El Camino College’s State of the College address, presented by the president of the college, will be held on campus on Nov. 4, a college official said.

This year’s State of the College address marks the first time that it is taking place in public on campus since 2019 due to the college’s shutdown caused by the global pandemic.

Director of Public Information and Government Relations Kerri Webb said that this address marks the first in-person address for President Brenda Thames. The president previously hosted a virtual address last year due to the pandemic.

The event will take place from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the East Dining Room, located above the Bookstore, according to the El Camino College website.

Thames will be giving opening remarks before her official speech and the event will also feature a keynote speaker and student speaker but they have not yet been confirmed, Webb said.

Webb said she is happy knowing that the president will be able to continue the relatively new tradition.

“This is our fifth state of the college,” Webb said. “It began with President [Dena] Maloney. She was the one who started a whole State of the College event.”

The event is open to the public and those that would like to attend are encouraged to RSVP via the El Camino College State of the College webpage and regular COVID-19 protocols such as social distancing will be observed.

While masking is not mandatory, it is encouraged to wear a mask during the address.

Webb said the addresses are valuable resources for El Camino community members.

“Students are very busy with their studies and they’re out there in the classroom and the libraries … but there are other things going on on campus and it was just an opportunity to kind of help everyone see what else was going on outside of your specific purview,” Webb said. “So it took off really well while [Maloney] was the president and President Thames is continuing on with that with that tradition.”

Editor’s Note: Added a name correction on Oct. 17 at 9:30 p.m.