Drummers, culinary arts students and dancers participated in the grand opening ceremony of Cerritos College’s new Health and Wellness complex on April 8. The audience comprised of students, administrators, faculty, board members and others joining in on the celebration.
The Cerritos College West African drum and dance class opened the ceremony with a song by the drummers.
Drummer and liberal studies major Sinaa Greene felt special that the class was chosen to play for the ribbon-cutting ceremony.
The energy was pretty much high throughout the ceremony Greene said, “Whenever you’re about to bless [a building opening], they always bring like… different parts of the world to bless the space. So the drums are very, an intricate part of blessing a space.”
Board of Trustees President Carmen Avalos said during her speech that the new buildings serve as an opportunity to empower the community and for more folks to come to Cerritos College.
The new complex is made up of five buildings with spaces for new and improved classes for physical education, kinesiology, dance studios, fitness and so on, for faculty and students.
Culinary arts students provided and served food after the ribbon was cut by Board of Trustees Vice President Marisa Perez.
Isabella Kress, culinary arts and English major found it exciting to see the dancers and others perform to promote the new building. She takes dance classes at the college as well and likes how all her majors came together for one event.
“It’s bigger, it’s nicer, the floors are brand new, there’s air conditioning,” Kress laughed, “It’s fantastic.”
Jesus Gallardo, dance major, was special for him because he’s a runner and a dancer, he said, “Last year we were just using the classroom building, which isn’t too great.”
He continued, “But while we were there, I appreciated it and going into the new building, it’s great because we actually have a space to call our own, we can go all out [dancing], we have more room and it’s a [new home] for anyone who wants to be a dancer.”
Gallardo also mentioned how it’s a nice facility to train your body, get the tone you want and feel better about yourself.
Avalos said the modern facilities will continue to serve student needs as it embraces newer technologies.
