Cerritos College president, Dr. Jose Fierro, held the president’s hour meet and greet in the Falcon Square to connect and engage with students and staff and keep updated with campus events.
Dr. Fierro stated that Cerritos College, along with 29 other finalists, have been nominated for the national Bellwether Awards which will be held in San Antonio, Texas on February 25 – 27.
According to the Bellwether College Consortium, the award is presented to community colleges with “cutting-edge, trendsetting programs worthy of replication.” The three categories are instructional programs and services, workforce development and planning, governance and finance.
Cerritos College was nominated under the instructional programs and services category for its project: It Takes a Village: Supporting Student Housing and Basic Needs, which provides free and affordable housing for students aged 18-25 years old who are facing housing insecurities.
The Village opened its doors June 11, 2020.
This is the second time Cerritos College has been recognized, having been nominated in 2018 for its Cerritos Complete program which offers two years of free tuition and early enrollment to local graduating seniors and those completing high school equivalency from local districts.
New and returning students can look forward to the club rush being held Tuesday, January 23rd to learn more about and get involved with the various student organizations, noted Chelsea Van Doornum, director of public relations and communications and Aya Aoki, media relations coordinator.
Amber Douglas, banquet chef, advised that the 23rd also marks the tentative opening of the Culinary Arts Café for the semester. For more updates, follow the official Cerritos College Culinary Arts Instagram: ccculinaryarts.
The Culinary Arts Café is located in the student center, to the right of the food court.
Of the construction of the new student services center, Dr. Fierro stated that the project will take two years and will consolidate the school’s administrative offices, the board of trustees’ meeting room, a campus bookstore, and the Falcon’s Nest into one convenient building.
“Everything is very spread out, at the moment.” Dr. Fierro said.
On the school’s goals for the upcoming year, Dr. Fierro reiterated that, “Our goal is to graduate 50 percent of students in five years.”
In order to do this, internal infrastructure needs to be updated to track essential data on student progress. The results of which will become publicly available when the system has been upgraded.
Dr. Fierro was firm. “Services impact academic performance.”
Aside from the aforementioned Village and Cerritos Complete program, the Falcon’s Nest offers Franco’s Market, a food pantry, and Franco’s Closet which provides professional clothing for students to borrow at no cost. The Falcon’s Nest also provides laundry cards with its partner LaundryMax.
Community relations Coordinator, Toni Grijalva added that president’s hour wasn’t just for catching up on the latest campus news, but also a perfect opportunity to get help with departmental and registration issues as well as offer suggestions to streamline operations and modernize the campus.
President’s hour is a monthly event with the next one being held on February 20.
