, 2010, and was attended by representatives for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, lawmakers, active and former members of the armed services, college students and staff. This memorial stands as a symbol of sacrifice, freedom and honor on the Saddleback Campus. An on-campus bus terminal/transfer point for the

Orange County Transportation Authority The Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) is the transportation planning commission for Orange County, California in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. OCTA is responsible for funding and implementing transit and capital projects for ...

85, 91, and MV Shuttle 182 is located on the north end of campus.

Student life

The campus is populated with many student clubs and organizations. The Associated Student Government (ASG) plans, organizes, promotes, sponsors and finances a comprehensive program of activities and services for all Saddleback College students. ASG is made up of three branches which are Inter-Club Council, the Associated Student Senate, Events Cabinet. The Inter-Club Council manages various college clubs that have included the Model United Nations, the Chicano Latino Studies Student Association, College Democrats, College Republicans, Class Action, Students for a Free Tibet, Wilderness Adventure Club, and the Anime Club.

Athletics

Saddleback College is home to 19 intercollegiate athletic teams. *Men's intercollegiate teams **

Baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

Basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

** Cross Country **

Football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

Golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

** Swimming & Diving **

Tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

Track and Field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

Water Polo Water polo is a competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the ball into the opposing team's goal. The team with the ...

*Women's intercollegiate teams **

Beach Volleyball Beach volleyball is a team sport played by two teams of two or more players on a sand court divided by a net. Similar to indoor volleyball, the objective of the game is to send the ball over the net and to ground it on the opponent's side of the ...

** Cross Country **

**Fastpitch

Softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...

Swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...

and

Diving Diving most often refers to: * Diving (sport), the sport of jumping into deep water * Underwater diving, human activity underwater for recreational or occupational purposes Diving or Dive may also refer to: Sports * Dive (American football), a ...

Volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

Soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

Cheerleading Cheerleading is an activity in which the participants (called cheerleaders) cheer for their team as a form of encouragement. It can range from chanting slogans to intense physical activity. It can be performed to motivate sports teams, to ente ...

Media

*The ''Lariat'': Since opening in 1968, Saddleback College has had a student-run

newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports a ...

, the ''Lariat''. It is distributed most Wednesdays of the regular school year. It is printed at the

Anaheim, California Anaheim ( ) is a city in northern Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city had a population of 346,824, making it the most populous city in Orange County, the 10th-most p ...

, facility of the ''

Orange County Register ''The Orange County Register'' is a paid daily newspaper published in California. The ''Register'', published in Orange County, California, is owned by the private equity firm Alden Global Capital via its Digital Fiest/Media News subsidiaries. ...

'', where 5,000 copies are made. During the fall 2005 semester, the ''Lariat'' chose to change its masthead to include Saddleback's sister college in Irvine,

Irvine Valley College Irvine Valley College (also known as IVC or Irvine Valley) is a public community college in Irvine, California. It is part of the California Community Colleges System. The college inherited its name from the Irvine family and the Irvine Compan ...

, to appeal to a broader reader base and increase circulation. The change was met with opposition from members of Saddleback's administration as well as from the Associated Student Government since Irvine Valley College did not contribute funds to the Lariat. Irvine Valley College now gives an allotted sum and the masthead continues to include both colleges. The Lariat was a National Newspaper Pacemaker winner in 1994 and a finalist in 1993, 1997, 2005, and 2006. *

KSBR KSBR (88.5 FM, "The SoCal Sound") is a non-commercial educational radio station licensed to Mission Viejo, California and broadcasting to the Orange County area. The station is owned by Saddleback College and airs adult album alternative (AAA) ...

''Saddleback Radio'': KSBR is a commercial-free jazz radio station broadcast throughout the LA area on the HD2 secondary channel of 88.5fm. This is done via a partnership with KCSN whose audio appears on 88.5's primary channel. KSBR's format is contemporary jazz but it also has weekend specialty shows featuring other musical styles like reggae, folk, ragtime, rock, Latin jazz, blues, and hip-hop. :In addition to training Saddleback College's Communication Arts students, KSBR has received the Associated Press "Instant News" citation, AP's Certificate of Excellence for overall coverage, and is the only California station to be a four-time winner of the American Heart Association's C. Everett Koop, M.D. award. *''Saddleback College Television'': Cox Communications Cable Television - Saddleback College - Channel 39 - Mission Viejo :Saddleback College Cable Television serves cable subscribers with educational and school based programming from all of Saddleback's public and private educational institutions.

Notable people

Alumni

* Heather C. Allen, research chemist *

Colt Brennan Colton James Brennan (August 16, 1983 – May 11, 2021) was an American football quarterback. He played college football for the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors, where he was a two-time, third-team All-American before being selected by the Washington R ...

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Oakland from its founding in 1960 to 1981 and again from 1995 to 2019 before relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan area where they now play as the Las Vegas Raide ...

quarterback *

Mike Bullock Mike Bullock is an American author and musician born in Washington, DC. Bullock began writing fiction, non-fiction and poetry in the 1980s. He worked professionally in the music and comic book industries since 1986 and is best known as the creato ...

, writer * Anthony Carter, Denver Nuggets point guard * Richard Crawford, NFL player, drafted by

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) N ...

2012 * Deborah Driggs,

Playboy Playmate A Playmate is a female model featured in the centerfold/gatefold of ''Playboy'' magazine as Playmate of the Month (PMOTM). The PMOTM's pictorial includes nude photographs and a centerfold poster, along with a pictorial biography and the "Playm ...

of the Month for March 1990, once married to gymnast

Mitch Gaylord Mitchell Jay Gaylord (born March 10, 1961) is an American gymnast, actor, and Olympic gold medalist. Early life Gaylord was born in Van Nuys, California, the son of Fred and Linda Gaylord, and is Jewish. Gaylord graduated from Grant High Schoo ...

* Barbara Edwards, Playboy Playmate of the Month for September 1983 and

of the Year for 1984 * Kevin Fagan, creator of

Drabble A drabble is a short work of fiction of precisely one hundred words in length."Winners ...

comic strip * Cade Gaspar,

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

pitcher *

Mark Grace Mark Eugene Grace (born June 28, 1964) is a former Major League Baseball (MLB) first baseman who spent 12 seasons with the Chicago Cubs and three seasons with the Arizona Diamondbacks of the National League (NL). He was a member of the 2001 Worl ...

, Major League Baseball

first baseman A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

* Brandon Hammond, actor *

Yolanda Hughes-Heying Yolanda R. Hughes-Heying (born October 30, 1963) is an American professional female bodybuilder from the United States. Biography Yolanda Hughes-Heying (born Yolanda Hughes) was born in Murfreesboro, Tennessee on October 30, 1963. She was rais ...

, IFBB professional bodybuilder *

Bill Kenney William Patrick Kenney (born January 20, 1955) is an American former quarterback who spent nine years in the National Football League with the Kansas City Chiefs from 1980 to 1988 and a former politician who spent 8 years as a Missouri State S ...

, former

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player and

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

Kyle Long Kyle Howard Long (born December 5, 1988) is an American football guard who is a free agent. The son of Pro Football Hall of Fame defensive end Howie Long and the younger brother of former defensive end Chris Long. He played college football at ...

, football player for the Kansas City Chiefs. Formerly with the Chicago Bears * Kevin Magee (1959–2003), basketball player *

Ben Maller Benjamin "Big Ben" Maller (born April 29, 1975) is an American sports radio host who hosts a The Ben Maller Show, weekday radio show on Fox Sports Radio, which airs 11pm-3am PT/2am-6am ET. Maller is considered one of the first influential sports ...

, sports radio personality and Internet sports columnist * Stephone Paige, former NFL wide receiver * Chris Parker, American football player *

Kasey Peters Kasey Peters (born May 20, 1987) is an American football quarterback. He played college football at Saddleback, Santa Ana, Grand Valley State and Rocky Mountain. He was a member of the Tri-Cities Fever, New Mexico Stars, West Texas Wildcatters ...

, American football player * Mike Piel, played for the University of Illinois, and in the NFL for the

Los Angeles Rams The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division. The Rams play ...

from 1989 to 1992. *

Nick Punto Nicholas Paul Punto (born November 8, 1977) is an American former professional baseball infielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Philadelphia Phillies, Minnesota Twins, St. Louis Cardinals, Boston Red Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers ...

, Major League Baseball

infielder An infielder is a baseball player stationed at one of four defensive "infield" positions on the baseball field. Standard arrangement of positions In a game of baseball, two teams of nine players take turns playing offensive and defensive roles. ...

* Chris Sulages,

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

coach * Bob Thornton, forward for the

New York Knicks The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the National Basketball Associat ...

and current assistant coach for the

Minnesota Timberwolves The Minnesota Timberwolves are an American professional basketball team based in Minneapolis. The Timberwolves compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division. Founded in 19 ...

* Ashley Wagner (born 1991), figure skater *

Menelik Watson Menelik Watson (born 22 December 1988) is an English former professional American football offensive tackle. He was drafted by the Oakland Raiders in the second round of the 2013 NFL Draft. He played college football at Florida State. Early ...

, Offensive Tackle for the

Tim Wallach Timothy Charles Wallach (born September 14, 1957) is an American former professional baseball player and coach. He played seventeen seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a third baseman, most notably for the Montreal Expos from to . A five- ...

third baseman A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system us ...

Victor Webster Victor Webster (born February 7, 1973) is a Canadian actor. He is known for being the second actor to play Nicholas Alamain on the NBC daytime soap ''Days of Our Lives'' from 1999 to 2000, and for his roles as the mutant Brennan Mulwray in '' Mu ...

, Canadian actor *

Gregory Widen Gregory Widen is an American screenwriter and film director. He is the creator of the '' Highlander'' film and television franchise, and the writer-director of the cult horror film '' The Prophecy''. Biography A native of Laguna Beach, Ca ...

, screenwriter and director * Sandun Wijemanne Nissanka, Music & Tech Entrepreneur. Current Group CEO of the music distribution franchise, Bonfire Distribution Inc.

Faculty

Jonelle Allen Jonelle Allen (born July 18, 1944) is an American actress, singer, and dancer from Harlem, New York, United States. Beginning her professional career in the late 1960s, Allen has co-starred in films, Broadway productions, and television. In 19 ...

, Actress-(Generations - Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman), Singer, Dancer, Director * Amy Sterling Casil (born 1962), science fiction writer * John Cederquist (born 1946), American sculptor * Simon Arkell (born 1966), Olympic pole vaulter / entrepreneur *

Helen Feyler-Switz Helen Shafter Feyler-Switz (March 25, 1925 – July 18, 2006) was an American artist and art instructor, based in California. Early life and education Helen Shafter was born in Philadelphia, the daughter of Wasyl (William) Shafter and Anna ...

(1925–2006), artist, sculptor

References

External links

Official website
{{authority control Universities and colleges in Orange County, California California Community Colleges Educational institutions established in 1968 Schools accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges Mission Viejo, California Two-year colleges in the United States