Foothill College

In the city of Los Altos Hills in California is where you'll find the public community college known as Foothill College. The Foothill–De Anza Community College District includes it as one of its campuses. It was established on January 15, 1957, and now provides 79 programmes leading to associate degrees, one programme leading to a bachelor's degree, and 107 programmes leading to certificates.

Henry M. Gunn, the superintendent of the Palo Alto Unified School District, held a conference of local school superintendents in July of 1956. This meeting ultimately resulted in the establishment of Foothill College. Calvin Flint, who was serving as the President of Monterey Peninsula College at the time, was selected to serve as the first District Superintendent and President. He began his position on March 1, 1958.

In addition to Foothill, the following names were considered for the newly established college: Peninsula, Junipero Serra, Mid-Peninsula, Earl Warren, Herbert Hoover, North Santa Clara, Altos, Valley, Skyline, Highland, and Intercity. Foothill was ultimately selected as the name of the institution. Initially, the institution was known as Foothill Junior College; however, in September 1958, the Board of Trustees decided to eliminate the "Junior" part of the name because Flint stressed that his new university would "not be junior to anybody."

On September 15, 1958, Foothill College hosted its inaugural courses at the former Highway School building, which was located on the El Camino Real campus in Mountain View. It was the first school in the history of the state to ever achieve complete certification in a period of less than six months, and it was recognised by March of the following year. The concrete owl that formerly served as a decoration on the bell tower of the Highway School was the inspiration for the school's owl mascot; it was subsequently relocated to the current site.