Awards and Achievements

2024-25 Academic Year

We're proud of all our students, faculty members and classified professionals at De Anza College. Here are some examples of what makes De Anza "simply the best."

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Mountain Lions Sweep Badminton Championships

The Mountain Lions ended this year’s badminton competition with a roar – by winning gold medals in singles, doubles and team competition at the 3C2A state championships held in May. Makayla Than won the singles championship, while Mailan Hoang Vuong and Natalee Lam took the doubles. De Anza won the team championship by defeating Pasadena City College, 11-0.

The team had clinched the Coast Conference championship earlier this month, after an undefeated 15-0 season. This is the fifth state championship that De Anza’s badminton team has won under Coach Mark Landefeld, following previous wins in 2013, 2014, 2022 and 2024. It’s the fourth time that De Anza has swept the singles, doubles and team badminton championships in the same year, after previous sweeps in 2013, 2014 and 2022.

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Football Player Named Scholar-Athlete of the Year

One of our student-athletes, Jason Schwartz, was selected as Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year by the National Alliance of Two-Year College Athletic Administrators (NATYCAA) in April. The award is given to one male and one female athlete each year, in recognition of outstanding leadership, athletic achievements and academic success.

Schwartz, a defensive lineman on the Mountain Lions football team, is a Business major with a cumulative GPA of 3.77. He was team captain for two years and led the team to an undefeated season last fall – the first in college history since 1979. He's also been First Team All-PAC 7, Second Team All-Northern California, two-time Academic All-American and Academic All-State selection and a six-time dean’s scholar at De Anza. He is on track to graduate this spring and will transfer to California Lutheran University. 

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Three Teams Win Conference Championships 

De Anza student-athletes had a great spring overall, winning Coast Conference championships for women's Track and Field, men's Swimming and Diving, and women's Badminton.

Also in Track and Field, ther men's team was the runner-up for their conference championship. 

In swimming:

• Aquatics Head Coach Danielle Altman was voted the conference Men's Co-Coach of the Year. 
• Men's team member Taesu Yim was named Male Co-Swimmer of the Year for the conference, while women's team member Joyce Lin won Female Swimmer of the Year. 
• Joyce Lin also won two gold medals – in the 100 Backstroke and 100 Individual Medley – and a silver medal in the 100 Breaststroke at the California Community College Athletic Association (3C2A) state championships.

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First Place in Math Competition

De Anza students have won first place in this year's Student Mathematics League competition sponsored by the American Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges. This is the second year in a row the college has placed first in the competition, which is held in two rounds: 34 of our students took the competitive test last fall and 16 took the test this spring. Congratulations to all the students who participated, and to their adviser, Math instructor Kejian Shi.

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Nursing Scores Another 100% Pass Rate

Results for the winter state Nursing licensing exams show De Anza's Nursing program had another 100% pass rate. All 12 De Anza students who took the Board of Registered Nursing NCLEX exam during the first quarter of 2025 had passing scores. Students must wait 45 days after graduating before taking the exam.

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Student Elected to Journalism Association Board

De Anza student Gordon Yang was elected in April as Northern California student representative to the board of directors for the Journalism Association of Community Colleges (JACC).

Yang, who is also social media editor for the La Voz student newspaper, says he wants to strengthen community college journalism programs and provide more opportunities for student journalists to connect and grow. He was elected to the JACC position by a vote of member colleges.

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Students Win Business Leader Contests

Teams of De Anza students took away first-place honors in five competition categories at the Future Business Leaders of America state conference in San Diego on March 7-9, while clinching a spot in the national competition later this spring.

Competing against students from other California community colleges and universities, De Anza teams won first place in business presentations on topics including accounting, business ethics, hospitality management, impromptu speaking and management. De Anza students also took second place in five business presentation categories. Overall, 53 De Anza students participated in the state contest, led by FBLA club officers Javin Ku, Alan Dang, Van Loc Nguyen and Zain Darwish and their adviser, Accounting instructor Jeff West. Click the red bars for a complete list of winners.

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Student Trustee Profiled on State Athletics Site

De Anza student Trustee Iris Li was the subject of a feature profile on the website of the California Community College Athletic Association, or 3C2A. 

In addition to her work in student government, Li is also sophomore captain of our women’s soccer team and is Academics Commissioner on our Student-Athlete Advisory Council.

She’s a two-time All-Coast Conference selection for the team, and earned Academic All-Conference honors for maintaining a perfect 4.0 GPA in the 2023 and 2024 fall seasons.

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Journalism Students Win National Awards

Students in the De Anza Journalism program took home 40 awards after attending the Spring National College Media Conference, held March 6-9 in Long Beach. The honors included General Excellence awards for La Voz News, in both print and online categories; a Pacesetter award for print media; and first place awards for general innovation, best sports photograph and best illustration. The conference included competitions organized by the Associated Collegiate Press, the California College Media Association and the Journalism Association of Community Colleges.

Click the red bars for a complete list of winners.

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Innovation Center Business Model Competition

More than 75 students from a variety of majors had the opportunity to pitch marketing strategies and win cash prizes during a Business Model Canvas Competition hosted on Feb. 28 by the De Anza Innovation Center, which is part of Dean Manisha Karia's Business, Computer Science and Applied Technologies Division. The event was sponsored by KeyPoint Credit Union. 

Students competed in 19 teams to present their ideas for marketing to Gen Z consumers, who may be unfamiliar with credit unions and how they compare with banks and newer, online financial services. Each team prepared a “business model canvas” or one-page template that addressed customer segments, value propositions, revenue streams, resources, partnerships and other essential elements.

Five teams won a total of $1,300 in prizes, including a $500 first prize for the team of Carine Chan, George Huang, Leo Huang and Sylvia Nghiem.  Judges included faculty members John Francis and Sukhjit (Bob) Singh, along with Mehrdad Khosravi, dean of Physical Sciences, Mathematics and Engineering, along with several representatives from KeyPoint.

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Food Pantry Earns Gold Certification

De Anza’s Food Pantry earned the highest level of certification from the Nutrition Pantry Program (NPP), a statewide initiative affiliated with the CalFresh Healthy Living program at the Santa Clara County Public Health Department. 

The program works with food pantries to ensure they’re operating at the highest standards. De Anza earned “gold” certification after NPP representatives reviewed the Food Pantry's practices in key areas such as nutrition education, cultural and dietary accommodations, inventory and waste reduction.

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Singh Selected for "Hall of Fame"

Kulwant Singh, retired longtime De Anza athletics director and soccer coach, will be honored by the California Community College Athletic Association (3C2A) in March, when he will be inducted into the group’s "Hall of Fame."

Singh was De Anza’s athletics director from 2004-21 and served as head soccer coach for men (1990-2006 and 2013) and women (1991-97). Under his leadership, De Anza won 11 conference championships and two state championships for men, and four conference championships and two state championships for women – including separate state championships for both men and women in the same year, 1994.

Singh coached 14 players who earned All-America honors and more than 100 who transferred with athletics scholarships to four-year schools. He was named National Community College Coach of the Year twice, and two of his teams earned 3C2A designation as “Scholar Teams” for their academic performance.

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James Beard Semifinalists

Two former De Anza students were named in January as semifinalists for a James Beard Award in the category of Outstanding Restaurateur. Stuart Brioza and Nicole Krasinski are the owners of several restaurants in San Francisco, including the Anchovy Bar, State Bird Provisions and The Progress. State Bird Provisions and The Progress  each have a Michelin star. Stuart and Nicole are a husband-and-wife team who grew up in Cupertino and Los Gatos. They met 30 years ago when they were both art students at De Anza.

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Owiesny Earns Coaching Honors

Longtime instructor and coach Cheryl Owiesny was inducted into the California Community College Soccer Coaches Association (CCCSCA) Hall of Fame in December, in recognition of her dedication and excellence over 30 years of coaching at De Anza.

During her career, Owiesny coached eight women’s teams to Coast Conference championships. She earned “Coach of the Year” honors numerous times at the conference, regional and national level. She’s also held leadership positions in the CCCSCA and been a strong advocate for women’s and men’s athletics. Owiesny retired from coaching in 2022 but continues to teach at De Anza.

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Phi Beta Lambda Wins at Conference

De Anza's Phi Beta Lambda chapter won three awards at the California FBLA Business Leadership Conference in November.

Alan Dang, Zain Darwish, Van Loc Nguyen and Allison Trinh won first place in the financial case competition. Javin Ku won second place in the impromptu speaking category. Addy Hu, Hanspreet (Neal) Singh, Rushil Vaswani and Chris Wu won third place in the marketing and sales case competition.

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De Anza Honored for English and Math Success 

De Anza received two Excellence in Placement awards in November from the nonprofit Campaign for College Opportunity. The awards recognize colleges that have the highest percentages of students who successfully complete transfer-level English and Math courses within one year of enrollment in the course.

• According to the group’s research, De Anza had an 81.2% rate of success in transfer-level English during the 2022-23 academic year. That was the second highest in the state after Skyline College in San Bruno, which had a rate of 81.7%.
• De Anza had an 81.4% success rate in transfer-level Math. That ranked second in the state after Foothill College’s rate of 82.3%.

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Flea Market Earns Honors

The De Anza Flea Market earned second place in the annual “Best of Silicon Valley” rankings by readers of the Metro Silicon Valley. The news site asked its readers to choose their favorite places for shopping, dining and entertainment. The Flea Market is open from 8 a.m.-2 p.m. on the first Saturday of every month – rain or shine.

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Football Team Undefeated in Regular Season

De Anza’s football team finished its best regular season in recent history this November, after three consecutive comeback victories. The Mountain Lions ended the season with a 10-0 record, after defeating Chabot College at home Nov. 23, in a 26-24 game that was decided on the final play. They will go on to meet Monterey Peninsula College on Dec. 7, in the Northern California Football Conference American Division championship.

On Sunday, Coach Joe D’Agostino was voted PAC-7 Coach of the Year by his peers in the region. Under D’Agostino’s leadership, the football team produced 16 all-league student-athletes – including Offensive Most Valuable Player sophomore quarterback Antevious Jackson.

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Instructor Headed for Senegal Seminar 

Miloni Gandhi, instructor in Global Studies, was selected by the Council of American Overseas Research Centers to attend an overseas faculty development seminar on “West Africa and the Diaspora – Continuities and Transformations” in Senegal this January.

Only 27 faculty members from across the country were selected for this cohort, which is supported by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

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Three Student Teams Win at StartUpPalooza

Eight teams of De Anza students competed for cash prizes as they pitched ideas for innovative and socially responsible new businesses at “StartUpPalooza” on Oct. 29, 2024. The teams took turns presenting ideas for new ventures in health care, financial services, sustainability and public safety. The event was the culmination of a monthlong “Startup Boot Camp" organized by the Business Department’s Innovation Center and instructor Rowland Chen.

• Students Hugh Nguyen and Luca Paliska won first place and $500 for ShortType, an AI-driven typing autocompletion tool for specific subject areas that enables people with motor disabilities to type faster.
• Ryan Nguyen and Donavan Yip won the second place prize of $150 for Drunk No Drive, a smart steering wheel that uses multiple sensors to detect intoxication and prevent drunk driving.
• Aidai Boobekova won the third place prize of $100 for InSCOUT, an autonomous drone that determines the locations of victims, detects toxic gasses and creates real-time 3D mapping of structures for first responders.

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La Voz Staff Win Journalism Awards

De Anza journalism students took home 27 awards from the Journalism Association of Community Colleges annual NorCal Regional Conference, held on Saturday, Oct. 26, at San Francisco State University.

The honors included 25 awards for work published during the 2023-24 school year, plus two awards earned by Carolyn Zhao and Frank Meyers for work produced in on-the-spot competitions during the conference. Here is a complete list of award winners:

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De Anza Receives Democracy Award

De Anza received a bronze campus award this fall from the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge for reaching a 20-29% student voting rate in the last Congressional mid-term elections, according to the National Study of Learning, Voting and Engagement report from Tufts University.

Special thanks to the Democratic Engagement Action Plan leadership team members Cynthia Kaufman, director of Vasconcellos Institute for Democracy in Action (VIDA), and Mallory Newell, director of Institutional Research and Planning.

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Journalism Students Share Knowledge

De Anza journalism students shared their knowledge with hundreds of high school students from around the state during the annual NorCal Media Day on Sept. 28, sponsored by the Journalism Education Association of Northern California and held at Palo Alto High School recently. Staffers from La Voz News helped run two workshops to demonstrate techniques for interviewing public officials and candidates, which they demonstrated with Congressional candidate Sam Liccardo and a campaign representative for candidate Evan Low.

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Catalyst Awards for Pride Center, HEFAS

De Anza’s Pride Center received a “Catalyst Award” in September from the National Association of Higher Education Systems or NASH, extending an earlier grant provided to the HEFAS program. 

This award provides grant funds that can be used to support paid student positions at the Pride Center, through the Foothill-De Anza Foundation, under a fellowship model pioneered by the HEFAS program to enable hiring students who might be ineligible for other paid jobs due to their citizenship status. This will provide students with an opportunity to earn money for college AND gain valuable  work experience in a space that recognizes and affirms their identities.

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IMPACT AAPI Featured in Equity Report

De Anza's IMPACT AAPI Learning Community was featured in a new report published in July 2024 that highlights effective strategies for supporting students from Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander backgrounds. The report describes IMPACT AAPI as a “model program” for combining embedded counseling, peer support and professional development.  

IMPACT AAPI is one of several Learning Communities at De Anza that focus on supporting students from population groups that have historically been underserved in higher education. The new report was published by the Campaign for College Opportunity, which advocates for equity in access to higher education.

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Real Estate Instructor In USA Today

Faculty member Mark Sherby was quoted by USA Today in an online feature about the nationwide housing market, published in July 2024.

Sherby was one of four experts who shared their insights in the article about housing affordability and related economic trends in all 50 states. Sherby, who is chair of De Anza’s Real Estate Department, also teaches courses in Computer Science and Information Systems.

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VIDA Featured in "Restoring Public Purpose" 

De Anza's Vasconcellos Institute for Democracy in Action was featured in a June 2024 report on ways that colleges and universities can make meaningful contributions in their local communities. The report, "Restoring the Public Purpose of America’s Urban Universities," was published by the Netter Center for Community Partnerships at the University of Pennsylvania.

A chapter of the report focuses on VIDA’s work in preparing students to become agents of change in their communities – and beyond – through internships that emphasize social justice, community organizing and leadership development. The chapter was authored by Angélica Esquivel, program coordinator at VIDA, Brenda Romero Carrillo, program coordinator for the California Youth Leadership Corps, and Cynthia Kaufman, faculty director at VIDA.