New sports programs coming to Clovis Community College

CLOVIS, Calif. ( KSEE/KGPE ) – Clovis Community College received a $500,000 donation that will go towards its athletic department.

Jami Hamel De La Cerda, founder and CEO of Diamond Learning Center, an educational institution for adults with intellectual disabilities, was the one who donated the funds for the athletic department.

With the new funds, Clovis Community plans to add new sports programs, support the current student-athletes, and enhance its future sports complex.

“It’s pretty tremendous for a school at our level to receive a donation of that size,“ said James Sewell, Clovis Community’s athletics director.

“The students have the opportunity to take classes like everybody else does and also work in the same day,” said De La Cerda.

De La Cerda and Sewell have a strong partnership that dates back to Sewell’s days at Fresno State.

“We’ve always just really connected in terms of philosophy, vision, and mission,” said Sewell.

When Sewell accepted his role at Clovis Community, De La Cerda recognized the athletics department’s needs and wanted to help.

“They’re just trying to make it and they’re doing the best that they can with what they have, and we can give them a little bit more to boost it, it’s worth it,” said De La Cerda.

With the donation, the athletic department will add women’s volleyball and men’s and women’s tennis.

“We’ve been trying to grow for a number of years now, we’ve only got eight sports programs, so we really want to be a strong reflection of our local community,” Sewell said.

The new sports complex will help attract potential students to continue their education in Clovis.

In gratitude for the generous gift, the facility will be named the ISE Diamond L.I.F.E. Sports Complex.

De La Cerda is a mom of three boys: two are Clovis Community students, and her youngest, Elijah, who has Down syndrome, attends DLC.

Needless to say, she was deeply moved by the honor.

“It’s hard to put that in words because many times our students are kind of a forgotten population, but I think that’s changing, so I’m very, very proud to have the connection and I’m going to be so proud to walk by and see ISE Diamond L.I.F.E. on the building,” De La Cerda said.

The sports complex is expected to be complete by 2027.

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