Students may have a difficult time finding classes lately, but one Cerritos student will be dealing with more than just 12 units this semester.

Child development major Broderick Woods serves as the only student member of the Cerritos College Curriculum Committee, a group on campus that acts to review, add, remove or alter the prerequisites of classes in the course catalog.

Woods, who is active in the ASCC, said he started as a student member on the curriculum committee last spring, the first committee he has ever served on.

“There was a meeting in the ASCC for whoever wanted to join a committee, so I thought, ‘This will be my way of trying to get out and help Cerritos College out and help students out and also get to know more about what’s going on around campus.

“So I decided that I would join.”

Curriculum Committee Chair Rich Cameron said it has been many years since there has been a consistent student representative on the committee.

“Having Broderick on there, not only has he come multiple times, but now he’s back for his second term as the student representative.

“That kind of continuity is a nice thing.”

He also said that having a student on the committee is helpful to make sure that the courses make sense to students.

“Certainly the faculty know an awful lot about their courses, but it always helps to have a student point-of-view in there.

“That’s why on many of the shared governance committees on campus, we look for student representatives when we can get them.”

During the first curriculum committee meeting, a new course was proposed on behalf of the Philosophy Department.

The course, which requires a philosophy prerequisite, is Introduction to Bioethics and would be listed as Philosophy 205.

Woods went into depth describing his role on the committee and the process.

“When a department wants to bring in a new course idea, or they want to add a new class or take away a class, then we’re the ones they come to for approval.”

If approved, a class like Philosophy 205 would then come before the Board of Trustees who would have to approve it.

In the spring 2011 semester, Woods was asked the committee he could return for this fall session and he accepted the offer.

“It was a good experience because I got to work closely with different faculty members, deans and department chairs.”

Woods grew up in Norwalk, California, and was raised by his grandmother and grandfather.

He mentioned his mother Sally, saying “Once my mom had me, she was there sometimes, in and out, but she wasn’t always there.”

After relocating to Long Beach shortly for high school, he returned to Norwalk.

“I’m used to being out here, I know everybody out here.”

He is a regular around the Cerritos College Dance Studio, practicing outside with other dancers as well as in the hallway of the Fine Arts building.

Computer science major Xavier Scott and x-ray technician and dance major Tracy Hill, who have each known Woods for at least one semester, said working under him as a choreographer has been good.

Hill said, “He’s pretty cool. He’s outgoing, he looks out for you, and he’ll help you if you’re in a bad situation. He’s a good guy.”

Scott continued, saying, “He’s always going to have your back, regardless.”

“He likes to face challenges. He likes to motivate you to do better things in life,” Scott said. “He has a lot of responsibilities, but he knows how to keep his priorities straight.”

The dance choreographer said that he took on the responsibility of assembling a group of students together and is moving toward forming it into a dance company known as Dancing Sensations, which is open to anyone to join.

“What we’re looking to do is to get out and perform more and just take our dancing skills and talent to the next level.”

Majoring in child development, Woods said his aspiration is to become a teacher.

He mentioned teaching at the preschool and elementary levels, all different subjects, including dance.

“Although teaching is my passion, I love little kids and I love teaching kids, dance is also my passion,” Woods said, “so if I can combine the two, teaching and dance, that would be great for me.”

Cameron noted that if Woods wants become a teacher, being on the Curriculum Committee is good training for him because he will be developing courses.

The committee will be challenged this semester by a new definition of what makes a class repeatable, addressing transfer degrees, and updating courses.

Courses must be updated or reviewed once every few years to make sure they are still relevant, which Cameron said for the most part is taking place, with some notable exceptions.

“We’re finding some courses that have slipped through the cracks and have not been looked at for six, eight or 10 years because in many cases they haven’t been offered in that long.

“We’re looking at ways that we can improve the processes to make sure that our courses remain relevant.”