“Bienvenido a Casa.”

Board President Carmen Avalos introduced the new Cerritos College President, Dr. Fierro at the community welcome reception on Wednesday, Aug. 19.

“First of all, the board is very excited about the new possibilities that we have to work with Dr. Fierro, with our students and staff and certainly with the community to continue to move the college forward, without those in the community we couldn’t do it, “Avalos said.

Among those in attendance were, Janet McCarthy, CEO of Goodwill, Ana Perez representing Calif. Senator Tony Mendoza and Karina Chacon representing assemblywoman Kristina Garcia.

Avalos asked for the community to support Dr. Fierro in bringing in new ideas that benefit community leaders, students and “more importantly the folks who continue to believe that Cerritos College is truly the stellar college in our area.”

Avalos shared that the board and the campus community “share Dr. Fierro’s enthusiasm for student success,” and support his ideas to make the college an even better institution.

The board president also added that the board is supportive of Dr. Fierro’s efforts to empower students so that they are able to continue on to four-year institutions or their chosen career paths.

In a moment of light-hearted sincerity, Dr. Fierro shared he still feels awkward when someone calls him ‘Mr. President.’

“Victor [Villalobos], our student trustee, […] said ‘Good afternoon Mr. President’ and I shook his hand and I laughed and I said ‘You know, that feels awkward, when you call me Mr. President,’” Fierro said.

He continued, “He laughed and said ‘You better get used to it, Mr. President.’”

Fierro, whose workday started at 5 a.m. made the rounds shaking community member’s hands and engaged in conversation also making room for photos.

The event was catered by the Culinary Arts department, which served a variety of sandwiches ranging from tuna salad, turkey, roast beef and chicken nut.

Cheryl Thury, Dr. Fierro’s assistant said, “He’s been great, and he has a great sense of humor, very witty.”

She added, “He has been a wonderful transition from Dr. Lacy and I fully enjoy working with him everyday.”

Dr. Joanna Schilling, vice president of academic affairs said,“Dr. Fierro is really good with data, so he’s asking us key questions about how do we measure student success, what we need to be looking at to help students not only do better, but how do we currently serve students better.”

John Paul Drayer, Cerritos College board member described Fierro as a “breath of fresh air.”

“He’s very pleasant to work with. He’s very open minded to new ideas and helping us work through our challenges that we’re having right now,” he expressed.

Drayer continued, “I’m just so happy. I worked so hard for today. I was on the interview committee and I had to do the onsite interview at his college […] I had to go in a blizzard in the Rockies to visit him and his staff.”

The trustee detailed that the trip helped him see how Fierro would fit in at Cerritos and aided him in making the decision to support Fierro as the new college president.

With a smile at hand, Fierro continued his 13-hour plus workday surrounded by a welcoming community.