Sen. Carol Liu Honors Two PCC Associates “Women of the Year”

“I am pleased to celebrate these remarkable women,” Liu said. “Each of them deserves special recognition for the ways in which they contribute to the community.”

Nishio was a 19-year-old internee at a World War II Colorado site for Japanese-Americans when she served as a “test case” for Japanese-Americans returning to California and the West Coast. She enrolled at PCC in 1945 to see how the community would react to a Japanese-American in their midst. She persevered in spite of harsh treatment and rejection by some of her fellow students and became a role model for civil rights and re-integration.

Reed is the program director for the Foster & Kinship Care Education and Independent Living Programs at PCC. She is also the Foster Youth Success Initiative co-liaison at PCC, providing support for any foster youth wanting access to the community college. Her years in the foster care system have been the inspiration to begin writing a series of books to encourage foster youth and their supporters.

“I do what I do because there is a need and a passion for helping foster youth,” Reed said. “To me, it’s not just a job. Being able to touch one life at a time is an amazing accomplishment.”

Sen. Liu will honor the “2012 Women of the Year” at a reception on March 23.

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