Cerritos College held its first Employee Connection Games event for staff on May 8, at Falcon Square from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
More than 100 staff members attended the event, which was hosted by the president’s office and organized by Wendy Thomas, an administrative assistant at Cerritos College.
Staff from departments across campus mingled, laughed and participated in activities designed to encourage teamwork and boost morale.
With the sun beating down at 80 degrees and not a cloud in sight, Falcon Square buzzed with so much conversation that it was nearly impossible to hear someone on the other end of a phone call.
“We need this — a lot of new-school people on campus meet old-school people,” Donnie Hawkins, a custodian at the college for 18 years said.
The EC Games brought staff together with activities such as Uno, Battleship, Jenga and more, along with a gaming truck featuring titles like Mortal Kombat, Super Smash Bros. and Mario Kart.
“The event is lively and a great way to build community and connect,” Eric Calderon, an employee of the Cerritos College Foundation said.
Teams of 10 staff members — each including one veteran and one rookie to ensure fairness, competed in various games to determine the top video game team, and team 7 emerged victorious.
Food and drinks, including soda, water, chips and ice cream, were offered to staff under the bright afternoon sun.
“It’s a very good event for its first year,” Katherine Lu, administrative secretary of public affairs said, “It’s a nice way to get out of the office.”
“EC Games is supposed to be one family on campus,” Robyn Brammer, vice president of student services said.
“The campus is interdependent, just having conversations with someone we’re both working with helps and making sure everyone helps students.”
Brammer noted that changes may come next year, though no specifics were given.
“The idea is to have people on campus interact with each other and build relationships,” Cerritos College President Dr. Jose Fierro said, “We spend so much time here at work, and it’s important to get along with the people you work with so you’re more productive and feel better about what you do.”
Fierro also praised Thomas and Monique Valencia, the event’s organizers.
“They worked super hard to get us all organized,” he said.
“Inside the [gaming] truck, energy was high and people were happy,” Thomas said.
“Make this campus feel like a community, and that starts from within,” she added. “Creating events like this where we can build that camaraderie and teamwork is only going to reflect out toward our students and our programs. It’s more about building from within.”
Though the event drew mostly positive responses, Thomas said more planning time and additional games could improve future editions.
Still, this was the first annual EC Games, and staff can be hopeful it will return next year.
“We are going to try to make the Falcon Games a yearly event,” Fierro said.
