Faculty, staff, and students gathered at the Cheryl A. Epple Board Room to voice their concern or any questions they have pertaining to Cerritos College.

Cerritos College president, Dr. Jose Fierro, held the last president’s hour of the Spring 2016 semester on Thursday, May 12th.

One of the main topics discussed was commencement, due to the fact that there have been some changes.

He stated that the changes include a better stage walk for students while getting a picture taken on the stage with Cerritos College banners. There will also be video monitors for people to see what’s going on at the stage from their seats.

These changes were possible because ASCC allocated about $50,000 towards commencement according to the president.

“It is a lot to try to attend all of the graduations but I think it is my favorite part, at the end of the day you get that reward knowing that everything we did produces a good result,” he said.

Another topic of discussion was about the transferring of students. Dr. Fierro stated that he is working on partnerships with Cal State Long Beach, Fullerton and Dominguez Hills.

This partnership will include guaranteed transfers for students.

Henrietta Hurtado, EOPS counselor instructor was one of the attendees. She walked into the hour long forum to confirm Dr. Fierro’s attendance to the EOPS ceremony.

While hearing about the partnership with Dominguez Hills, Hurtado voiced her concern about Dominguez Hills not accepting any community college transfer students into their EOP program.

“Their mindset is that they don’t need it as much as high school students need it when they come in as freshman. All of our students benefit so much from that support when they transfer to a Cal State,” she said.

Dr. Fierro assured Hurtado that he will do a follow up on her concern.

“I think president’s hour is a great opportunity to connect and create connections with students and staff. You can hear issues and perspectives that we have not heard about,” Hurtado added.

President’s hour will continue during the fall semester.

Dr. Fierro stated that he is looking into doing minor changes like a time difference and possibly getting pizza for the attendees.

“I would like to explore time variances to see if we can get more people. I want to keep it going because I like to talk to different people,” he said.

“I think this semester was a good start on president’s hour, I received a lot of good information. I was able to get back to some of the people who ask questions and I like to work with people to make sure they get what they need,” he continued.

Hurtado spoke upon Dr. Fierro’s work ethic within his presidency, “He [Dr. Fierro] is doing a very good job trying to grow along with the campus, he remains interested in learning what is best for the students and what can help them navigate through Cerritos College,” she said.