At right are (left to right) Interim Chancellor Dr. Don Q. Griffin, Trustee Milton Marks, Board Vice President Dr. Natalie Berg, Board President Lawrence Wong Natalie Orfalea who with her husband Paul (not pictured) are providing operational funding for the Center, Congresswoman Jackie Speier, Commissioner Hydra Mendoza Trustee John Rizzo and Trustee Rodel E. Rodis. ALEX LUTHI / GUARDSMAN

By Natalie Coreas
Staff Writer

Despite rainy weather, City College’s grand opening for the Ocean campus’ Orfalea Family Center was held on Oct. 30, following a change of venue to the Diego Rivera Theatre.

“I believe that most people in need of a preschool are on the city level. This is a typical environment these children would not get. All major studies indicate that from birth through age five are the most important years in a child’s life. We wanted to provide that access here to those children at City College,” said Natalie Orfalea of the Orfalea Family Foundations, which made a total of $8 million in donations over the past 7 years to the college. The donations are used to support the center’s operational budget, according to the Nov. 3, 2008 issue of City Currents.

About a hundred friends, faculty, students and children holding multi-colored balloons were in the audience as board of trustees president Lawrence Wong began the inauguration of the new center, looking to the audience and saying, “we are planting seeds for us to grow here. This quality childcare center continues to be the largest and most comprehensive childcare training center in San Francisco, enrolling an average of 4000 City College students yearly and training 75 percent of the childcare providers in San Francisco.”

The new center, which opened in the Spring of 2008, provides toddlers and preschool children with learning areas include a 7000 square foot outdoor play area, arts and crafts, a dramatic play area, a block area, a reading area with books of all kinds such as “Say Hola to Spanish,” “Let’s Count” and “The Very Hungry Caterpillar”. All areas are “sensory based learning environments that encourage developing small and gross motor skills,” according to City College’s fact sheet for the center.

Special guests like Congresswoman Jackie Speier, City College’s Senior Project Manager for the center Demetri Gonzalez and District 11 Supervisor Gerardo Sandoval were present as the mayor’s education advisor Hydra Mendoza presented a certificate of honor on behalf of Mayor Gavin Newsom to the Orfalea foundation for their generosity. Speier’s speech included a brief history of the Orfalea family and the start of Kinko’s, a company that offered copy services and office supplies and was originally founded by Paul Orfalea to benefit college students with products and services they needed at a more affordable price.

“We will be forever be in the deepest gratitude for the level of support they provided for us,” said Kathleen White, the department chair of the Child Development and Family studies department, thanking the Orfalea Foundation.

After conclusion of the ceremony in the Diego Rivera Theatre, lion dancers along with drummers from Leung’s White Crane Lion and Dragon Association lead the way to the front of the new center for the ribbon cutting for the center. Afterward, guests made their way through exploring the new center.

Also, a new baby room and lactating room, were unveiled at the opening. The lactating room, titled “Effie’s Room” after Effie Kuriloff, an early teacher who taught non credit courses at early San Francisco Community College Child Development / Family Studies Department from 1977 to 2004.

“The new center has made a big difference in the developmental needs for families trying to raise kids with healthy and strong minds,” said Interim Chancellor Dr. Don Q. Griffin.

Each of the buildings in the center have “green” living rooftops, built to make the buildings more sustainable.

The center includes children-size toilets and hand washing areas. In addition to the children areas, there are also separate observation rooms which allow child development and family studies students and teachers to view the children interacting without disrupting the learning environment.

“I feel really comfortable leaving my son in the morning. He adapted very well to the program. It is up to him what he chooses to do: there are table activities, water activities, and painting. I don’t think the location matters. It’s not the structure, it’s the people that work there that make it a great environment,” said Brenda Wemiz, parent of a 4-year-old child.

Though the rooftop gardens atop the Orfalea Family Center on Ocean Campus lack flowers and are turning brown, these hearty perennials are simply entering a normal annual phase. ANNABELLE DAY / GUARDSMAN

By Roxanne Bequio
Staff Writer

The plants growing on the Ocean campus’ Orfalea Family Center roof not only distinguish it from all the other buildings, but also serve as an environmentally friendly, sustainable, and self-sufficient alternative to other rooftops said Demetri Gonzalez, City College’s senior project manager.

A living roof system is made up of planting trays which are often biodegradable, a soil or gravel medium for the plant’s roots to grow in and take hold of, the plants themselves and a supplemental irrigation system, primarily used to get new plants established, said Gonzalez in an email.

Living roofs also provide the benefit of natural water filtration, said Gonzalez. “With a living roof, rain water is filtered by the plants and since no fertilizers are used, only clean water is returned to the Earth.”

The specific difference between living and traditional rooftops is in the top layer or the visible part of the roof, which is exposed to the elements. This part of the roof is made up of living plants instead of man-made materials, such as rubber, tar, asphalt, or steel.

Students walking past the Orfalea Family Center on Judson Avenue can get a closer look at the living rooftops from the sidewalk. At first glance the plants, a species called Sedum spathulifolium, seem to be withered and dying, but are indeed alive.

“They are simply entering a phase of their annual cycle where the flowers die off, and they turn a burnt umber color. This is completely natural for the species of plant being used. Sedum plants are one of the most rugged, durable perennials available, and are often described as ‘tough as nails’. The chosen plant doesn’t require much watering and can survive simply on the amount of annual rainfall we get here in the Bay Area,” Gonzalez said.

According to the plants database for the United States Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, Sedum spathulifolium is native to the northwest region of North America, and can be found along the coast from British Columbia down to California.

From spring to summer this low growing plant blooms and forms clusters of yellow star-shaped flowers. The leaves are shaped like rosettes, and appear silvery green in color until autumn, when they become bronze, red, or umber. The Sedum’s flowers fall off on their own and help the spreading of more seeds and the growing of new, additional plants.

Sedum is easy to grow, and capable of growing in dry soil during drought due to its thick, fleshy, water-storing leaves, said Gonzalez.

Although the sedum are basically left to grow naturally and unaided due to their self-sufficiency, the roof still gets examined regularly as a precaution for the livelihood of the plants and the rooftop itself. “The cost to maintain such as system is nil,” Gonzalez said.

“A living roof helps achieve ‘sustainability’ by keeping the building interior at a more constant temperature, thereby requiring less mechanically provided heating and cooling,” said Gonzalez.

The rooftops were put in by Elevated Landscape Technologies Inc., a green roofing company from the province of Ontario in Canada. “Since its initial installation over a year ago, [Elevated Landscape Technologies Inc.] has performed routine visits of the site and confirmed that all is well,” said Gonzalez.

City College student Christina Martinez, 25, believes with the living roof the college took a step in the right direction. “I feel that it’s a closer step to perhaps being sustainable, and a good example for the rest of the community. I think it’s a good thing,” Martinez said. “I haven’t noticed any other buildings that are like this around San Francisco, or where I live in Daly City.”

“Currently, there are no issues with the living roof at the Child Development Center. The roof doesn’t leak and the plants are growing as expected,” said Gonzalez.