College dignitaries and city officials donned hard hats, grabbed shovels and headed toward the hill below the parking structure to capture the historic moment of breaking ground on the future College/Lab Services Building on the afternoon of Oct. 21.

GCC President David Viar, Board of Trustees’ President Ann Lansford and student trustee and Student Body President Davit Avagyan congratulated and thanked all the people who helped to make the project a reality.

President of the Glendale College Faculty Guild Richard Kamei also thanked the local taxpayers for providing the campus with this opportunity.

“I just wanted to thank everybody for investing in the future of our college, in the future of our state, our community and our nation,” said Kamei.

The working site group was also present at the ceremony, including representatives from NTD architects, Cumming construction management and Mallcraft, the general contractor.

GCC was named as one of the “10 Most Beautiful Community Colleges in America” by bestcollegesonline.com. in 2010.

“The campus’ brightly colored stucco buildings stand out during the day or night and are situated on the scenic slopes of the San Rafael Hills overlooking the city of Glendale.

[GCC is] one of the most beautiful campuses in the nation,” they said.