De Anza College leads the charge in ecologically friendly buildings on California Community College campuses.
The Kirsch Center for Environmental Studies is a beacon of green light in terms of De Anza’s influence on community colleges throughout the state.
Not only is the building certified platinum, the highest rating in The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design system, the building represents hope and unity.
Passionate students and faculty in the environmental studies program came up with the idea of constructing a sustainable building at De Anza, says Pat Cornely, director of the Kirsch Center.
In 1994, Julie Phillips, an environmental studies instructor at De Anza, thought about how amazing it would be to teach in an environment where the building itself could teach about how humans can better the world.
It wasn’t until 1998 that the vision for this building became a reality. The De Anza Associated Student Body had a one time opportunity to allot funding, and formulated ideas for how the Center for Environmental Studies should look and what it should represent.
The project was engineered for students by students. Faculty and students worked together and saw through every part of the project, from the overall building design, to buying hard hats, to contributing physical labor. This project was “ a true team effort,” says Cornely.
Steve Kirsch, a Silicon Valley philanthropist and founder of the Internet based company Propel, donated $2 million to fund the project. In total, De Anza’s sustainable paradise cost $10 million.
The building, named after Kirsch, opened in September of 2005. It has welcomed people of all ages to learn about the earth and what we as individuals can do to help improve the quality of our environment.
When the Kirsch Center first opened, it was rated silver in the the LEED system. With a few adjustments, the building was awarded platinum certification, which puts it at the highest level of sustainability possible within the system.
The building is 22,000 square feet and has a solar panel roof, natural ventilation and daylighting, radiant heating and cooling, native species landscaping and counters made partly out of sunflower seeds.
Ceremonies for the newly certified platinum status will be held in fall 2008.

AWARD WINNING FOOD
De Anza cafeteria wins top national award

by Lauren Michelle Carter

For the first time in De Anza College history, its food services program received collegiate recognition in the nationwide 2008 Loyal E. Horton Dining Awards Ceremony.
Every year, the National Association of College and University Food Services holds a nationwide college and university dining competition, dishing out gold awards as a salute to the most successful services. According to the NACUFS, this award is the highest recognition obtainable by college and university culinary arts.
De Anza won the gold award in the category of retail sales in the medium-sized campus classification. Stanford University took the gold for large-sized campuses. The schools will go head-to-head for the national grand prize, which will be awarded July 12.
Patrick Gannon, the director of dining services at De Anza, submitted the college’s entry last April and was notified of the award a few weeks later.
This also marks the first time De Anza has qualified in the competition at all. Qualification is an achievement in itself, as judging criteria is extremely intricate and demanding, Gannon said.
The criteria used to determine the winners of the award are menu selection, food merchandising and presentation, marketing, and a blanket assessment of the entire operation, which includes food cost objectives, food selections, menu development and retail trends.
“For De Anza to place first in this category they would have to rank very high in all categories,” said Greg Minner, NACUFS chair for the 2008 awards. “It is very competitive.”
Gannon attributes De Anza’s award to the remodeling and re-invention of its dining services, which was completed last September.
The new cafeteria layout was custom designed by Gannon and his team and includes genre specific serving stations offering a variety of food.