After almost 40 years in the education field, Dean Ackland is still moving forward with his career.

Ackland has been the Coordinator of Student Activities for 23 years now.

Before he came to Cerritos, Ackland was a high school teacher and coach at Downey High school.

Family affair secretary Nikki Jones said, “He’s a really nice guy, he’s magnificent at his job.”

All of the student activities held at Cerritos are put together by Ackland himself with help from the different clubs and Commissions of ICC Nathalie Chavez.

“This is the best job in the world. I get to help the students and I also get to meet new people,” Ackland stated.

He started his career in education almost 40 years ago at Downey High School.

During the 15 years he spent there, he took hold of quite a few titles.

He was both the boys and girls head varsity softball coach, the non-varsity football coach, the drivers education teacher and both a history and English teacher.

He has been surrounded with students for quite some time, and he carries a positive vibe.

“Ninety-nine percent of my job is positive, I enjoy being able to say ‘yes’ to most questions,” Ackland added.

When he came to Cerritos, he was an assistant coach of the men’s basketball team for 17 years, while he was still juggling his activities coordinator and father duties.

He began to struggle with balancing all of his expected duties and he had to withdraw from his assistant coach position to obtain his fatherly duties.

His kids went off to college and he wasn’t able to attend their games.

Both of Ackland’s children played college baseball and softball respectively.

Ackland was able to attend their games once he subtracted one of his many positions.

Now Ackland just holds his coordinator title at Cerritos and holds the multiple titles at home.

After all these years, he still gives his all to his job.

“Teaching and providing comes easy for me, it’s what I enjoy doing,” Ackland said.