Del Mar College’s 74th annual recognition ceremony welcomed new inductees into the Hall of Fame along with acknowledgements of 132 Outstanding Achievement students and three Teacher of the Year winners.
On Sept. 3, Richardson Performance Hall on Heritage campus hosted DMC’s venerable honors ceremony, Recognition Day for the 2025-2026 academic year. The event normally takes place in May but due to structural issues discovered inside Richardson, the ceremony was postponed until the fall after the structural issues were fixed.
Recognition Day honored 132 Outstanding Achievement Award recipients across the four academic divisions: Division of Business, Entrepreneurship and Health Sciences; Division of Communication, Fine Arts and Social sciences; Division of Industry and Public Service; and Division of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math), Kinesiology and Education. Winners are selected based on academic achievement, community involvement and leadership.
The Student Government Association recognized the 2026 Teachers of the Year: Professor of Biology Billy Bob Long with the Department of Natural Sciences on the Heritage Campus; Director of Dental Programs and Associate Professor of Dental Hygiene Eva Sepulveda with the Department of Dental & Imaging Technology on the Windward Campus; and Associate Professor of Geology Sean Hurt with the Department of Natural Sciences, who teaches on the Oso Creek Campus. Teacher of the Year winners are voted on by students.
The ceremony ended with the induction of the Hall of Fame’s newest members, an honor made to recognize the students’ leadership and participation in student organizations. Joining the 428 past Hall of Fame is Elyda Vasquez who earned an associate’s degree in arts in Art and Drama, Nurse Education major Isaiah Herrero, and Education major Fabian Gonzales.
“I’ve never considered myself the smartest person in the room,” said Herrero. “If I don’t understand something, I’ll ask. If I don’t understand it again, I’ll ask again. But maybe success was never about knowing everything. Maybe it was about finding something that I cared enough about to keep learning. And I’ve found that here at Del Mar College.”
