Cerritos College News Release

NORWALK, Calif. - May 28, 2009 - Cerritos College accounting students Jose Luis Ayala and Fatima Lampa have each been awarded a $1,500 Outstanding Future CPA Award scholarship from California Society of Certified Public Accountants (CalCPA) Orange County/Long Beach Chapter.

Ayala, of Downey, plans to transfer to the University of Southern California or the University of California, Los Angeles majoring in business accounting next year. He hopes to become a CPA and work for one of the big four accounting firms.

Lampa, of Bellflower, who holds a bachelor’s degree in management economics from Ateneo De Manila University in Philippines, hopes to become a CPA. She will be transferring to California State University, Dominguez Hills in fall while working full-time for the County of Orange Auditor-Controller department. After she becomes a CPA, she plans to pursue her master’s degree.

“We are extremely proud of Jose and Fatima,” said Michael Farina, who co-chairs the accounting department along with Debra Schmidt at Cerritos College. “We are confident they will succeed and achieve their career goals.”

Given once a year, the scholarship was established to support the accounting profession and to ensure the future of the CPA profession by providing financial support to outstanding accounting students who is expecting to transfer to a four-year university or college by the end of the current calendar year.

“We are quite pleased to present Jose and Fatima with the scholarship,” said the Chairman of CalCPA Larry Lamb. “CalCPA raises funds to benefit outstanding students like them. The Orange County/Long Beach Chapter specifically, works hard at reaching out to all colleges in our chapter to give deserving accounting students financial support.”

Cerritos College serves as a comprehensive community college for southeastern Los Angeles County. Communities within the college’s district include Artesia, Bellflower, Cerritos, Downey, Hawaiian Gardens, La Mirada, Norwalk, and portions of Bell Gardens, Lakewood, Long Beach, Santa Fe Springs and South Gate. Cerritos College offers degrees and certificates in more than 180 areas of study in nine divisions. Annually, more than 1,200 students successfully complete their course of studies, and enrollment currently surpasses 26,000 students. Visit Cerritos College online at www.cerritos.edu.

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Cerritos College

Releases 2009