Annette Bening

Actress - San Diego Mesa College

Before becoming a star on stage and screen, Annette Bening studied for two years in the theater program at San Diego Mesa College. The two-time Golden Globe-winner was most recently seen in Focus Features’ critical and commercial sensation “The Kids Are All Right,” in which she played opposite Julianne Moore and Mark Ruffalo. Her role as Nic earned her a Golden Globe and New York Film Critics Circle award, and Oscar, Screen Actors Guild, Critics Choice, and Independent Spirit nominations in the “Best Actress” category.
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Scott Brooks

NBA Head Coach, Oklahoma City Thunder - San Joaquin Delta College

A former basketball standout at San Joaquin Delta College, Scott Brooks concluded his third season as head coach of the Thunder by leading Oklahoma City to a Northwest Division Title and a spot in the Western Conference Finals versus the eventual NBA Champion, Dallas Mavericks. During the 2010-11 season Brooks led the Thunder to 55 wins and a spot in the Western Conference Finals after Oklahoma City captured playoff series victories over the Denver Nuggets and Memphis Grizzlies. After the late-season acquisition of Kendrick Perkins from the Boston Celtics in mid-March, Brooks guided the Thunder to a 13-4 mark in the final 17 games of the regular season. Under Brooks, the OKC franchise has qualified for the playoffs in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 1997 and 1998.
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Tani Cantil-Sakauye

Chief Justice of California - Sacramento City College

Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye was sworn into office Jan. 3, 2011. The former Sacramento City College student is the first Asian American and the second female to serve as the state's chief justice. After former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger nominated her as chief justice on July 22, 2010, the California State Bar Judicial Nominees Evaluation Commission rated her as exceptionally well qualified for the position. At a public hearing on Aug. 25, 2010, she was unanimously confirmed by the Commission on Judicial Appointments, and in a general election on Nov. 2, 2010, an overwhelming majority of voters elected her to that position for a term beginning Jan. 3, 2010.
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Jessica Chastain

Actress - Sacramento City College

After attending Sacramento City College — and after a stint doing professional theatre in San Francisco — Chastain went to Julliard, arguably the finest performing arts college in the United States, on a scholarship funded by actor/comedian Robin Williams, who is an alum of both Julliard and the College of Marin. Chastain was recently nominated for an Academy Award and won a Golden Globe Award for her starring role in "Zero Dark Thirty."
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Beverly Cleary

Best-selling children's author - Chaffey College

When children ask Mrs. Cleary where she finds her ideas, she replies, “From my own experience and from the world around me.” She included a passage about the D.E.A.R. program in Ramona Quimby, Age 8 (second chapter) because she was inspired by letters she received from children who participated in “Drop Everything and Read” activities. Their interest and enthusiasm encouraged her to provide the same experience to Ramona, who enjoys D.E.A.R. time with the rest of her class. Now, D.E.A.R Day is celebrated nationwide on April 12, in honor of Beverly Cleary’s birthday. Mrs. Cleary’s books have earned her many prestigious awards, including the 2003 National Medal of Art from the National Endowment of the Arts and the 1984 John Newbery Medal for Dear Mr. Henshaw. Her Ramona and Her Father and Ramona Quimby, Age 8 were named 1978 and 1982 Newbery Honor Books, respectively.
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Margarita Colmenares

Engineer, clean energy advocate - Sacramento City College

Margarita Colmenares is the first Hispanic female engineer named as White House Fellow. The Sacramento City College graduate has worked with the National Aeronautic and Space Administration, the United States Department of Education among other state and federal agencies to improve math and science education. She also is the vice president of business development for Growing Energy Labs Inc., a clean energy start-up based in San Francisco.
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Frank Cruz

Co-founder of Telemundo - East Los Angeles College

Frank Cruz is a business leader, educator, author and veteran broadcaster. He serves as president of Cruz and Associates, a consulting firm he founded. He is the former chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), which oversees and funds the nation's more than l,000 public radio (NPR)and television (PBS) stations. Cruz is also the former chairman and founder of Gulf Atlantic Life Insurance, the first Hispanic-owned life insurance company in the United States.
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Jan Dehesh

Development Director, UC San Diego Jacob's School of Engineering - San Diego Miramar College

As UC San Diego’s Jacobs School of Engineering Director of Development, Jan Dehesh brings more than 20 years of executive-level experience in all aspects of the wireless telecommunications and information technology industry from start-up to product rollout, commercial ramp up and development of industry standards, as well as nearly 10 years of experience in higher education nonprofit leadership.
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Hon. Anna Eschoo

U.S. Congresswoman - Cañada College

United States Congresswoman Anna G. Eshoo (D - Palo Alto) is a graduate of Cañada College and the CORO Foundation, a San Francisco-based organization with fellowship program dedicated to teaching skills to young adults that are useful in leadership in public affairs. She received an honorary doctorate from Menlo College in 1996.
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Bruce FaBrizio

Inventor, Businessman - Mt. San Antonio College

Bruce FaBrizio, the inventor of Simple Green cleaning products, continues to support Mt. San Antonio College through generous donations to various programs, as well as participating in speaking engagements, including the commencement ceremony upon the school’s 50th anniversary in 1996. FaBrizio is very proud of having graduated from Mt. San Antonio College, and having been chosen as the Man of the Year and the valedictorian of his graduating class. FaBrizio has many fond memories of his time at Mt. San Antonio College..
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Emma Ferreira

Artist/philanthropist - Santa Monica College

Emma was born in Buckinghamshire, England and educated in London, England. Her photographic training at Santa Monica Collage nurtured her natural instincts to represent the human form as more than just a model seen through the lens of the camera. She aims to portray the meditative complexities that lie beneath the individual’s external appearance; she captures the essence of her subjects by photographing them in a way that is bold, yet reserved, revealing energy and emotion. Emma’s work has evolved over the years from mixed media and textured oil paint in bold, dramatic colors to her current body of work with photography. The new work is an ethereal representation produced by way of a unique method of printing photography on clear or acrylic glass.
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Guy Fieri

Celebrity chef, TV personality - College of the Redwoods, American River College

In 2006, Guy Fieri (‘Fee-eddy’) premiered his first show, Guy's Big Bite on Food Network. Today, this "Culinary Rock Star” also hosts top-rated show, Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, as well as the special series Tailgate Warriors and guest judges on Next Food Network Star. On March 14th, 2010, Guy made his debut as a game show host on the new NBC primetime series, Minute To Win It. The show became an instant success but NBC did not renew it for a third season.
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Michael Fincke

United States Astronaut - El Camino College

Michael Fincke graduated from Pennsylvania’s Sewickley Academy in 1985. He attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) on an Air Force ROTC scholarship and graduated in 1989 with a bachelor of science in Aeronautics and Astronautics as well as a bachelor of science in Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences. This was followed by a master of science in Aeronautics and Astronautics from Stanford University in 1990. He was awarded an associate of science degree in Earth Sciences (Geology) from El Camino College in Torrance, Calif. in 1993 and then a second master of science in Physical Sciences (Planetary Geology) from the University of Houston - Clear Lake in 2001.
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Courtney Force

National Hot Rod Association Funny Car driver - Santiago Canyon College

Courtney Force drives an 8,000-horsepower National Hot Rod Association Funny Car that regularly breaks the 300 mph mark. Classes at Santiago Canyon College didn't exactly prepare her for the four-second sprint down the 1,000-foot track, but Force said her studies at the community college and later at California State University, Fullerton prepared well for the part of the career where she's not strapped into a nitromethane burning rocket with wheels.
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Pat Gage

Entrepreneur - Santa Rosa Junior College

Pat Gage said her associate degree from Santa Rosa Junior College and her bachelor’s degree from Sonoma State University helped broaden her horizons, which in turn helped her as an entrepreneur.
"Going to college exposed me to a lot and made me a well-rounded person," said Gage, who later earned a master’s degree in English literature from California State University, Chico. "College taught me how to set goals and persevere. We live in such a global economy and college helps you understand the world, to get that awareness, and that has helped me in business."
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Ernest Gaines

Author - Solano Community College

Gaines played football while he attended and graduated from Vallejo Community College and after a two-year stint in the U.S. Army, he later enrolled at San Francisco State University, where he published a number of short stories in the University quarterly. His stories won him admission to the selective graduate program in creative writing at Stanford University, conducted by the novelist Wallace Stegner. Gaines settled in San Francisco after graduate school, working a variety of part-time jobs in the afternoon and reserving his morning hours for writing.
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Reyna Grande

Author - Pasadena City College

Grande transferred from Pasadena City College in 1996 and went on to obtain a bachelor of arts degree in creative writing and film & video from the University of California, Santa Cruz. She later received her master of fine arts degree in creative writing from Antioch University. Now, in addition to being a published author, she is also an active promoter of Latino literature and is a sought-after speaker at high schools, colleges and universities across the nation.
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Ken Grossman

Founder, Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. - Butte College

Ken Grossman learned about beer as a young man. A neighborhood friend’s father taught him how to homebrew at an early age, and his life has never been the same. After skipping out on his high school graduation to join friends on a bicycle trip, Grossman ended up in Chico, CA. In 1976 at 21-years-old, he turned his mechanical and brewing skills toward opening a home brew shop. After years of intensive home brewing and recipe development, Grossman began Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.—one of the nation’s first “micro” breweries. Grossman began the design for Sierra Nevada in 1978, with little resources and no business models to follow. Small-scale breweries were unheard of, and Grossman had to rely on his mechanical skill to get started. 
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Steve Jobs

Co-founder, Apple Inc. - De Anza College

Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak are credited with revolutionizing the computer industry by democratizing the technology and making the machines smaller, cheaper, intuitive, and accessible to everyday consumers. The two conceived a series of user-friendly personal computers that they initially marketed for $666.66 each. Their first model, the Apple I, earned them $774,000. Three years after the release of their second model, the Apple II, sales increased 700 percent to $139 million dollars. In 1980, Apple Computer became a publically traded company with a market value of $1.2 billion on the very first day of trading.
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Phil Lopes

Politician/professor - West Hills College Coalinga

Representative Phil Lopes (LO-pus) represented District 27 (West/southwest Tucson) in the Arizona State House of Representatives from 2003 to 2011. He served as the Leader of House Democrats (Minority Leader) from 2005-2009. Lopes was born and raised in Dos Palos and graduated from Dos Palos High School. He received his associate of arts in liberal arts from Coalinga College, now West Hills College Coalinga, in 1961. He served on the student council. It was while at Coalinga College that he heard about John Kennedy’s proposal to create the Peace Corps. He was encouraged to apply by Dean of Students Dr. Paul Pittman. The decision to apply was “the most important decision of my life in that the Peace Corps experience gave my life direction and formed the values with which I have lived my life including public service, and commitment to family and community," Lopes said.
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George Lucas

Actor/Director - Modesto Junior College Alumni

George Lucas was raised on a walnut ranch in Modesto, California. His father was a stationery store owner and he had three siblings. During his late teens he went to Downey High School and was very much interested in drag car racing. He planned to become a professional racecar driver. However a terrible car accident just after his high school graduation ended that dream permanently. The accident changed his views on life. He decided to attend Modesto Junior College before enrolling in the University of Southern California film school.
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John Madden

NFL Hall of Fame Coach/TV broadcaster - College of San Mateo

Six times in 10 seasons, the Oakland Raiders recorded 10 or more victories with John Madden at the helm. In 1976, the coach guided his team to a near-perfect 13-1 record to win the AFC Western Division. The success continued in the post-season with wins over New England in the divisional playoff game and a commanding 24-7 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC Championship Game. Madden and the Raiders capped the 1976 season with a 32-14 win over the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl XI. Between the 1976 and 1977 seasons, the Raiders won 17 consecutive games, one short of the then-NFL record for consecutive wins. Madden’s .759 regular season winning percentage ranks as highest ever among coaches with 100 career victories. Only Hall of Fame coaches George Halas and Curly Lambeau had reached 100 career wins at an earlier age.
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Juanita Millender-McDonald

Former U.S. Representative - Los Angeles Harbor College

Even from her beginnings as a teacher, Former U.S. Reporesentative Juanita Millender-McDonald fought for others. She wrote a textbook exposing female students to non-traditional careers. The late Los Angeles Harbor College alumna was an advocate for educational and women's issues. Millender-McDonald was on nearly every level of politics from Democratic convention delegate to a member of the United States Congress.
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Dr. J. Mario Molina

President and CEO, Molina Healthcare Inc. - Long Beach City College

Long Beach City College graduate Dr. J. Mario Molina is President and Chief Executive Officer of Molina Healthcare Inc., a company that his father, Dr. C. David Molina founded in 1980. He has served in various capacities at the company since its inception. As the medical director, Dr. Mario Molina worked with providers and clinics while overseeing medical and risk management issues.
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Warren Moon

Houston Oilers quarterback, NFL Hall of Fame - East Los Angeles College

Coming out of high school, Warren Moon was recruited by several colleges that wanted the strong-arm quarterback to switch positions and not take snaps so Moon decided to stay near home and play at West Los Angeles College. After two-record setting seasons as quarterback at the community college level, Moon transferred to the University of Washington.
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Julian Nava

Professor, First Mexican American Ambassador to Mexico - East Los Angeles College

Dr. Julian Nava, 84, is an Emeritus Professor of History at California State University, Northridge and is one of the department's founding members, having taught there from 1957 to 2000. After growing up in Los Angeles, Nava served as combat air crewman in the United State Navy Air Corps before attending and graduating from East Los Angeles Community College. In 1967, Nava ran run for the Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education and won, becoming the first Hispanic to serve on the county-wide board (composed of 13 cities including Los Angeles). He served on the board until 1979. In 1980, he was appointed U.S. Ambassador to Mexico by President Jimmy Carter. He was the first Mexican-American to hold the position.
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Carol Neblett

Opera singer, Artist in Residence - El Camino College

One of America's greatest and most acclaimed sopranos, Carol Neblett's career has spanned more than 40 years, performing opera's most coveted roles in the world's greatest opera houses, including the Metropolitan Opera, La Scala, Covent Garden, San Francisco Opera, Salzburg, Hamburg and Chicago Lyric Opera. The El Camino College alumna is on the vocal staff as Artist-in-Residence at Chapman University. She conducts master classes for young artist programs worldwide, concentrating on role preparation for the professional singer, as well as maintaining a private studio in the Los Angeles area.
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Adriana Ocampo

Planetary geologist - Pasadena City College

Adriana C. Ocampo is presently a Science Program Manager at NASA Headquarters Science Mission Directorate, in the Planetary Science Division responsible for the New Frontiers Program. As the New Frontier Lead Program Executive she is responsible for the Juno mission to Jupiter (with a USD$1B plus budget), and the New Horizons mission to Pluto. She also is the Lead Venus Scientist responsible for NASA’s collaboration in ESA’s Venus Express mission, JAXA’s Venus Climate Orbit, and the Venus Exploration Analysis Group (VEXAG), which develops strategic plans and assessments for the exploration of this planet. Ocampo was a research scientist at the California Institute of Technology’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (Caltech/JPL), where she worked since 1973. In 2005 she was the Investigation Scientist for the Mars Odyssey Gamma Ray Spectrometer/High Energy Neutron Detector/MARIE and also worked for the Mars Program Science Division and the Solid Earth and Natural Disasters Program.
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Lindsay Pearce

Actress/Singer - Modesto Junior College

Former Modesto Junior College theater student Lindsay Pearce has starred in amateur shows since the age of 13. She is an adopted child and for the first six months of her life she was deaf, which helped her to appreciate her ear for music. In early 2011, Pearce was chosen as one of 12 competitors out of 40,000 that auditioned to be on "The Glee Project," a singing/acting reality show where the winner would receive a seven-episode arc on the third season of "Glee." She made it to the final four and was chosen as a runner up, with the producers giving her a two-episode arc. In the third season premiere of "Glee," she was introduced as Harmony, an ambitious and talented singer who leaves Kurt and Rachel completely blown away after watching her sing a mash-up of "Anything Goes" and "Anything You Can Do." Pearce's second performance in the same season's Sectionals episode featured her performing "Buenos Aires" from Evita.
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Stephanie Pollaro

Co-founder, International Sanctuary - Golden West College

Stephanie Pollaro’s passion for empowering women and children suffering in the bonds of sexual slavery was born from a magazine article that she read in May 2003. The article outlined the brutality of human sex trafficking in India and around the world. After several short trips to India and a one-year volunteer stint with an Indian NGO in Andhra Pradesh that served women and girls in red light districts, the Golden West College graduate was struck by the need to provide skills training and employment alternatives for young women rescued from forced commercial sexual exploitation.
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Dr. Alfredo Quiñones-Hinojosa

Neurosurgeon - San Joaquin Delta College

At Johns Hopkins, Dr. Quiñones is an Associate Professor of Neurosurgery and Oncology, Neuroscience and Cellular and Molecular Medicine. In addition to directing the Brain Tumor Surgery Program at Johns Hopkins Bayview Hospital, and the Pituitary Surgery Program at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, Dr. Quiñones leads the Brain Tumor Stem Cell Laboratory. The San Joaquin Delta College alum focuses on the surgical treatment of primary and metastatic brain tumors, with an emphasis on motor and speech mapping during surgery as well as in the treatment of patients with pituitary and skull base tumors using transphenoidal endonasal and minimally invasive surgical approaches.
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Jeremy Renner

Actor - Modesto Junior College Alumni

Jeremy Lee Renner, son of Valerie and Lee, was born in Modesto, Ca.. After a tumultuous yet happy childhood with four younger siblings, Renner graduated from Beyer High School and attended Modesto Junior College. He explored several areas of study, including computer science, criminology, and psychology, before the theater department, with its freedom of emotional expression, drew him in.
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Jackie Robinson

Baseball player, civil rights activist - Pasadena City College

Born Jack Roosevelt Robinson on Jan. 31, 1919, in Cairo, Georgia. Breaking the color barrier, Jackie Robinson became the first African–American to play in baseball's major leagues. The youngest of five children, Robinson was raised in relative poverty by a single mother. He attended John Muir High School and Pasadena Junior College, where he was an excellent athlete and played four sports: football, basketball, track, and baseball. He was named the region's Most Valuable Player in baseball in 1938.
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Aaron Rodgers

Most Valuable Player Super Bowl XLV - Butte College

Green Bay Packers quarterback and Super Bowl XLV most valuable player Aaron Rodgers led the Butte College Roadrunners to a 10-1 record, the NorCal Conference Championship and a No. 2 national ranking in 2002. He was recently inducted into the California Community Colleges Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame. The Associated Press named him its Athlete of the Year in 2011.
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Pete Rozelle

NFL Commissioner - Compton College

Pete Rozelle never played football but after serving in the Navy during World War II he entered Compton Junior College in 1946, where he earned $50 a month as the school's sports information director and as a "stringer" for the Long Beach Press Telegram. He also received an extra 50 cents for every Compton sports score he phoned in to the Los Angeles papers. In addition, he edited the Los Angeles Rams' game programs that year.
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Dr. Jerald Rudmann

Psychologist, Professor - Mt. San Antonio College

Dr. Jerald Rudmann didn’t do well in high school. He didn’t apply himself, he said, and it wasn’t until he attended classes at Mt. San Antonio College did Rudmann’s path in life become apparent. Instead, Rudmann became a renowned experimental psychologist working with Rockwell International in Southern California on national defense contracts and later became a respected psychology professor at El Camino, Coastline and Irvine Valley colleges.
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Fred Ruiz

Founder, Chairman Emeritus, Ruiz Foods – College of the Sequoias

Louis Ruiz and his son Fred had a simple goal - to sell frozen Mexican foods based on the family recipes of Grandma Rosie – Louis’ wife and Fred's mother. Ruiz Foods started in California's Central San Joaquin Valley where authentic burritos, enchiladas, and tamales were sold to local 'mom and pop' grocery stores. Now, almost 50 years later, the El Monterey brand of frozen Mexican food is in nearly every major grocery store across the nation.
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Elton Rule

President, ABC Television - Sacramento City College

During Mr. Rule's years as president, ABC, Inc. achieved leadership in all areas of broadcasting, forged a new position as a major entity in the field of specialty publishing, and positioned itself to move aggressively into the new communications technologies of the 1980s. The Corporation was named one of the "five best managed companies" in the country by Dun's Review magazine in December, 1979, and its accomplishments by the end of the 1970s were recognized by Fortune magazine as one of the "10 most noteworthy achievements of U.S. businesses" during the decade.
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Kay Ryan

2011 Pulitzer in Poetry, United State Poet Laureate - Antelope Valley College

Kay Ryan was born in California in 1945 and grew up in the small towns of the San Joaquin Valley and the Mojave Desert. She attended Antelope Valley College and later received both a bachelor's and master's degree from UCLA.

Ryan has published several collections of poetry, including The Niagara River (Grove Press, 2005); Say Uncle (2000); Elephant Rocks (1996); Flamingo Watching (1994), which was a finalist for both the Lamont Poetry Selection and the Lenore Marshall Prize; Strangely Marked Metal (1985); and Dragon Acts to Dragon Ends (1983). A re-issue of her 2002 collection, Believe It or Not!, poems inspired by stories from the newspaper cartoon Ripley’s Believe It or Not!, has recently been re-released and re-titled as The Jam Jar Lifeboat & Other Novelties Exposed, (Red Berry Editions 2008).  The Best of It: New and Selected Poems was published by Grove Press in spring 2010.
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Hayes Edward "Big Ed" Sanders

1952 Olympic Gold Medal, Heavyweight boxing - El Camino College Compton Center

Hayes Edward "Big Ed" Sanders (1930-1954) won the gold medal in heavyweight boxing at the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, Finland. At the age of 22, he became the first African American Olympic heavyweight champion, and returned to the United States as a national hero. His Olympic championship bout with Sweden's Ingemar Johansson became boxing lore when Johansson was eventually disqualified by the referee during the second round for "failure to fight."

Sanders was born March 24, 1930, and grew up in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles. He attended Jordan High School in Los Angeles, and played on the football and basketball teams. After high school, he enrolled at the former Compton College, now the El Camino College Compton Center, during the 1949-1950 school year, where he played football under then head coach Ken Carpenter and joined the newly formed boxing team. Within two years, he twice won the National Junior College Boxing Championship in the heavyweight division.
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Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger

Governor of California - Santa Monica Community College

The world knows Arnold Schwarzenegger as a famous bodybuilder and a Hollywood action hero, but he is also a successful businessman, generous philanthropist and California's 38th Governor.

Schwarzenegger's most notable accomplishments while governor include the nation-leading Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 - a bipartisan agreement to combat global warming by reducing California's greenhouse gas emissions - and overhauling the state's workers' compensation system - cutting costs by more than 35 percent. In addition, Schwarzenegger was the first governor in decades to make major investments in improving California's aging infrastructure through his Strategic Growth Plan, helping to reduce congestion and clean the air. The Santa Monica College alum established the Hydrogen Highway and Million Solar Roofs Plan, continuing his leadership in creating a greener environment. In November 2009, more than three years of leadership by Governor Schwarzenegger culminated with the passage of the Safe, Clean and Reliable Drinking Water Supply Act of 2010.
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Michele Serros

Author, TV comedy writer - Ventura & Santa Monica colleges

A former staff writer for "The George Lopez Show," Serros has written for the Los Angeles Times, Ms. Magazine, Marie Claire, CosmoGirl, and The Washington Post and contributes satirical commentaries regularly for National Public Radio. An award-winning spoken word artist, she has read her poems to stadium crowds as a national touring “Road Poet” for Lollapalooza, recorded "Selected Stories from Chicana Falsa" for Mercury Records, and was selected by the Poetry Society of America to place her poetry on MTA buses throughout Los Angeles County.

Ms. Serros attended Ventura College before moving to Venice, Calif. and enrolling at Santa Monica College. She transferred to the University of California, Los Angeles where she graduated with a degree in Chicana/o Studies cum laude in 1996.
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Jim Sinegal

Co-founder of Costco Wholesale Corporation - San Diego City College

Sinegal started as a bagger at FedMart in 1954 while attending San Diego City College and worked his way up to executive vice president in charge of merchandising and operations. He was a vice president of merchandising for Builders Emporium from 1977 to 1978 and executive vice president for the Price Company from 1978 to1979. From 1979 to 1983, he worked with Sinegal/Chamberlain and Associates, a company that acted as a broker and sales representative for food and non-food products. Sinegal's innovations made Costco the first warehouse club to include fresh food, eye-care clinics, pharmacies and gas stations.
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Adam Steltzner

NASA Jet Propulsion Labs lead engineer - College of Marin

Adam Steltzner’s father once told him that he wouldn’t amount to anything but a ditch digger. Perhaps Steltzner’s dad was right all along – the College of Marin alum has had a hand on some ditch digging. But that digging is taking place on Mars. Steltzner is the lead engineer of the team that landed the Curiosity rover safely on Mars in August 2012. It was his job to oversee the plans and execution of getting Curiosity through the thin Martian atmosphere, slowing it down from 13,000 mph to approximately 200 mph, then deploying a rocket powered “sky crane” to lower the rover to the surface.
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Koi Suwannagate

Fashion designer - West Valley College

Koi Suwannagate captures nature’s fleeting beauty in her trademark hand-sculpted creations of multilayered luxurious fabrics. Creating an ethereal fantasy, the former West Valley College student tempers delicate arty hand-embellishments with elegant real-world clothes. Her prolific three-dimensional designs not only accentuate feminine contours but they envelope the female body in flowing lines.
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Amy Tan

Best-selling Novelist/Author - San Jose City College

Born in the US to immigrant parents from China, Amy Tan failed her mother's expectations that she become a doctor and concert pianist. She settled on writing fiction. Her novels are The Joy Luck Club, The Kitchen God's Wife, The Hundred Secret Senses, The Bonesetter's Daughter, and Saving Fish from Drowning, all New York Times bestsellers and the recipients of various awards. She is also the author of a memoir, The Opposite of Fate, two children's books, The Moon Lady and Sagwa, and numerous articles for magazines, including The New Yorker, Harper's Bazaar, and National Geographic. Her work has been translated into 35 languages, from Spanish, French and Finnish to Chinese, Arabic and Hebrew.
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Rick Tigner

President, Jackson Family Wines - Modesto Junior College

Before becoming president of one of America's most-beloved family owned wine companies, Rick Tigner studied liberal arts at Modesto Junior College, graduating with his associate of arts degree in 1982. He went on to complete his bachelor's degree at San Diego State University, and after graduating spent more than two decades in the alcohol beverage industry.
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Gabrielle Union

Actress - Cuesta College

Gabrielle is currently in production for Screen Gems’ THINK LIKE A MAN, based on Steve Harvey’s book "Act Like A Lady, Think Like A Man." The film, directed by, Tim Story is slated for release in 2012. She is also in production for Lionsgate’s GOOD DEEDS as starring opposite Tyler Perry, Thandie Newton and Rebecca Romijn. The film, directed by Tyler Perry, is also slated for release in 2012. Gabrielle recently wrapped production for Film Science's independent film, FAMILY TREE, starring opposite John Slattery, Zach Gilford and Jena Malone. Directed by Brian Savelson, the film is slated for release in 2012. Additionally, Gabrielle recently completed a pilot "Little In Common" about three families united through their kids' little league sports.
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Gaddi Vasquez

Former Peace Corps director, U.S. ambassador - Santa Ana College

Gaddi Vasquez was so eager to get his college education started that he took community college core courses while still a high school senior and graduated early so he could enroll for the spring semester at Santa Ana College.
For Vasquez, a college education was a way out of crippling poverty.
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J. Craig Venter

Entrepenuer, Genomic Researcher - College of San Mateo

J. Craig Venter, Ph.D., is regarded as one of the leading scientists of the 21st century for his numerous invaluable contributions to genomic research. He is Founder, Chairman, and President of the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI), a not-for-profit, research organization with approximately 400 scientists and staff dedicated to human, microbial, plant, synthetic and environmental genomic research, and the exploration of social and ethical issues in genomics. Dr. Venter is also Founder and CEO of Synthetic Genomics Inc., a privately held company dedicated to commercializing genomic-driven solutions to address global needs such as new sources of energy and next generation vaccines.
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Antonio R. Villaraigosa

Mayor of Los Angeles - Los Angeles City College

Born on January 23, 1953 in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of East Los Angeles, Antonio is the oldest of four children raised by a single mother, Natalia Delgado. Villaraigosa’s sense of civic justice and political action began at a young age. As a high school student, he volunteered with the farm workers movement, led student walkouts and organized an African-American student union. During his junior year of high school, Villaraigosa dropped out, but eventually returned to school at the encouragement of his English teacher, Herman Katz. After graduating from Theodore Roosevelt High School, Villaraigosa attended Los Angeles City College and transferred to UCLA, where he received a bachelor’s degree in history. He went on to attend the People’s College of Law, a night school dedicated to public-interest law.
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Bill Walsh

San Francisco 49ers head coach - College of San Mateo

Bill Walsh attended College of San Mateo for two years as a quarterback. He then transferred to San Joss State University, where he played as a tight end and a defensive end. He also participated in intercollegiate boxing. Walsh graduated from San Jose State with a bachelor's degree in physical education in 1955. He served under Bob Bronzan as a graduate assistant coach on the Spartans football coaching staff and graduated with a master's degree in physical education from San Jose State in 1959. Walsh got his first job as a head coach in the pros at the age of 47 in 1979 when the San Francisco 49ers named him head coach and general manager. The 49ers had won just 31 of their last 86 games and were 2-14 in 1978.
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Dr. Timothy P. White

Chancellor, California State University - Diablo Valley College

The California State University Board of Trustees have selected Timothy P. White, chancellor of the University of California, Riverside, to lead the 23-campus California State University system, the largest four-year public higher education system in the country. White has served as UCR Chancellor since 2008, and in his new position will succeed CSU Chancellor Charles B. Reed, who is retiring.

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Ethel Winant

Emmy Award-winning TV executive - Yuba College

Yuba College alumna Ethel Winant became the first television network female executive in 1973 when she was promoted to vice president at CBS Television. She was one of the great producer-casting directors in television history, credited for the success of series such as “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” “The Twilight Zone,” “Playhouse 90” and “Hawaii Five-0.” She grew up in Marysville, Calif., the daughter of a single mother during the Great Depression.
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Barry Zito

San Francisco Giants pitcher - Los Angeles Pierce College

Los Angeles Pierce alumni Barry Zito was named the starting pitcher for the San Franciso Giants for Game 1 of the 2012 World Series against the Detroit Tigers. He graduated from University High School in San Diego in 1996 and was all-league in baseball as senior. He attended the University of California, Santa Barbara as a freshman, earning Freshman All-America honors from Collegiate Baseball by virtue of striking out 123 batters in 85.1 innings. But he transferred to Los Angeles Pierce College as a sophomore, garnering all-conference and All-State accolades, going 9-2 with 2.62 earned run average and 135 strikeouts in 103 innings.
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