A group of people sit around a table holding SBVC centennial chargers
SBVC mascot Blue stands onstage with a mariachi band
SBVC president poses with the Pacific High School marching band making the V sign with his hand
A few people walk with a marching band behind them, a man holds a blue banner

San Bernardino Valley College concluded its centennial year and launched the Fall 2026 semester with a celebratory Opening Day featuring the Pacific High School Marching Band, Middle College High School cheerleaders, and a panel of neighboring school district superintendents.

Faculty, staff, students, and community leaders processed from the Lois Carson Campus Center to the SBVC Auditorium, following a walkway freshly painted with facts about each of the campus’s 100 years. The gathering in the Auditorium celebrated the centennial, which started a year ago, and looked ahead to another century of serving the community.

“For more than 100 years, advancing community is part of who we are as a community institution, and advancing community is our guiding principle in our Valley Up! initiative,” said SBVC President Gilbert J. Contreras.

San Bernardino Community College District Chancellor Diana Z. Rodriguez shared the results of a community survey, in which people asked for affordability and job training, and the approval of Measure Y, which will be voted on in November.

“As we roll into the next century, we have an opportunity this year to ask a very simple question: what do our students need from us now, and what will they need from us next?” Rodriguez said.

In his State of the College, Contreras highlighted SBVC’s record enrollment and graduates in the 2025-26 academic year, record disbursement of financial aid and scholarships, and community partnerships. While higher education institutions are concerned about what has been termed the enrollment cliff, “we are focusing on our students, our employees and the communities that define our college,” he said.

As SBVC enters its second century, there are more students and more needs. “We are hope and we are promise to anyone who seeks opportunity through education,” Contreras said. “Thank you for your contributions to the most epic year in Valley College history.”

Vice President of Administrative Services Keith Bacon gave updates on the construction of the student services, health sciences, aeronautics, and welding buildings, in addition to a new seating area with charging stations by the business building. Academic Senate President Tatiana Vasquez compared faculty and staff to a “superorganism” that works as a unit in nature one Classified Senate President Kevin Moreno said that building community “is something we do every day.”

Contreras then led an advancing community panel of the superintendents from the Colton, Rialto and San Bernardino school districts. “The more we have this dialogue, the more the trajectory of the community will rise,” said San Bernardino City Unified School District Superintendent Mauricio Arellano.

At the end of the Auditorium gathering, Blue and mariachis led attendees to the auxiliary gym for lunch.