The Lunar New Year Celebration was held at the Student Center on Saturday. More than 300 people attended the event in honor of the year of the Boar.

The event was sponsored by Cerritos College and Chinese Culture Association of Southern California and affiliated Cerritos Chinese School.

There were 20 performances during the event that honored the Lunar New Year. Among the 20 performances were: The Lion Dance, Beijing Opera, Taiwan Aboriginal Dance Green Mountains and Chinese Musical Instrument-Pi Pa, Snow in the Early Spring

In addition, there was also a traditional Fashion Show that featured Cerritos College President Dr. Noelia Vela, Dr. Mary Sieu, Harvey Lindo, Vivian Liu, Carol and Olympia Chen.

After her performance during the fashion show Vela said that it was an honor to participate in the Lunar New Year Celebration.

“I was invited to participate and it was fun to do so,” she commented. Furthermore, she said that although she wear Chinese hair piece that it was fairly easy to handle but what was a worry was that she had to watching out not to fall.

Vela said that being in this fashion show hasn’t been the only time she has been invited to participate.

She explained that before coming to Cerritos and was President at Evergreen Valley College in San Jose that she also participated in a fashion show.

Also, in attendance were board member John Moore, Bob Hughlett, Ted Edminston, as well as Vice President of Student Service Stephen Johnson and Vice President of Academic Affairs William Farmer Jr.

Farmer said that there was a reason behind having the Chinese Lunar New Year Celebration.

“The Academic Affairs office is looking into offering academic course such as Chinese language courses some time in the near future.”

There are other courses that are being discussed as well but Farmer declined to elaborate further.

As for the event itself, Farmer said that the turnout was impressive and enjoyed watching Vela walk down the runway during the fashion show.

He added that to have an event such as the Lunar New Year Celebration is a great way to connect with the Chinese population and that it is great that Cerritos has built a relationship with those that were involved with the organization of the event.

Danita Kurtz, International Student Association adviser, agreed.

She added that for Cerritos to have a partnership with the Association of Southern California and the Cerritos Chinese School is a great way to reach out to others within the community.