The Rio Hondo Board of Trustees celebrated the men’s soccer team for making the school the seventeenth best soccer program in the United States at their monthly meeting on March 9.

They usually discuss finance, business, and academic affairs but this meeting was more for the students than the faculty.

The head and assistant coach introduced players of interest and awarded them certificates of achievement for all of their hard work.

The coach proclaimed that with the momentum they have gained in recent years, the new soccer field, and the increase of talented students, Rio’s soccer team will win the State title one day.

In the past, the team has been to the State finals, State semi-finals and won twelve of seventeen seasons in their conference.

Afterwards the board recognized the retiring faculty members.

They viewed presentations by Stephanie Wells, who was taking a sabbatical from the library, and Julie Slark; a representative from the Collaboration Brain Trust.

The CBT explained how they are offering Rio Hondo a chance to understand and improve their overall enrollment.

This presentation was the third meeting between the CBT and the Board, whereas this meeting showed the final draft of the top ten goals. They are aimed to increase and diversify enrollment.

They found that enrollment is ethnically diverse, but that the college needs to maintain that diversity and increase enrollment overall, which has not been consistent in the past years.

To develop a strategic marketing plan the board looked over the scheduling processes and the data of existing opportunities.

There are ten high-priority overall goals developed for the college all of which are based on change and commending the college for being able to rapidly adapt to.

The necessary achievements are: altering internal data system, increasing teacher training and learning, increased interaction between student services and academic affairs, defining roles, re-organizing facilities, high school participation, serving the older community, analyzing how students receive media, focusing on individual appeal admissions.

Representative Wells stated that many of these goals have been addressed on some level, but need to be explored and expanded.

Wells believes that if the college pursues these goals as much as possible, student enrollment will increase.

After the presentation the Board offered their own options on the report, and thanked the representative for her time and her teams effort.

They then heard reports from staff members who discussed the effects different events and programs have at the school, such as the schools student public hearing and the club rush.

After the teachers reports, they ended the part of the meeting that was open to the public.

The Board of Trustees are the head of Rio Hondo College, holding more authority than the Superintendent and Interim Executive Director. Their next meeting is on April 13, at 6 p.m. and is open to the general public.