College Night made a return on campus, showcasing various programs and resources on offer at El Camino College.

El Camino Colleges’ (ECC) annual College Night event took place on Nov. 10. Every year, the goal of College Night is to help potential students with the process of adjusting to college life.

The main focus of the event was the resource fair, but other available activities included campus tours and workshops held in the Student Services Building about career education and transfer strategies.

All available booths were spread out relaying information regarding various resources to the attendees. Some booths promoted services available on campus while others were there to get new members for their clubs.

ECC President Brenda Thames was seen at College Night showing her support and speaking to guests at the event. Thames said that this event was beneficial to those working at ECC.

“It’s a good thing on the faculty and the staff too. They have a chance to get back into a little bit of a normal routine that we do every year, like Poetry Night,” Thames said.

The campus police were also represented at College Night with ECC’s Chief of Police, Mike Trevis, and other officers who were stationed at the campus police booth, answering questions and keeping an eye out for trouble.

Trevis said that his estimate for the headcount of people at the event would be in the 400-500 range and he expected an extra 100 to 200 more people to show up later in the night.

The event also had various activities for individuals to try, such as a photo booth stand and food catering with an assortment of sweets for event-goers to snack on.

Many different ECC clubs had booths with various displays as well, such as the Robotics club which had robots on display and allowed guests to take control of them. The club also handed out multi-colored plastic cubes to College Night attendees.

Daniel Elguea, a student and club member working at the robotics club booth, said he was the mechanical engineer during the building of the robots and that the cubes being handed out were used for obstacle courses to test the robots.

“These are old and retired. We actually got new ones.” Elguea said. “We didn’t want to waste them, try and give them to someone.”

The cubes were seen on numerous tables and in people’s bags and hands throughout the night.

Although the event lasted for one night, it provided an opportunity for faculty and students to gather in person at ECC for the first time since the campus closed in March 2020, allowing attendees to readjust to the idea of being back on campus.

“I think it’s great that we were able to have this event,” Thames said. “Especially since we have this great crowd coming out here of potential students to welcome into campus and let them see some of the things we have going on as we slowly go back to campus.”