What’s at stake?
Sunnyside High School’s new health sciences building will serve as the central location for the school’s Health Sciences Pathway classes and include facilities for weight training and sports medicine.
Administrators at Sunnyside High School held a ribbon-cutting ceremony Monday morning celebrating the completion of a new health sciences building.
The 13,251 square-foot building houses a collaborative space for students, a weight training room, sports medicine and performance labs and four classrooms. The facility will be home to the school’s Health Sciences Pathway classes, which allow students to earn certificates in athletic training, performing CPR and first aid.
The new building will also be home to Sunnyside High’s “Doctors Academy” program, a partnership program with UCSF Fresno that lets students shadow healthcare workers and receive hands-on learning.
Valerie Davis, the president of the Fresno Unified Board of Education, told Fresnoland the building’s completion is a culmination of eight years of planning that began with Tim Lyles, a previous Sunnyside High principal who passed away in 2020.
“He understood how important it is to have facilities for our children,” Davis told Fresnoland after a Monday morning news conference.
According to Davis, while the school has multiple career pathways, a centralized building for health sciences classes was sorely needed.
The new health sciences building at Sunnyside High School will house the school’s Health Sciences Pathway classes. Diego Vargas | Fresnoland
Construction broke ground on the building in 2023 and cost around $7.3 million. Davis Moreno Construction, Inc. was awarded the bid for the building’s construction.
For Superintendent Misty Her, the new building is a step towards giving students in Fresno Unified ample career options to invest in.
“A couple years ago, [the] prior superintendent and the board made an investment on CTE [career technical education] and that our students were going to have the college and career readiness skills and the life skills necessary, so this is a huge investment into that,” Her told Fresnoland.
Her also explained that the building’s construction goes hand-in-hand with the district’s current long-term goals to improve student and staff performance across all schools. Part of the district’s goals include raising the percentage of students who are college and career ready from 43% in 2024 to 64% by June of 2030.
Nick Valenzuela, the lead teacher for the Health Sciences Pathway, said the centralization of the program’s classes helps students and staff foster a shared learning space that supports everyone. At the news conference, he emphasized that students receive training in various skills that they can apply in the real world.
“We have collaborative activities and projects for them, but most importantly are the hands-on skill components that they’re involved with every day,” Valenzuela said. “We try to take things that we learn through the textbook, and apply and practice, in the event that someday they might need to rely on some of those skills.”
Sunnyside High School student Jocelyn Enriquez, a senior in her fourth year of the Health Sciences Pathway program, said it gave her hands-on experience in sports medicine and health by aiding student athletes at games. She described her anticipation over the years while the building was still under construction.
“I’m gonna be in that building one day,” Enriquez said.“I hope the new people that will be taking my place soon will enjoy this and have a really great experience.”
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