Cupertino awards to honor the community members' contributions
The city of Cupertino will honor the winners of the 2022 CREST Awards at a ceremony on Thursday, May 26 at 6 p.m.
The CREST (Cupertino Recognizes Extra Steps Taken) Awards honor the outstanding contributions of Cupertino community members.
Lifetime Achievement: Sharon Fong
This award recognizes a member of the community who has volunteered in the City of Cupertino for 10-plus years. Fong is currently the first vice president of the Cupertino-toyokawa Sister Cities program.
Volunteer of the Year: Rosalind Schiros
This award recognizes individuals who have made a difference to the Cupertino community through volunteer service. Schiros is in her 10th year at the Cupertino Senior Center, where she taught Apple computer classes for two years and then switched to beginning and intermediate ipad sessions.
Rising Star: Sumeeta Kirtane
This award recognizes an individual who has volunteered in Cupertino for three or fewer years but shows a continued commitment to the future of the Cupertino community.
Public Safety Champion: Rhoda Fry
This award recognizes an individual or group that has made an outstanding contribution to the safety of Cupertino.
Fry has tracked Lehigh Permanente Quarry and Cement Plant violations for years. and has raised objections to the environmental impacts of the mining operations there, saying. “The cement plant creates more pollution than it needs to; they have elected not to run it cleanly.”
Sustainability Champion: Dr. Gary Latshaw
This award recognizes a person or group committed to maintaining a sustainable and healthy place to live, work and play in Cupertino.
Latshaw serves on Cupertino's Sustainability Commission. He is a member of the Climate Project formed by former vice president Al Gore and is active in the Sierra Club, Citizen's Climate Lobby, securethefuture2100.org, 350.org and Bay Area for Clean Environment, among others.
Organization of the
Anusha Singhai, top, and Ishani Das cofounded the Cupertino High School chapter of We Love STEM, a nonprofit nationwide community of students who are passionate about STEM education. The chapter has been named one of three Organizations of the Year in the 2022 CREST Awards, honoring the outstanding contributions of Cupertino community members.
Year: Three-way tie
This award recognizes organizations that have made a difference to the Cupertino community through volunteer service. The Cupertino Senior Center, Needlecraft Volunteer Group and We Love STEM are sharing this year's honors.
The Needlecraft Volunteer Group is a drop-in program at the Cupertino Senior Center that makes items to donate to local organizations such as the VA Hospital, Kaiser Santa Clara and homeless shelters.
We Love STEM is a nonprofit nationwide community of students who are passionate about STEM education. The Katherine Johnson Chapter at Cupertino High School, named after an American mathematician and astrophysicist who worked at NASA, is one of 12 chapters across the country. Chapter members teach IOS app development, competitive math and Java to students from all over the Bay Area.
For more information on CREST Awards, visit cupertino.org/crest.
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