[Music and crowd noise]
(Carmen Avalos, Cerritos College Board of Trustee President)
First of all, the Board is very,very excited
about the new possibilities that we have to work with Dr. Fierro.
Welcome Dr. Fierro.
We are very excited to have you here
to work with our students and staff.
And certainly with the community to continue
to move the college forward.
Without those in the community we couldn't do it.
We believe that Dr. Fierro provides a great leadership
in many ways that Cerritos College students can be served.
And that the community will support him in bringing on
new ideas that will again benefit the community leaders,
community, students and more importantly
the folks that who continue to believe that
Cerritos College is truly the stellar college in our area.
The Board and the campus community share
Dr. Fierro's enthusiasm for student success
but more importantly we support his efforts
to continue to grow the college even more so and to empower
our students to move forward onto 4-year schools
or whatever career path they may have chosen.
With that it is my pleasure and honor to introduce
our new president, Dr. Fierro.
[Applause]
(Dr. Jose Fierro, Cerritos College President/Superintendent)
So every time someone calls me "Mr. President"
it feels kind of odd.
It feels, it feels awkward to be quite honest.
And in early June I had the opportunity
to come and attend a few meetings
prior to my official starting date.
And I was going into the board room and Victor,
a student trustee,
I just saw him here a little bit ago,
said "Good afternoon Mr. President".
So I looked at him and I shook his hand
and I laughed and I said
"You know, that feels awkward when you call me Mr. President".
So he laughed and then he said
"Well you better get used to it Mr. President".
[audience laughter]
So now I'm here to report that I still feel awkward
when someone calls me Mr. President,
so not much progress I have made on that particular area.
I always been very passionate about education.
And the opportunities that education
affords every single one of us.
And I'm very passionate
about bringing those opportunities to our students
and showing them how to take advantage of the doors
that open with education.
From the moment I arrived here, the college,
the college community have been extremely welcoming.
And extremely helpful.
I haven't felt uncomfortable.
I have not felt that I am missing anything.
In fact, I have felt that I have more than I needed to do my job.
So thank you.
I'd like to thank the Board of Trustees
for the opportunity they have given me.
Appointed me as President,
Superintendent of Cerritos College.
I want to thank my staff for the help they have provided me
during this first month and a half.
And I want to thank everyone that help
putting this great event together.
I'm sure that as we move forward,
together we will able to build a plan,
a new direction to take Cerritos College well into the future.
Today I know that the college is a great institution,
it's in great footing, but I can already see how we can build
on the current success of the institution.
Next year may not, may not look too much different than today.
But my main interest is to work with every single one of you,
students, faculty, staff, community members,
school districts, business partners
to build the vision for Cerritos
for the next 10, 15, 20 years.
We have a multi-generations at the college,
and I think it's probably in the best interest
of the college and the future generations
for us to build the foundations
which they can become successful students.
So thank you for being here.
Looking forward to working with you in the future.
Enjoy the refreshments.
And I'll look forward to chat a bit with you
during the reception.
Thank you.
[applause]