El Camino College

As a two-year public community college, El Camino College (ECC) is located in the unincorporated areas of Torrance and Alondra Park in Los Angeles County of California. ECC was first officially founded on July 1, 1947 with less than 500 students. As part of the El Camino Community College District, it now serves more than 23,000 students from the surrounding cities of Lawndale, El Segundo, Manhattan Beach, Inglewood, Lennox, Hawthorne, Redondo Beach, and Hermosa Beach. ECC has been recognized as one of the leading transfer institutions to major four-year public or private universities in California and across the nation.

Spread across a vibrant 26 acre campus with 37 academic buildings, El Camino College offers the diverse student body nearly 2,500 different higher learning courses in 85 different certificate, diploma, honors, and associate's degree programs. ECC is perhaps best known for its immense English as a Second Language (ESL) program, which focuses on a rigorous academic approach to prepare students of various backgrounds for English reading, writing, speaking, and listening at the college level. For numerous years, the ECC forensics program has beaten out prestigious four-year universities like Notre Dame and the University of California at Los Angeles to win national level awards for excellence.

On the El Camino College campus, the performing arts have a strong presence. The Marsee Auditorium, a 2,000 seat auditorium, is known for being the venue for the South Bay Ballet's production of the Nutcracker each year, traveling Broadway shows, dance companies, and on-campus shows from resident student performers. Other venues include the 350-seat Campus Theatre and intimate 190-seat Robert Hagg Recital Hall for special events. El Camino College has also been utilized as a filming location for many hit movies, such as Cheaper by the Dozen, The Longest Yard, The Italian Job, and The Dark Night Rises. Notable alumni from ECC include actress Bo Derek, actor Fred Dryer, operatic soprano Carol Neblett, Beach Boy Alan Jardine, and filmmaker and Oscar Lifetime Achievement Award winner Douglas Trumbull.

First built in 1958, Murdock Stadium serves as the center for numerous athletic programs offered by El Camino College. ECC offers students the opportunity to join teams for badminton, baseball, basketball, football, golf, soccer, softball, swimming, tennis, track and field, volleyball, and water polo. Some of the most famous former Warriors from El Camino College include NFL Wide Receiver Antonio Chatman, basketball player Don Dulay, General Manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers Fred Claire, ESPN sportscaster Chris Mortensen, and Major League outfielder George Foster.