On Wednesday, March 27, the San Mateo County Community College District (SMCCCD) Board of Trustees presented awards to classified staff during a board meeting. 

Each college, as well as the district office, nominated one classified staff member for the Classified Employee of the Year awards. Classified staff include groundskeepers, program coordinators, librarians, campus security and other non-instructor staff members. The Classified Employee of the Year awards serve to recognize the work that classified employees do to keep schools functioning. The Board also announced the nominee who will have their information sent to the California Community College Chancellor’s Office (CCCO) to compete for a statewide classified employee of the year award. 

District office winner and nominee competing for the statewide award – John Cuevas:

Cuevas, who started his work at Cañada in 2012, is the lead groundskeeper at Cañada College. For many years, he served as the president of the AFSCME Local 829 Union, during which he worked to strengthen the relationship between the union and district so that members could get the support they needed to do their jobs. 

“Every day, John contributes to a positive working and learning environment for our faculty, staff, students and the visitors who join us,” said Michele Rudovsky, the chief of facilities and operations for the district, who introduced Cuevas. “John consistently performs with high moral integrity and a commitment to provide exemplary service to the Cañada College community.

“In addition, he champions the values articulated by our facilities department and that is facilities excellence through customer service, teamwork, communication and professionalism. He embodies those values everyday.” 

Skyline College’s Classified Employee of the Year – Martin Marquez:

Since starting at Skyline in 2014, Marquez has served the Skyline community by working in Admissions and Records, the counseling department and most recently, the Undocumented Students Center. His work in the Undocumented Students Center has also led him to help educate other professionals across the state, which he will soon take nationally when he presents in the National Conference on Race and Ethnicity. 

According to Skyline President Newin Orante, Marquez was instrumental in developing the 2024 Classified Leadership Institute, a conference for classified employees, and Orante also said that he considers Marquez a vital member of the President’s Roundtable. 

Marquez also serves as President of the Classified Senate, and is a co-founder of Comunidad, which aims to help Latinx students, faculty and classified staff feel more supported. 

Cañada College’s Classified Employee of the Year – Nimsi Naim Garcia Sandoval: 

Nimsi Naim Garcia Sandoval, who started working at the college in 2019 and is a Cañada College alum, serves as the Program Services Coordinator in the Undocumented Community Center at Cañada, as well as the college’s UndocuLiason. 

Since Garcia started at the Undocumented Community Center, the program has seen a threefold increase in the number of students it serves. She has coordinated many events to raise awareness for the undocumented community on Cañada’s campus.

In May, along with other district colleagues, she will present at a National Conference on Race and Ethnicity (NCORE) pre-conference on the district’s Undocumented Coalition.

CSM’s Classified Employee of the Year – Luis Padilla: 

Padilla has served as the Veterans Services Program Coordinator for CSM since 2017. He previously attended Skyline College and UC Santa Cruz, and before that, he served in the U.S. Marine Corps for six years. Now, he is a doctoral student at San Francisco State’s Educational Leadership program. 

“I used a lot of my positionality as a veteran to say, ‘you know what? If I ever have the chance to run a veterans center, this is how I would do it,’ because at the time, in various institutions, the veteran center was just like, a closet with a computer room or something like that,” Padilla said.

“I think the best part along that journey was connecting with staff administrators and faculty that kind of shared that vision as well, and to kind of provide a space and experience for veterans transitioning from the military to our institutions and make it as positive as possible.”