The Manhattan Beach Rotary has been named recipient of the 2022 El Camino College Community Gratitude Award. The Manhattan Beach Rotary has been supporting student scholarships at El Camino since 2008, and has donated close to $100,000 to the school. The organization has also provided food and supplies to the Warrior Pantry, and donated funds to support the pantry and the President’s Circle program.
The award will be presented during the 2022 Distinguished Alumni & Gratitude Awards dinner, on March 4, at the Westdrift Manhattan Beach. The gala event will also celebrate the 75th anniversary of El Camino College.
The Individual Gratitude Award will be presented to Mary Haag, a long-time supporter and advocate for El Camino College. Her husband Robert worked at El Camino in the music department from 1958 until 1994. After retiring, he was elected to the El Camino Community College Board of Trustees. Following his passing in 2005, the campus recital hall was named in his honor.
Northrop Grumman will receive the Corporate Gratitude Award. Over the past 16 years, Northrop Grumman has donated almost $1 million to El Camino College, primarily in the area of STEM education. Northrop Grumman has also had a long partnership with the El Camino Manufacturing program, and has hired ECC students and trained them at classes on campus.
Five distinguished alumni will also be honored at the dinner. They are Karin Baker, of American Honda; entrepreneurs Marilyn and Ian MacLeod; Fox Sports Broadcaster Francisco X. Rivera; and Torrance Bakery founder Kirk Rossberg.
Baker is part of Honda’s Corporate Social Responsibility Local Unit. She is responsible for her company’s social responsibility, and community engagement programs. Baker has been with Honda for 24 years and joined its community relations department in 1997.
Marilyn and Ian MacLeod founded a scrap metal and recycling business after attending El Camino.
Rivera is a bilingual sportscaster. He started his on-air career in 2005 as one of the youngest on-air broadcasters in American television. In 2013, he became the first Mexican-born broadcaster on the FOX broadcast Network. Rivera is in his 13th year with FOX Deportes, and is a play-by-play announcer for Major League Baseball games across the United States. In 2012, Rivera became the youngest broadcaster to call a World Series game on Spanish television in the United States. He has also served as a host and analyst of Fox’s NFL coverage, including Super Bowl XLVIII. In 2018, Rivera was named as the Spanish announcer for the Los Angeles Kings on KWKW 1330 AM ESPN Deportes Radio.
Rossberg opened Torrance Bakery in 1984 with a staff of eight, in a 1,200 square foot storefront. The bakery now employs 103 people, with two locations totaling in 18,000 square feet Rossberg was the Torrance Area Chamber of Commerce President in 2020 and that year received the Small Business Advocate of the Year from the California Chamber of Commerce. Rossberg has served on the boards of the Salvation Army, the Retail Bakers Association, and the South Bay Workforce Investment Board.
The 75th Anniversary Distinguished Alumni & Gratitude Awards dinner begins at 5:30 p.m. on March 4, at the Westdrift Manhattan Beach, 1400 Parkview Ave, Manhattan Beach, Tickets are $175 per person and may be reserved online at elcamino.edu/75Gala, or by contacting the El Camino College Foundation office at foundation@elcamino.edu, or (310) 660-6040. ER
