Students of De Anza

Students at De Anza College come from every walk of life and every corner of the globe. Every one has a story to tell — and in turn, their experiences become a part of the De Anza story. Here, we capture just a few of them to illustrate the vibrancy, diversity and breadth of perspectives at De Anza and the opportunities available to our students.

Catherine Crawford

Village Ambassador, Social Sciences and Humanities

Second year, political science major

When I started at De Anza, I knew no one — all my friends were going to different colleges. So I attended the De Anza Bridge program, and that’s where I learned about the Villages. They said they’re a community place where you can meet people, and I was like, “Oh, I'd love to volunteer.”

I love the Villages. It feels just super nice to have this community place where everyone can come into. And it also gave me the opportunity to talk to different teachers. It is really just such a cool opportunity to talk with more people and really get closer to not just students around you, but also professors and other faculty members.

And working at the Villages, it kind of gave me a reason to go to campus, and to have in-person classes.

I would recommend it so much. You get the opportunity to meet so many other people. It's just a very nice place to come visit. You can grab free snacks, you can grab water and it's just a nice place to relax. Each village has their own kind of vibe to them, and all these different activities and groups that come in. So I totally recommend it for people just to visit or even apply online to become an ambassador.

Mikha Pilar

IMPACT AAPI member and administrative assistant

Third year, biology for transfer major; also pursuing an associate’s in liberal arts with a science, math and engineering emphasis

IMPACT AAPI is a Learning Community for students who identify as Asian American or Pacific Islander or both. It's a cohort-based system, where students take classes together, and outside of classes we have events and trips.

I kind of just stumbled upon IMPACT, which is crazy to say, because it has done so much for me.

I moved from my home country, the Philippines, in 2023 — so I only had one year of high school in the U.S. One thing that was a struggle for me in high school was that there weren't a lot of Filipinos on campus. So when I committed to join IMPACT, the main thing I was looking for was community. I've adapted to a lot of the Bay Area culture, but I think IMPACT keeps me more tied to my roots.

Being in IMPACT really helps with motivation and being in an environment where people encourage you, even on things that sound hard. It's so nice to have the support system and people telling you, “Yeah, I think you can do it.”

We're competitive, but not in the sense where you have to be better than everyone else — more in a way where we want everyone to achieve great things.

There's this impression that it's hard to find long-term connections in places like community college, where a lot of people just come in, come out, get their stuff done. But honestly, through IMPACT, I feel like I've made connections that are gonna last probably decades. If you don't know where to start with meeting people or building a community on campus, Learning Communities are there for you as a catalyst.

Alec Walizer

Auto Tech Club president

Fourth year, automotive technology major; has also taken classes for auto electrical, chassis and power train, and engine machining and repair

Some of my friends were already in officer positions, and they brought up going to club officer meetings. I tagged along for some of the meetings, and I'm like, “This is pretty cool, I'd like to help out with planning some events or getting some things in order.” I ran and was elected vice president.

As I started my role in office, I took on a lot of responsibilities, just filling in little gaps. And then I realized there was more that I could do.

I ran for president, and I guess I did a good enough job — made enough of an impact, and just people seeing me around the building doing things or trying to be supportive, whether academically or in life or whatever else — that I was voted as president this year, and I'm fortunate for that.

Being in a club definitely opens up a lot of opportunities socially and academically. At first, I felt just like just another student in the building who would hang out or talk with friends, but then after that, I developed into being a part of this community with students and faculty.

I didn't think going into this that I would go into a leadership role, but I'm happy the way that everything has worked out, because I'm more comfortable with speaking in front of a big group, or just going up to people, either on or off campus. It's just made me more comfortable to get out of my own shell.