Dear Andrea,

June is a perfect time to celebrate our fantastic Dads and Grads, and we've been doing that all month! As we end our school year we want to extend our heartfelt thanks to you -- our community of caring friends, loyal supporters, and generous El Camino family -- who have helped us achieve record breaking goals like awarding scholarships totaling over $1 million for fall 2025.

From all of us at the El Camino College Foundation, thank you for being part of our mission and supporting our students, faculty and staff. As the summer begins, we start planning for a new year with determination and commitment to our vision and goals. Enjoy the summer days!

Happy Warrior Wednesday!

Andrea Sala

Executive Director

Brian Wilson was one of the world’s most iconic and beloved musicians. On June 11th, Wilson's family announced his death at the age of 82. Wilson, The Beach Boys’ co-founder and visionary leader, inspired the summertime songs Good Vibrations, California Girls, and Surfin’ USA among other top hits. Brian was the eldest of three musical brothers -- Brian played bass, Carl lead guitar, and Dennis drums. In 1961, Wilson and his brothers, his cousin Mike Love, and their friend Al Jardine formed the iconic band The Beach Boys in Hawthorne, California. The Beach Boys rose to fame in the 1960s, starting as a local Southern California band, and became national hitmakers, international sensations, and ambassadors of surf and sun.

Wilson attended El Camino College from 1960-1961 as a psychology major. While at ECC, he continued his music studies and is credited with writing his first original hit, Surfer Girl, in 1961. However, the first song he ever wrote was Surfin while attending Hawthorne High. The El Camino College Foundation recognized Brian Wilson as a Distinguished Alumni in 2018 for his lifetime achievement in music.

The Beach Boys rank among the most popular groups of the rock era, with more than 30 singles in the Top 40 and worldwide sales of more than 100 million. The 1966 album Pet Sounds was voted No. 2 in a 2003 Rolling Stone list of the best 500 albums. The Beach Boys were voted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988. The entire El Camino campus community is truly saddened by this loss and extend our sincerest sympathies to the Wilson family, his friends, and fans around the world.

El Camino College's 78th commencement ceremony was an amazing celebration of our students, demonstrating the resilience and determination of the Class of 2025. On Friday, June 13, over 1,200 graduates crossed the stage in front of a capacity crowd of more than 8,000 family members, friends, and loved ones who gathered in Murdock Stadium to celebrate this important milestone. History was made this year when ECC awarded the college’s first-ever bachelor’s degrees to twenty-five students who received their Bachelor of Science in respiratory care.

Congratulations to all graduates! Remember, Once a Warrior, Always a Warrior!

Please check out the Commencement Photo Album.

This year's Scholarship Awards Dinner was held on May 15, 2025 and was a happy, joyous celebration. Congratulations to our students who were awarded scholarships! We are incredibly grateful to all our donors who generously helped our students realize their educational goals and allowed the Foundation to award over $1 million in scholarship support!

Please check out the Scholarship Awards Dinner Photo Album.

Former educator and donor, Libby Smith (center), pictured with her Hawthorne Graduate Scholarship recipients.

Nominations for El Camino College's Distinguished Alumni are now being accepted. Anyone who wishes to nominate a former El Camino College student may do so by completing a Nomination Form. Please include any available background information such as resume, bio, newspaper articles, online publications, etc.

The El Camino College Foundation is pleased to recognize the accomplishments of our alumni. Many are highly respected in the community and have achieved great success in their careers and lives. We are honored to acknowledge these individuals and remember the strong educational foundation El Camino College provided them on their professional journey.

Potential candidates should meet the following criteria:

• Ten years must have elapsed since candidates attended El Camino College.
• Candidates must have a proven track record of achievement in their chosen career, service to the community, or area of endeavor.
• Candidates should have gained local, state, or national recognition.

Nominations are due July 31, 2025. The 2026 Distinguished Alumni and Gratitude Awards Dinner is scheduled for early spring 2026.

After 34 remarkable years in education, Enadine "Nina" Bailey is set to retire from El Camino College at the end of the month.

Nina Bailey is a student services specialist with Veteran Services. She started at Los Angeles Unified School District before joining the El Camino staff full time in 2008. After working in other departments, she moved into Veterans Services, where she has made a difference in the lives of countless student veterans, not only as a certifying official, but in helping them navigate the transition from military to civilian life and higher education. Bailey works tirelessly to ensure student veterans receive the comprehensive support they need to thrive academically and personally. In addition to helping establish the college’s new Veterans Resource Center, she has also served as the ECC Foundation Board of Directors Classified Rep; EER rep for hiring; ECC Union Scholarship Committee; Warrior Wellness Committee; and has participated in the Understanding Implicit Bias & Recruiting & Hiring Faculty of Color Forum, to name a few campus activities.

Cheers to your next chapter, Nina! We're sure going to miss you and all your valuable contributions to the ECC Foundation!

Last month, El Camino College's student work "Carry On" featuring five female performers was chosen to represent the Baja Region at the 2025 American College Dance Association (ACDA) National Conference in Washington, D.C. The performance was chosen over many other four-year universities with multi-faceted dance departments with more resources.

The original piece was created in ECC's fall 2024 choreography class by Janae Morris, under the direction of Dance Faculty Elizabeth Adamis. Along with Morris, the student performers included Gavrielle Garcia, Nyla Owusu, Meyonni Varnado, and Olivia Westhead. The ECC Foundation was proud to fund all travel expenses and registration fees for the five students and two faculty members to compete at the National College Dance Festival at Georgetown University. Read more about the National Dance Conference HERE.

We are proud of our strong community partners and this includes our partnership with the Torrance Refining Company. The Torrance Refinery has supported the El Camino College Foundation for nearly 10 years, supporting our Community Partners program, Warrior Pantry, Student Emergency Fund, Industry & Technology Division, and sponsorship of Foundation events.

Additionally, we would like to welcome Jared Wimberley as the new Torrance Refinery Manager, who just assumed his role this month. Wimberley has over 27 years of professional experience in the oil and gas industry, and is excited to return to the South Bay to lead the Torrance operations.

About Torrance Refining Company

Torrance Refining Company is a wholly owned subsidiary of PBF Energy. The Refinery was purchased in July 2016 and covers 700 acres in Torrance, CA and has more than 600 employees, with an additional 300-500 contractors working onsite daily.

The Torrance Refinery Community Relations team attended El Camino College's 75th Anniversary Gala in 2019. Pictured below is Barbara Graham and Gesuina Lafayette (center) with their guests.

The El Camino College Foundation (EIN 95-3874302) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization, dedicated to fund and support student success programs at El Camino College.