After 40 In-N-Out Welcome Days and Nights, 39 ASCC Awards Banquets, 21 Hoe Down Days events and 20 Homecoming events, Trudy Foster is leaving Cerritos College.
The secretary of Student Activities, who started off as an hourly employee in the Physical Education Department before moving to the position she currently attains in the Student Activities office, is retiring.
Although Foster refused to provide an interview, there were many others who were more than willing to speak on her behalf.
With much excitement, Director of Student Activities Holly Bogdanovich said Foster will be really missed.
“She’s done so much for everyone here at Cerritos College,” she said, “and it’s a sure thing I, along with others, will miss her very much.”
Toni Grijalva, coordinator of the Community Relations Office of Public Affairs, believes Foster has not only touched many lives, but has also been the outstanding, supportive, loving, and big-hearted “motherly” figure to those who surround her.
“To me, she has been like a sister, and I know to others she’s been like a mother,” she said.
Foster is known as “Mommy Trudy” to a lot of students and faculty members as well as workers.
Cynthia Alvarez, former student of Cerritos College, came to visit Foster last Wednesday, the day of the Mr. Cerritos contest.
“I used to be vice president of one of the clubs on campus back in 1992,” she said.
“When my sister, who attends Cerritos College, told me (Foster) was retiring, I knew I had to come say goodbye to her,” she added.
Foster had helped Alvarez out with some personal problems she was experiencing.
She explained, “She sat there with me for two hours just listening to me cry, sob, and pour my pretty little heart out.”
When many others would have turned their back on a 19 year-old desperate girl, Foster took the time to sit down, listen, and provide advice.
Coordinator of Student Activities Dean Ackland said Foster is the mother of the Student Activities office, himself included.
He said, “She provides a great deal of passion to students, co-workers, athletes and visitors. She is the perfect secretary.”
Both Grijalva and Ackland were overwhelmed with all the work that Foster’s job requires and how all the work she does exceeds what is required.
Grijalva sighed as she began to explain all the planning, coordinating and supervising Foster has done throughout the years.
“She is a hard worker and is more than willing to roll up her sleeves and get the job done,” she said. “She bleeds Cerritos blue.”
According to Ackland, Foster’s best strengths have been her consistency and discipline.
When Foster first interviewed for the secretary position, Ackland and Grijalva were on the hiring committee.
Grijalva laughs, “The day of the interview, (Foster) was sick with laryngitis so she couldn’t speak. She had to whisper her answers the entire interview.”
Ackland also thought it was funny Foster was incapable of speaking during the interview.
“I thought she would be the perfect secretary because she wouldn’t be able to tell me what to do,” he said. “Boy, if only I knew.”
Foster was here to experience changes such as transitioning from typewriters to computers, from ditto machines to copiers, and witness the renovation of the Student Center.
Although she’s been here for quite a while now and will most definitely be missed by those whose life she touched, Grijalva is happy that Foster is retiring and moving upstate to be with her daughter.
“I’m going to miss her but she’s done a lot for Cerritos College and it’s time for her to relax and spend time with her daughter and grandchildren,” she said.
Though she may be retiring, Ackland believes she will still be thinking of Cerritos.
“She goes home after work, still thinking of Cerritos. I’m sure she will definitely be thinking of Cerritos when she retires,” he said. “That is what makes her a true Falcon.”
