However, the organization hasn’t stopped there in their support of West Hills College Lemoore students in particular. For two West Hills College Lemoore students, this unique partnership has had life changing results.Since 2011, Los Angeles Sanitation District has donated a grand total of $270,000 to the West Hills Community College District Foundation. The money has gone toward engineering scholarships, supporting students in their academic endeavors.
In addition to donating to scholarships, LA Sanitation District has hosted six interns since 2016 at their Tulare Lake Compost Facility. These interns do not have your “average” intern experience, however. They get hands-on experience at the facility, garnering valuable work experience they can use toward a career in engineering or compost management. To top it all off, they also get paid.
“I think our relationship with West Hills College Lemoore has been just a total win-win,” said Richard Kish, Superintendent of Tulare Lake Compost. “We have gotten some really talented young people out of this and they have been a big part of the facility’s stability. We’re happy because we’ve given them job experience and they’re a great help to our facility. They don’t just do one thing for us. They do a lot of different things, ranging from testing to gathering samples. We have an onsite lab and there’s numerous pieces of lab equipment that they all use. A lot of times they’re out in the field taking temperatures." For James Grunwald, that internship has led to a full-time job. Grunwald joined Tulare Compost as one of their first interns when the facility opened in 2016. He connected with the internship through West Hills College Lemoore, where he was a second year student studying engineering. He was hired in February 2015, helping the facility get up and running. He’s since moved into a more long-term role as a Compost Engineering Technician and is pursuing his Bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering at Fresno State.
“The internship was great for giving me a taste for the real world my engineering degree was leading to,” he said. “I found out that I really liked the working environment and it made me a better student because I had an idea of what I was heading toward.” Jonathan Maravilla is another student whose life was impacted by the partnership between West Hills College Lemoore. Maravilla is a current intern with Tulare Lake Compost and is also a recent WHCL graduate. He’s working on his Civil Engineering degree at Fresno State.
In addition to being a part of the internship program, Maravilla also benefited from engineering scholarships at WHCL, the same scholarships to which LA Sanitation donates an average $30,000 per year. He learned about the internship opportunity partially as a result of the frequent presence of LA Sanitation representatives at WHCL scholarship banquets, which Richard Kish makes a point to attend.
“This is such a great opportunity for students and it’s not something I would have ever known about without West Hills College Lemoore,” said Maravilla. “It’s helping me develop the skills I need to continue on the path I’m interested in.”
Maravilla plans to put his engineering degree to good use in the Central Valley.
“I want to be able to stay here and use all my knowledge and work skills to benefit the Valley and make an impact where I’m from,” he said. Alex Perez, Executive Director of the West Hills Community College Foundation, said partnerships like this make a big difference in student’s lives.
“Partnerships like this are so important because they are a benefit to both the employer and the student,” he said. “On one hand, we provide educational access for students. They get a scholarship without having to worry about tuition and books and they get internship opportunities. But it’s also great for the organization because they develop a relationship with a potential employee.”
He also applauded LA Sanitation for their interest not just in donating, but in being at events and meeting students.
“What’s impressed me is their dedication to being present at events where we honor students, like scholarship banquets and scholar’s breakfasts,” he said. “Richard Kish has gone out of his way to have a presence with the students. The supervising engineer, Matt Bao from LA Sanitation, has also been a great help. They’re very involved and open in the process and I wish we had more partners that are really engaged to the student experience.”