Fresno City College April Events Spotlight Career Skills, Student Support Programs

More than 1,300 high school students will arrive at Fresno City College on April 16 for the Career Skills Challenge, organized by the Fresno County Office of Education. The event recognizes career-technical education accomplishments and gives students a direct look at vocational pathways before they make post-graduation decisions, making it one of the college's largest single-day touchpoints with the next generation of Fresno County's workforce.

The challenge anchors a stretch of four campus events FCC has scheduled across the second half of April, each targeting a different dimension of student support.

The first arrives April 14, when the Title IX Office hosts an informational fair in the West Fresno Center main lobby from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month, and the two-hour fair will connect attendees to campus and community resources focused on sexual-assault prevention and response. Students seeking that information can walk into the West Fresno Center lobby during that window without an appointment.

Three days later, on April 17, the college holds its 6th Annual Rising Scholars Symposium under the theme "Education is Key to Transformation." Paul Calvo, an FCC alum who became an engineer at Stanford, will speak at the event, which centers on formerly incarcerated and system-impacted students in higher education. The symposium reflects FCC's stated emphasis on equity-focused programming, including expanded outreach to NextUp students highlighted in the college's board report.

On April 20, FCC co-hosts "Take Back the Night" at Veterans Square alongside Clovis, Madera and Reedley Colleges, rounding out a concentrated week of trauma-informed programming with a multi-campus event supporting survivors of sexual violence.

The college's board report also points to applied-learning work already underway in the classroom, including humanities programming that brought live-action Pride and Prejudice performances and cultural cooking demonstrations into the curriculum as tools for deepening student engagement.

Calvo's trajectory from FCC to Stanford anchors the Rising Scholars Symposium with a specific, local proof point: community college as a genuine launchpad. His presence at the April 17 event gives formerly incarcerated and system-impacted students a named example of where an FCC education can lead.