EOPS Earns Board Recognition
De Anza’s EOPS program earned special recognition this week from the Foothill-De Anza board of trustees, which adopted a resolution in honor of the program’s 50 years of service to students at the college.
Trustee Peter Landsberger, Board President Pearl Cheng, Chancellor Judy C. Miner and De Anza Interim President Christina G. Espinosa-Pieb with EOPS's Melinda Hughes.
Top row, from left: Melinda Hughes, Michele LeBleu-Burns, Marilyn Booye and Chuong Le. Bottom row: Maria Perezalonso, Leah Smith, Lan Trinh and Maria Hernandez.
Extended Opportunities Programs and Services (EOPS) is a state-funded program that provides academic counseling, financial assistance, transfer support and other services to students who face social, economic, educational or linguistic barriers to achieving their goals.
“I’ve seen the transformation of our students’ lives for the better, because of the EOPS program,” Melinda Hughes, faculty assistant director of the De Anza program, told the trustees after accepting a framed copy of the resolution.
“Our students come from different backgrounds and different walks of life," she added. "They go on to do great things and become great people, because of the EOPS program.”
The board resolution congratulated current and former faculty, staff, administrators and students who have participated in the program, which has served more than 45,000 students over the years. EOPS has also garnered recognition and support from community leaders and philanthropists such as Kathleen Santora, former president of the Foothill-De Anza Foundation board, and her husband, Mark Santora.
District trustee Patrick J. Ahrens, a De Anza alumnus, added a personal tribute before the board voted unanimously.
“I was an EOPS student at De Anza, and if it weren’t for being in that program, I would never have gotten the courage to apply to UCLA and get accepted,” he said.
“I definitely would not be sitting on the board today, if it weren’t for all the encouraging people telling me to keep striving despite all the difficulties that a lot of our students face,” Ahrens added. “It is an amazing program.”
(Posted on Oct. 8, 2019)