Fresno City College held a special banquet for retiring faculty and staff on April 24.

The banquet, held at the Fort Washington Country Club was attended by well over 100 friends, family members, and colleagues.

For over three hours, FCC celebrated and recognized the 23 retirees, some who have been teaching for more than 30 years, over dinner for their years of service and dedication to the art of teaching.

The annual banquet is always one of the highlights of the year.

Each of the 23 retirees that attended received desktop mementos inscribed with their name and years of service.

The dean of each retiree’s department was also on hand to talk about their former colleagues, making the event a memorable one.

One of the retirees, sociology instructor Gerry Bill, has been with FCC since 1970 and is one of the schools most revered instructors.

“I have mixed feelings about retiring,” said Bill. “To tell you the truth, I’m sad to be leaving the best job in the world. On the other hand, I’ll be traveling to different places that I wasn’t able to go due to FCC’s schedule.”

Many other teachers are doing the same.

An example would be Sandra Cleveland, who has been retired since 2007 and who had worked for FCC since 1976.

Rather than go the usual stereotypical route, Cleveland traveled to Alaska shortly after her tenure had come to an end.

The Banquet comes right before the Faculty and Staff Appreciation dinner to be held on May 8.

The R.S.V.P-only banquet will be held in the cafeteria and expects between 90 to 100 people to attend.

The gold, red and white-themed banquet will be decorated by Executive Vice President Wes Maldonado who is also running for Legislative Vice President and the current Legislative Vice President Lisa Kooiman.

Jerry Hinslor has created four center pieces for the event as well.

A kind of People Choice Award for FCC, the banquet is designed to let students, faculty, and staff honor those who they feel is most deserving.

Anyone on the faculty and staff can be honored. The event has been described as a very elegant affair with no expense spared to make it a memorable night.

The names of those being recognized will not be revealed until the event on May 8th.