Coastside campus celebrates a year

At a San Mateo County Community College District trustee meeting Nov. 19 held at the Ted Adcock Community Center, Half Moon Bay was on display and celebrated by a slate of speakers reflecting on the past year of growth. 

“When you work on something for several years and you finally see it come to fruition … it makes what we do so worthwhile,” Trustee Lisa Petrides said. 

Without the new campus facility, accessing classes and higher education would be much more difficult for residents living on the coastside without consistent transportation or technology access, Half Moon Bay City Manager Matthew Chidester said. 

“The district doubled down in our community to ensure everyone, including our most vulnerable residents, would have convenient and culturally appropriate support to access education and career development opportunities,” Chidester said. 

In 2025, the coastside campus has already seen a jump in enrollments for courses — 45 new students registered for the spring term and 129 for the fall term. The educational facility is also seeing more than 70% of new students persist and enroll again, Danni Redding Lapuz, CSM acting president of instruction, said. 

“That’s what we’re looking for, that’s how the journey starts,” Lapuz said. 

The campus began offering four courses in spring 2025, and a year later for spring 2026 that will increase to nine. Subjects include art, creative writing, English for multilingual learners, fitness, film, fire technology, management, oceanography and statistics. 

Staff has also hosted 26 registration and financial aid workshops, bilingual services and more than 20 community events to grow the college’s partnership with the numerous organizations working to help residents on the coastside, Alex Guiriba, CSM vice president of Student Services, said. 

“Each event, each partnership and each conversation brings us closer to our goal, to making sure that coastside residents who dream of going to college know that CSM is here for them in their language, in their neighborhood and with the support that they deserve,” Guiriba said. 

One student enrolled in the English course is Patricia Ramirez, a native Spanish speaker looking to enhance her professional vocabulary and communication skills. 

Ramirez is a founding board member of Ayudando Latinos A Soñar, a nonprofit supporting Latino farmworkers and their families. Her enrollment is reflective of the coastside campus’ connection and impact on the community, Dr. Belinda Hernandez-Arriaga, founder of ALAS, said. 

“I’m seeing educational dreams come true, and you’re making it happen,” Hernandez-Arriaga said to the Board of Trustees. 

Looking ahead, the new campus will not only commit itself to Half Moon Bay, but expand connections up and down the coast, with the Cabrillo Unified School District and the Asian American, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander farmworker community, CSM President Dr. Manuel Alejandro Pérez said. 

The College of San Mateo’s Undocumented Community Center is also looking to expand its services to the coast. In the spring, the center will offer workshops to Half Moon Bay High School seniors that will help students complete applications to the CSM, residency forms and providing family info sessions, Program Services Coordinator Martin Marquez said. 

The center will also introduce the Unlocking Futures Fellowship Program to the coast, with the first student fellow by fall 2026. The program provides undocumented student opportunities to receive financial incentives, mentorship and career development opportunities, and is offered to a cohort of 19 students across the community college district — up from 13 the year before. 

San Mateo County Supervisor Ray Mueller, whose district represents the coastside, thanked the community college district’s staff for investing in the community. 

“Not every college institution would have done it,” Mueller said. “It is transformative for this coast, it’s transformative for the kids on this coast to know that no matter what, education is within reach.”