Caleb Dunomes fills huge shoes across many avenues available at Cerritos College and is someone who’s constantly inspired by people in his inner circle.

Senator Dunomes is the ASCC senate majority leader, part of the men’s track team and is an embedded tutor for accounting.

His father, Victor Dunomes, works for the Lywood school district while his mother, Chinyere Stoneham is the Superintendent at the City of Los Angeles Department of Parks and Recreation, both played a crucial role in how Caleb is so involved in his community.

“Every time I would go to an event at one of their jobs, I’d just hear how helpful they are,” Dunomes said.

“That involvement […] subconsciously put that battery in my back to continue to stay involved and stay invested in the stuff I’m interested in.”

Chelsea Dunomes, Caleb’s sibling and a forensic scientist for Orange County, was a huge factor in the development of Caleb’s mindset.

“Seeing her grow throughout high school, grow throughout college and get her master’s degree showed me if you’re focused, you can do whatever you want,” he said with a contagious smile.

Dunomes got into track in high school at Long Beach Polytechnic high school and what got him into track was his competitive nature, which was where he met his long-time friend Miguel Orozco.

He said that Orozco, who’s currently doing track and field for Long Beach State, was someone he was close with since 7th grade and was considered one of the “duos” for their high school track and field team.

“We both saw each other develop and just grow not only academically or as friends but throughout the whole track and field world,” Dunomes pointed out.

His sophomore year of high school was the breaking point where he realized he wanted to continue pursuing and putting time into track and field.

This developed yet another thing he’ll take part in: student government.

During Dunomes’ Sophomore year of college, Men’s track coach Christopher Richardson and Women’s track coach Michael Allen met with Dunomes and both recommended him to join ASCC Senate.

The ASCC Senator was the only senator who is African American and pointed out the impact it had on him.

“Being the only black senator is just the way it is, the whole education system […] I haven’t really seen Black people represented,” he said, “It’s not really something I’m taken back by but it’s still a hurdle I have to go over because right now I feel as if, oftentimes, I stand out in the room.”

“In many instances, I’ll enter a room and I’ll be the only one there and it feels like, ‘wow, maybe I’m out of place because I don’t see anyone just like me,’” Dunomes said.

He mentioned the importance of visibility — how that can make African Americans or students in general, feel welcomed at Cerritos College.

Dunomes said that things like having more black teachers, a black student union and having a Captain’s Council for all the teams can help African Americans and/or minorities fit in and feel welcomed.

Kobe Bryant, Dunomes’ favorite athlete, made a huge impact on him because of Bryant’s relentlessness in whatever he did in his life.

“Leaning about Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan really inspired me to execute more and work harder and work smarter,” Dunomes said, “[They] gave me an example of how to execute better and more efficiently.”

Outside of Cerritos College, Dunomes has presented at Pepperdine University with regard to zoning laws and started a project called “In My Mind,” which was inspired by Pharrell Williams.

The project consisted of Ryann Chalmers, who is the editor of the project; the creative director Dunomes and Joseph Diress creating the music for the series.

The Cerritos College business major said that his future goal as he looks to transfer to a four-year university and plans on using track to take advantage of the scholarship opportunities he can get.

He plans to springboard that scholarship into ambitious projects like creating an environmental company.

As for student government, Dunomes said that he wants to stay involved in the student government scene, which would be mainly a Black student organization on campus.

He ended off gave some advice to students, “Don’t be afraid to invest in yourself, into whatever you’re interested in.”

“You have an idea, do whatever it takes to execute,” Dunomes adds, “I see it as Childish Gambino, where you have the capabilities to do all these things so why not?”