Mariana Pacheco will retain her seat as a trustee on the Cerritos College Board of Trustees after defeating former trustee Martha Camacho Rodriguez. She will retain her seat in Cerritos Community College Area 1.

The board of trustees is a “policymaking board that ensures the College’s educational mission is achieved,” according to its resource manual.

“It’s important that they (the students) let us know their needs and how we can help them to be successful – that, to me, would be important for the students to know,” Mariana said.

Mariana was first elected to the board in 2020 – she said she wanted to run for office after the pandemic started because she thought about the students at the adult school she was the nursing director for and wanted to help the students at Cerritos College as well.

She said that, since she’s been elected, the Falcon’s Nest opened, she’s worked to increase graduation rates, helped with Cerritos Complete and worked to make sure it was safe for students to come back to campus after the pandemic while working to make sure the faculty felt comfortable as well. – she says that student housing is the next project.

Furthermore, she said that the dual enrollment with high schools program was important to her and that she plans to continue working on their collaboration with the different school districts.

High schools are a key focus for Mariana – she says wants to ake sure students in high school know that the college is available and has programs for them.

During this election, Mariana received endorsements from Cerritos College faculty, her fellow board members, Downey City Council members, The Downey Patriot and the Downey Unified School District School Board.

Mariana is a registered nurse and spent approximately 35 years working for LA County before retiring. She obtained her position as nursing director for the The Downey Adult School Career and Education Center at the insistence of the school.

She’s also spent her time volunteering at the Elks Club and the Kiwanis Club of Downey.

As a side note, Mariana’s daughter is California Assemblymember Blanca Pacheco.

Three of the other Board of Trustees seats in areas 2, 4 and 6 were also up for reelection, however, the elections were canceled as no one challenged the incumbents in those seats.