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College of the Sequoias

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 mountain range.

Not to be confused with College of the Redwoods or College of the Siskiyous.

Motto

The first step to success

Public Junior College

1926 (1926)

Brent Calvin

   Orange and Blue

Giants

History[edit]

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.[1] 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[edit]

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, Exeter, Farmersville, Hanford, Ivanhoe, Lemoore, Lindsay, Orosi, Porterville, Strathmore, Three Rivers, Tulare, and Woodlake.

Academics[edit]

The current enrollment of COS is 11,141 students,[2] and the college offers a variety of transfer, vocational, and community-based classes, including the fire/police academies for Tulare and Kings counties. College of the Sequoias is accredited by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC).[3]

Student life[edit]

Athletics[edit]

The college athletics teams are nicknamed the Giants, and COS sponsors 14 teams which participate in the Central Valley Conference.[4]

– American football player

Wilson Alvarez

– American musician The Grass Roots and actor The Office

Creed Bratton

– First golfer to win on the LPGA Tour playing left-handed

Bonnie Bryant

– convicted as the Golden State Killer and the Visalia Ransacker in 2020, was a police officer in Exeter from 1973 to 1976, same time as when the Ransacker crimes occurred in neighbouring Visalia[5]

Joseph James DeAngelo

– Xicana artist

Crystal Galindo

- World Champion Professional sprinter

Quincy Hall

– American basketball player

DeeAndre Hulett

– American football player

Dannie Lockett

– American singer and songwriter best known as the lead vocalist of the rock band Journey

Steve Perry

– Animator who created Regular Show for Cartoon Network

J. G. Quintel

– American football defensive tackle for the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League (NFL)

Sheldon Richardson

– American professional wrestler who used the ring name Bray Wyatt

Windham Rotunda

Official webpage