Cerritos College's Teacher TRAC Program Celebrates 46 New Graduates

2005 Cohort Marks More than 
500 Graduates of the Fast-Track Credentialing Program that
Partners with CSULB

Cerritos College's Teacher TRAC (Training Academy) program honored 47 Teacher TRAC program students Thursday, May 12 as they graduated with their associates in arts degrees and moved closer to gaining a bachelor’s degree and teaching credential from California State University Long Beach.

Honoring Teacher TRAC students at the recognition ceremony were the Cerritos College Board of Trustees, senior members of Cerritos College administration, Sue Parsons, director of Teacher TRAC, Teacher TRAC faculty members and friends and family of the students. Each graduate received a certificate and a commemorative golden apple in recognition of their completion of the first leg of the Teacher TRAC program.

During the ceremony, Dr. Jean Houck, dean of the College of Education at CSULB, welcomed the students to their new college and received a commemorative gold apple from Parsons. As she handed Houck the award, Parsons explained that it represented the Teacher TRAC graduates who had spent time at Cerritos and were now being entrusted to CSULB for the completion of their bachelor's degree.

A total of six scholarship awards--four Teacher TRAC Eruditio Scholarships, the Fred Gaskin Scholarship and the Esther Espinoza Scholarship, were awarded to Teacher TRAC students at the recognition program.

Tomika Haward, Gerardo Flores, Rudy Hernandez and Sara Usher were each presented with a $500 Eruditio Scholarship established by Dr. and Mrs. Kent G. Colbath. Dr. Colbath, a professor of earth science at the college and a member of the Teacher TRAC leadership team explained the meaning of Eruditio as he gave the scholarships to each student.

"The meaning of the word eruditio is reflected in the meaning of the award," he said. "Eruditio means teaching, instruction, knowledge,
and learning."

Janise Anderson received the 2005 Fred Gaskin Scholarship. Shannon Ladwig, 2003 Fred Gaskin Scholarship recipient and Teacher TRAC graduate who plans to receive her bachelor's degree from CSULB at the end of 2005, presented the award and encouraged the graduates that although work at a four-year university is difficult, they were prepared to handle the challenge. The $1,000 Fred Gaskin Scholarship will be matched by CSULB funds for a total of $2,000.

Tiffany Carrasco received the Esther Espinosa Memorial Teacher TRAC Scholarship, presented by the Honorable Peter Espinoza, Norwalk Superior Judge and a board member for the Cerritos College Foundation. Judge Espinoza and his siblings, all of whom graduated from Cerritos College, founded the scholarship in memory of their late mother, Esther Espinoza, a teacher in the Norwalk-La Mirada School District for 35 years. The $1,000 Esther Espinosa Scholarship will be matched by funds by the Dr. and Mrs. Kent G. Colbath Endowment funds for a total of $2,000.

Anthony (Tony) Del Real, also a Teacher TRAC graduate and a candidate for a bachelor's degree from CSULB in May 2005, provided closing remarks. Del Real exhorted the new Teacher TRAC graudates to keep in touch with each other and to use the resources provided them at Cerritos College as tools in helping them succeed at CSULB. He emphasized that they had hard work ahead of them, but encouraged the graduates that they, too, would accomplish what he had accomplished.

Cerritos College’s Teacher TRAC program offers many services, programs, and pathways for students interested in teaching K-12. For students interested in becoming an elementary school teacher, Teacher TRAC's flagship program is a partnership with California State University Long Beach. As a student in the integrated, standards-based Teacher TRAC / CSULB program, students can earn their bachelor's degree and multiple subject teaching credentials and complete their student teaching within four years. For more information about the program, visit www.teachertrac.com.

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The Campus Connection Online, May 16, 2005