Lower Campus - Where Every Owl Starts

A stop on Foothill College Campus Walk, a free self-guided tour.

Welcome to Foothill College. You are standing in the Lower Campus courtyard, the natural first stop for anyone thinking about enrolling. The buildings around you hold the college's front door: Admissions and Records and Financial Aid in building 8100, the Testing and Assessment Center and EOPS in 8200, and Counseling and the Transfer Center in 8300. If you have questions about getting started, this is where staff can answer them in person.

The small Lohman Theatre, building 8000, also faces this courtyard. It shares its name with the Lohman family, among the owners of this land after it was part of Rancho Purissima.

Foothill was founded in 1957 and held its first classes in 1958 at the former Highway School in Mountain View while this campus was being planned. The hilltop campus opened to students on September 5, 1961. Look uphill: the rest of the walk climbs to the main campus, where the college's story really comes into view.

Getting here: Park in Lot 8 off El Monte Road, checking the posted parking rules, and walk up the steps into the Lower Campus courtyard.

Did you know?: Foothill's owl mascot came from a concrete owl perched on the bell tower of the old Highway School in Mountain View, the college's first home.

Photo op: From the middle of the courtyard, look uphill and frame the Lower Campus buildings with the main campus rising behind them.

More on Wikipedia: Foothill College · Rancho La Purisima Concepcion · Los Altos Hills, California

Lower Campus - Where Every Owl Starts

Stops on this tour