The homecoming floats have been a tradition upheld by Cerritos College for decades and it wasn’t any different for fall 2015 homecoming.

ASCC Senate, reduced the homecoming budget from $16, 000 in 2014 to $6, 500 in 2015 allowing each club a check of $250 for their float construction.

“There is a budget for the floats that is approved by ASCC Senate, I know this year they had a pretty big reduction from last year’s senate,” Dr. Gilbert Contreras, Dean of Student Services said.

He continued, “From my understanding this is something that is important to them and a lot of alumni, […] but I do think they really have to start talking about it.

“Although, I think it is an important tradition, it seems that it’s a tradition that we’re struggling to keep strong and that maybe as a tradition it is not matching our current student body,” Contreras said.

According to Jason Villa, member of the Anthropology Club, there were 15 spots for floats, but a couple dropped out before making it to the awards ceremony homecoming morning.

By the time of the homecoming float parade, only about seven clubs participated in the display.

Touching on student concern, Contreras said, “I know some students came up to me to share some concerns about it, but also the students are very excited to have a homecoming and excited to have this type of energy, but at the same time they want to make sure they are getting the most out of their budget.”

Although, club members made light of their hard work and dedication to float building, through laughs they stated how their hard work was almost in vain.

“No, of course it was not worth it. A week wasted, hours, we starved for a couple of them, I didn’t think it was worth wasting all of that time to tear it down today,” Synnikiu Avalos, of the environmental club, said through laughter.

According to Avalos, the float took three days to build and 20 minutes to break down.

She added that the club had looked into tearing the float in half and taking it to an art gallery.

The environmental club float received the Burnight Award for most inspirational.

“We worked hard all week and now it is going down the drain,” Kimberly Martinez, child development major, said.

Martinez expressed her satisfaction with the child development float winning an award; “It was actually a really good feeling when they called our name, cause we really did work. I was here morning till night every single day since Monday so it felt so good.”

Villa stated that the Anthropology Club also worked long hours building its float.

“Well, we actually started on the float on Monday, […] but people have been here since 10 a.m. So almost all week someone has been here since 10 a.m. working on it. It’s pretty damn fun,” he said.

According to the regulations, the striking of the floats was to be completed by 10 p.m. on homecoming night.

“In the past it was a fundraiser opportunity for one of our athletics teams, one of the teams from athletics afterwards would destroy the floats and then this year as a way to save money based on the senate funding, each club was responsible for tearing down their own floats,” Contreras stated.

He added, “They’re these beautiful floats and then they’re a cart.”

The clubs felt the impact of the budget slashing as stated by Anthropology Club member, Christopher Gonzalez, “[We had] less everything.”

According to the Anthropology Club president, clubs had to compete to have a float since there were less floats and less funds.

“ASCC gave us the actual funds they gave us a check. We had to cash it in and we just have to give the receipts and give them back the money we did not spend,” Gonzalez stated.

As for the future of the floats the dean of student services said, “Well, first I’d like to ask the students themselves, if it is a funding priority, cause the budget is basically our priority, be curious to see how many ASCC senators were actually at the homecoming,”

“Also how many of the cabinet members went to homecoming, cause that would give you a better sense of if its important to student leaders themselves.”

He added, “But it would be up to them to find a competing interest. I have a ton of ideas of where I’d like to see the money go, but it is not my budget it is their budget.”

Contreras believed this activity is an effort to promote school spirit and get students more involved, making it a big team builder.

“Throughout the week they’re out there working on the floats, you know some faculty members are out there […] it’s really nice to see everyone come together for that.”

“It would be nice to see more student involvement; I think it’s really key to see from the student’s perspective. ASCC Senate, cabinet and court, ‘is this something that is important to you? Does your attendance reflect that?” he concluded.