Cerritos College professor Frank Gaik hopes to quench students’ thirst for Chicana/o Literature at next Thursday’s Strawberry Bonanza.

The event, co-sponsored by the iFALCON Club and the Literature Club, will take place at the amphitheater by Falcon Square from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and will feature renowned author Michele Serros as the guest speaker.

Serros, best known for writing “Chicana Falsa and other stories of Death, Identity and Oxnard,” was inspired by English major Cristina Gutierrez to visit the campus in efforts to motivate young Chicanos experiencing self-identity issues.

“I just wanted to meet [Serros] to tell her how her book got me through a time in my life when people couldn’t understand what I was going through,” Gutierrez said.

Initially too shy to reach out to her idol, Gutierrez was hesitant to write Serros a letter.

“I was almost not going to write the letter,” Gutierrez said. 

“I was too intimidated, but with Professor Gaik’s encouragement, I decided to write it.”

Before the event, all student clubs are invited to participate in a sidewalk drawing contest where participants will help create a giant strawberry out of colored chalk.

Students can show off their artistic skills between 11 a.m. next Wednesday and 11 a.m. Thursday.  The winning prize is yet to be determined.

Communications major and iFALCON Club Treasurer Katherine Garcia is pleased the club is able to lend a helping hand in funding campus events.

“iFALCON hopes to sponsor more upcoming events that will help students link up and advance.”

Gaik’s vision for the event was inspired by Victor Villasenor’s “Wild Steps of Heaven,” required reading in his English 223 class, in which “the hero receives wild strawberry from a young widow and falls in love forever.”

Fresh strawberry water will be available in celebration of this season’s harvest at the campus’ neighboring Manassero Farms.

Next year, Gaik hopes to raise enough money to organize Strawberry Bonanza as a campus-wide event where food will be offered to those who stop by to listen to featured writers and poets.

“This can be known as the strawberry campus—why not?,” asks Gaik.