Every day, employees at the four Peralta Colleges and the District Service Center go out of their way to improve the lives of students, employees, and community members.
The Flying Pig Award recognizes outstanding achievements: bold, difficult projects that faculty, classified professionals, administrators, student workers and student leaders pull off against all odds. All employees, student workers, and student leaders are eligible to receive the award. Please fill out the form below to nominate a colleague for the award.
2024 Recipients
The inaugural edition of the Flying Pig Award celebrated the accomplishments of Amine Boughzala, Brock Drazen, Hope Lane, John Nguyen, Kyla Oh, Nicholas “Nick” Shere.
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Read more about the 2024 Award Winners
- Amine Boughzala for the remarkable contributions you've made in The Welcome Center at Laney College where you excel as a student worker, being patient, nimble, and good with people. You actively support the success of each student, and your collaborative work with colleagues has elevated the standard of excellence for the entire Welcome Center team.
- Brock Drazen for coaching at Merritt College, where you are recognized as an "above-and-beyond track and field coach and mentor.” Your encouragement and support of athletes, which includes school performance as well as prowess on the track, is inspiring student-athletes not just for success on the track but also to have a positive impact on society.
- Hope Lane at Laney College, where you serve as President of the Laney Classified Senate. You've done the impossible at least twice, including your efforts to honor colleague Rene Rivas by renaming the Laney College Classified Lounge in his honor, and in helping organize the first-ever Peralta districtwide Classified Professionals Professional Development Day. Peralta is better off now with a Rene Rivas lounge and districtwide Classified Professional development days.
- John Nguyen at Berkeley City College, where you are the first-ever Associate Dean of Student Engagement and Basic Needs. While there have been many shifts in administration, you remained unwavering in your commitment to supporting students and helped BCC become the first college in the district to hire a Basic Needs Coordinator. Your perseverance, advocacy, and willingness to take on more tasks and responsibilities have improved campus life and culture at BCC and Peralta.
- Kyla Oh for the remarkable contributions you've made in teaching at Laney College, where you have impressed colleagues with a new curriculum in the math department for Data Science classes that enhance the data science literacy of students and workers. Your thought leadership as part of the Equity in Calculus project to rework math assessment practices to be more equitable and mitigate institutional barriers is inspiring.
- Nicholas “Nick” Shere for the remarkable contributions made in Accounts Payable at the District Service Center, where you process invoices for DGS and Capital Projects. Your thought leadership during the PeopleSoft upgrade, where you helped solve problems and make us more efficient has been noticed and makes Peralta a better place.
