Awards and Achievements

2023-24 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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Student Leadership Awards

The Student Leadership Award is a project of the De Anza Student Government and the Vasconcellos Institute for Democracy in Action (VIDA). These students have demonstrated extraordinary leadership during the 2023-24 academic year.

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Luotto Literature Prize Winners

Three students were awarded cash awards in this year's Jim Luotto Literature Prize competition, held in honor of a longtime English instructor, Jim Luotto, who died in 2020. The contest recognizes outstanding essays written by De Anza students about works of literature. This year’s winners, announced in June, are

• First prize ($300): Romie Asplund, “To Write Is To Weave: The Tapestry of Trust as Told by the Dialogic Narrator”
• Second prize ($200): Lydia Ramirez, “More Than Close Friends” 
• Third prize ($100): Sara Twiggs, “Who Ain’t a Slave? Landlords”

Asplund’s essay will also be published in the 2024 student edition of the Red Wheelbarrow literary magazine.

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Rising Scholar Selected for MLK Internship

De Anza student Aurelio Cardenas was selected in June for a paid summer internship with the Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford University. Cardenas, a history major participating in De Anza’s Rising Scholars program, will be interning at the institute for eight weeks this summer.

The institute is working with the Atlanta-based King Center to compile and publishing a comprehensive, 14-volume collection of the papers of Martin Luther King Jr.

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Track and Field Finishes Strong

De Anza’s Kai Burich won a gold medal in the hammer throw while his teammates in men’s and women’s track and field made a strong showing during the annual California Community College Athletic Association (3C2A) state championship event held in May.

The De Anza men’s team finished at the top for Northern California and placed fourth overall, while the women’s team placed in the top five for the region and 13th overall. Among the De Anza athletes:

• Burich (pictured here in a photo by Richard Quinton) won his medal with an opening round hammer throw of 183 feet, 6 inches.
• Antoine Moret placed second in the men’s 3,000-meter steeplechase and Liam Brennan was second in the men’s discus throw.
• On the women’s team, two-time All-American Ningning O’Brien placed second in discus throw and third in hammer throw.

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Student Art Awards 

Six De Anza students were selected in May to receive awards in this year’s Student Art Show at the Euphrat Museum of Art. 

The award-winning entries can also be seen on the exhibition webpage:

• Ceramics: Linda Baker, “Ghost Birds”
• Drawing: Frank Yung-Fong Tang, “Self-Portrait”
• Mixed Media: Fernanda Loreto, “Mi Ranchito”
• Painting: Eunyoung Park, “Upcycled”
• Photography: Elsa X Núñez, “Beautiful Strength”
• Sculpture: Anna Novitska, “Girl with the Pearl Earring” (pictured here)

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La Voz Students Honored as "Pacesetters"

De Anza students took home a stack of awards after attending a national college journalism conference in La Jolla – including a Pacesetter Award for print media, recognizing the La Voz student newspaper for its work. 

The La Voz staff also won newspaper and online General Excellence awards; an eighth-place honor in the national “Best of Show” award from the Associated Collegiate Press; and 33 other awards in various categories sponsored by the Journalism Association of Community Colleges and the California College Media Association – including six for work completed during “on-the-spot” contests held at the Associated Collegiate Press Spring National College Media Conference on March 7-9.

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English Instructor Publishes Book

English instructor Lita Kurth has a new book for aspiring writers and anyone who wants to unlock their inner storytelling abilities. “One Creative Writing Prompt a Day” provides a year’s worth of daily prompts designed to boost creativity as well as sharpen basic writing skills, including description, exposition, narration, dialogue, plot and more.

Kurth, who teaches creative writing at De Anza, has honed her own technique by writing fiction, creative nonfiction and poetry. Her new book is published by Callisto and distributed by Simon and Schuster.

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Women’s Badminton Team Recognized

The women’s badminton team was designated this winter as a California Community College Athletic Association Scholar Team! Team members were recognized for their performance in the 2022-2023 academic year, during which they won their fourth state championship and achieved a cumulative team GPA of 3.66. The team was also acknowledged at the California Community College Athletic Association’s 3C2A Scholar-Athlete Luncheon on March 27 in Sacramento.

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Student Newspaper Gets Cal Press Grant

De Anza's student newspaper, La Voz, has received a $1,500 equipment grant from the California Press Foundation, a nonprofit that "aims to ensure the future and integrity of California journalism through education and professional support." The check was presented on Jan. 23 by Danielle McKinney, a foundation representative who also led a discussion with La Voz staffers about the future of journalism, including artificial intelligence.

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De Anza Alum Receives Oscar Nomination

Film/TV alum Sean Wang was nominated in January for an Oscar in the documentary short film category for his film, “Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó” (the title means paternal grandma and maternal grandma). The film also received the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award for documentary short at the 2023 South by Southwest Film Festival.

Also in January, Wang’s first feature film, “Dìdi,” received the Audience Award in the U.S. dramatic category at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. Wang graduated from De Anza in 2014 and from USC’s School of Cinematic Arts in 2016.

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Village T-Shirt Design Earns Gold 

The Office of Communications won a gold Medallion Award from the National Council for Marketing and Public Relations, which gave its top award for logo wear to the design for De Anza’s 2023 Welcome Day T-shirts. The shirts were created by senior graphic designer Edwin Carungay and feature a custom design for each Guided Pathways Village. Students, faculty and staff were able to grab a shirt for their Village during the Sept. 22 Welcome Day event.

The office also won two bronze Medallion Awards for the college’s Community Education Summer Academy Catalog and VTA bus advertisements.

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Instructors Recognized for Equity Work

English instructor Karen Chow was featured this fall in an online publication of the USC Race and Equity Center, which showcases race-conscious leadership in a graphic novel format.

Chow, along with Foothill instructor Dolores Davison, are both depicted in the latest issue, “Avenging for Equity.”

They were recognized for their work in "cultivating inclusive excellence and enacting culturally affirming learning for students.”

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Faculty, Staff Photos in De Young Exhibition

Two members of the De Anza community had photos selected for display at the De Young Museum in San Francisco, as part of the prestigious De Young Open exhibition this fall.

• Edwin Carungay, the design coordinator for the Office of Communications, submitted "Las Curas Verde."
• Lisa Teng, part-time Photography instructor, submitted “The Landscape Within."

The annual exhibit, which was first launched during the COVID-19 pandemic, curates work by some of the best artists across the Bay Area.  This year, out of 7,776 submissions, only 887 works were chosen.

The exhibit runs from Sept. 30 to Jan. 7. (Click on each photo to view them in full size.)

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Student Journalists Shine in Regional Competition

Students in the Journalism program took home an impressive 27 awards after attending the Journalism Association of Community Colleges NorCal Conference on Oct. 14 at San Francisco State University.

The De Anza students won 24 awards for work published over the past three quarters, and three more awards for "on-the-spot" contests held on the day of the conference. Winners include:

Congratulations to these Journalism students and faculty adviser Farideh Dada!

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Nursing Scores Impressive Licensing Rates

De Anza Nursing students had a first-time pass rate of 100% on the latest state Board of Registered Nursing NCLEX licensing exams, according to results released in October.

In addition to those students who were taking the test for the first time, a majority of students who were retaking the test also passed, bringing the program's overall pass rate to 94.2%.