Student Awards and Achievements
International Interior Design Association
Regional Competition: Sheree Poon wins IIDA charette competition
Just show up! Sheree Poon, our fellow club member, did just that! After winning the Western Region IIDA Student Design Charette Northern California Qualifier in San Francisco, Sheree and her two teammates were sent to Phoenix, Arizona to compete in the Western Regional Qualifier during Spring break.
Upon arrival, teams were reshuffled, and Sheree was teamed up with two other individuals as new teammates. After a few hours of brainstorming and hard work. Sheree's team was announced the winner of the Regional contest!
Now her team will be sent to Chicago in June, to the IIDA National, "NeoCon" to compete at the national student charette competition.
2020-2021 NKBA – National Kitchen and Bath Association
Student Design Competition: Elma Kim
Congratulations to Cañada College student Elma Kim! Her submission placed second in the kitchen category in the NKBA – National Kitchen and Bath Association – Student Design Competition. There were over 200 submissions and the top winners, in addition to having the design featured in KBB Magazine, the NKBA will also be awarding the following:
- Cash Award (to be mailed after the Design Awards Ceremony held February 7, 2022)
- Complimentary Registration & Ticket to the KBIS 2022 Expo (including Virtual Component)
which will be held in Orlando, FL, Feb. 8-10, 2022
- Includes free 3-Day Voices from the Industry (VFTI) conference pass
- Admission to the 2022 Design Awards Ceremony Admission, where you will be recognized
for your achievement
- Includes 1 additional Guest Admission
- Airfare & Hotel Stay
- Round trip airfare and 3 nights hotel accommodations
2020 Delos Area Rug Pattern Student Competition: Julie Sautter
Congratulations to Cañada College student Julie Sautter received second place in the National Delos Area Rug Pattern Student Competition. Delos’ carpets and rugs are used by designers nationwide and are both robotically tufted and hand-finished for speed and consistency. This prestigious award will allow Julie’s Abalone rug to enter production in the very near future and available for purchase via the Delos’ website here: https://thedeloscompany.com/
2020 Henry Adams Student Designer of the Year Award: Julie Sautter, Miriam Lima, and Kristin Puccini
Congratulations to Cañada College students Julie Sautter, Miriam Lima, and Kristin Puccini for winning the Henry Adams Student Designer of the Year Award. This award has been given since 1983, named for the late Henry Adams, who is immortalized in the San Francisco and entire interior design community on the West Coast, if not the nation. Without his and Clarellen’s vision, the SF Design Center as we know it would not exist. (Clarellen, wife of the late Henry Adams, and a dear friend of Cañada, has been a staunch supporter of this program and all Interior Design students).
The Henry Adams Student Designer of the Year Award is an honorary merit award given to an outstanding student(s) in the Interior Design Program. It represents overall academic success, design achievement, and active participation in the program. The interior design faculty selects this recipient, and generally is given to a student completing a degree and or certificate. This is no easy task, with so many outstanding students in the program as we have every year.
2020 Stan Macey Award: Miriam Lima
Congratulations to Cañada College student Miriam Lima who received the Stan Macey Award! This award is in honor and memory of the instructor who was instrumental in getting the Cañada Kitchen and Bath program endorsed by NKBA back in 1988. It is presented to an outstanding Kitchen & Bath Design Certificate graduating student. The Northern California Chapter of NKBA awards the Stan Macey Award. It consists of a certificate and the recipient's name added to a plaque.
2020 Scholarships
Congratulations to Cañada College student Melanie Vejmola who received all three of Canada College’s Program-Specific Scholarships!
Toby Merman Memorial Scholarship: Melanie Vejmola
This is scholarship in memory of Toby Merman, who was instrumental in the development and success of the Interior Design Program at Woodbury College in Southern California. It was established several years ago by her daughter and son-in- law for an interior design student who shows talent, promise, and has financial need. We are grateful to Pat and Hal Gelb and their family for their generosity and for selecting the Cañada College Interior Design Program for their scholarship.
The Dr. Genevieve Cory Scholarship: Melanie Vejmola
It is given to a continuing student. Taken into consideration are the student’s academic performance, potential, perseverance, and talent. It is a very special award, named for a very special educator who did so much for the Cañada Interior Design program – she started and led this program for more than 25 years. Many programs around the state are based on her model.
Kitchen & Bath Design Student Scholarship: Melanie Vejmola
Created some years ago at the urging of several of the Advisory Board Members to recognize and support an outstanding student in the program whose goal is the NKBA Accredited Kitchen & Bath Design Certificate on their way to becoming a certified kitchen and/or bath designer. Initial seed funding as well as continuous funding for this scholarship come from proceeds from the department Designer sale held during the Annual Arts and Olives Festival each October, as well as donations through the SMCCCD Foundation.