In September, California Lutheran University began a partnership with Thousand Oaks Chinese School, hosting weekend classes for the school on its campus.ย
Ryan Van Ommeren, vice president of Planning and Services, said the school currently has classes in the Soiland Humanities Center and the Swenson Center for Social and Behavioral Sciences. Classes are held every Saturday from 9:15 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., according to the TOCS website.ย
The school was previously hosted by Thousand Oaks High School until TOCS administrators decided they needed a bigger space, after which a search for a new home began.ย
โ[TOCS] came and asked. They were โout-roomingโ Thousand Oaks High School,โ said Vanessa Webster-Smith, director of Campus Services. โThey were looking for another place, and so they came and did a tour. When they finished the tour, they knew Cal Lutheran was the right place for them.โย
Jennifer Kang, principal of TOCS, and Jason Mei, a former TOCS principal, said the first interaction the school had with Cal Lutheran was in 2017, when their enrollment was at a high and they needed extra space.
โBy that time in 2017 or 2018, we had more than 500 or 600 students, and we tried to engage with CLU and try to find a nice classroom. Because we had so many classes, โฆ you would have to find multiple buildings to fit our classroom needs,โ Mei said.
Mei said because of the schoolโs size, a partnership with Cal Lutheran at that point was not feasible. However, when the school restarted following the COVID-19 pandemic, the schoolโs enrollment was roughly cut in half, creating an easier path for a partnership.ย
Mei said discussions to initiate the partnership began in 2024, and that after several meetings between the two schoolsโ administrations, a โrough proposalโ was formulated in March 2025.ย
โWe started the collaboration last year. [TOCS administrators] joined a meeting with John [Nunes], Ryan [Van Ommeren] and Vanessa [Webster-Smith], and we tried to put the requirements down on how CLU can support us, and then we engaged several times and found a solution,โ Mei said.ย
Van Ommeren said the partnership came to fruition because TOCS deemed the university a โquality environmentโ for its students.ย
Van Ommeren said Cal Lutheran โwelcomed [TOCS] onto our campus for a variety of reasons including making connections with their community and receiving some revenue.โ
Mei said the school has hopes of implementing classes and other โcultural programsโ including courses in calligraphy, weaving and language classes for Cal Lutheran students.
โI see a lot of potential when we work together. Right now, we only offer the classes from pre-K to ninth grade. There are no classes for adults. With this engagement, since we are on campus already, we can create a program for CLU students if they are interested and come take a class,โ Mei said.ย
