Press Releases 2006

CONTACT: Cathy Summa, Director, Marketing & Communications
(831) 479-5744
marketing[at]cabrillo.edu
Feb 7, 2006

Cabrillo Trustee Wins Lifetime Achievement Award

California Puente Project to Honor Rebecca García

APTOS—(Feb. 7, 2006)—Cabrillo College Trustee Rebecca García will be honored this weekend with the State Puente Lifetime Achievement Award for her dedication to increasing educational access to underserved students in the greater Monterey Bay area.

Cabrillo College is one of 53 California community colleges and 25 high schools involved in the Puente Program which provides mentors, intensive English instruction courses and extra support for underrepresented students aiming for four-year degrees. The goal is to increase the number of transfers to four-year colleges and universities.

García, who attended Cabrillo College as a re-entry student, went on to teach and serve as principal of Rolling Hills Middle School. She has continued to serve in many other capacities in the educational community and is currently the California Preschool Instructional Lead for Region 5 of the Santa Clara County Office of Education. Region 5 serves the counties of Santa Clara, Monterey, San Benito and Santa Cruz. She has served 14 years as a trustee on the Cabrillo College Board.

“Puente is about having mentors and role models,” said Mario García, a Cabrillo counselor who formerly served as director of the campus Puente Project. He nominated Rebecca García (not a relation) for the commendation. “Who can you have that would be a better role model?

Whenever she talks to students she makes it known that she was there. By her being a product of the community it inspires a lot of the younger generation to reach for goals that they never thought they could attain, especially Latina women.”

García will be honored at the Puente Northern California Community College Transfer and Motivational Conference to be held Saturday, Feb. 11 at UC-Santa Cruz. The event is expected to draw more than 650 community college students from 30 campuses in Northern California to participate in educational access workshops. Luis Valdez, founder of El Teatro Campesino, is the keynote speaker.

“We’re really glad to be able to acknowledge her life-long work in access and community empowerment and her contributions to the Puente program especially as a trustee,” said Roberto Rivera, regional project coordinator for the state Puente Project and co-coordinator of the conference.

Rebecca García says she often gets hugs at the Cabrillo graduations from former students who have succeeded at Cabrillo in part due to the Puente Project.

“The reason I was able to go get a higher education was because of Cabrillo College,” she said. “It was one of the reasons I was motivated. I’m at loss of words to share the emotion that I felt when I heard about the award. I just felt so honored that I would be considered.”

Also to be honored at the conference for his lifetime of work on Latino health and culture issues is David E. Hayes-Bautista, a professor of medicine and director of the Center for the Study of Latino Health and Culture in the Division of General Internal Medicine and Health Services Research at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles.

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