Mike Honda, who rose from agricultural sharecropping torepresenting Silicon Valley in Congress, will give the keynoteaddress June 26 at De Anza’s 37th annual commencement. Honda is oneof the 53 Congressman from California in the House and representsmore than 1.6 million people.
Honda, 62, was born in Walnut Grove, Calif., but spent many ofhis early years in Granada, Colo. He and his family were among thethousands of Japanese-Americans who were forced from their homesinto internment camps during World War II.
Honda is an example of the Spanish phrase “Si, se puede” or”Yes, we can,” said Paul Fong, president of the Foothill-De Anzaboard of trustees, who extended the invitation to Honda on behalfof interim president Judy Miner.
Honda is an all-American role model of how one’s hard work,determination, and positive attitude can overcome obstacles anddiscrimination, Fong said.
Much of Honda’s success can be attributed to his value ofeducation. After returning from the Amache camp in Colorado, hisfamily became strawberry sharecroppers in Blossom Valley in1953.
He later worked his way to San Jose State University, earning abachelor’s degrees in biological science and Spanish in 1968, aswell as a master’s in education in 1974.
Honda took a two-year hiatus in 1965 to build schools and healthclinics in El Salvador with the Peace Corps. He returned fluent inSpanish and with a passion for teaching.
Honda taught high school science and served as a principalbefore entering politics. Former San Jose Mayor Norm Minetaappointed Honda to the city planning commission in 1971.
Honda won his first election for the San Jose Unified SchoolBoard in 1981, and served as a Santa Clara County supervisor in1990. In 1996, his constituency elected him to the stateAssembly.
While in the Assembly, he helped draft bills to mandate smallerclass sizes and increase teacher benefits in public schools. Withthe encouragement and endorsement of former president Bill Clinton,Honda ran for the U.S. House of Representatives, and has madeeducation one of his priorities since election in 2000.
Honda, who serves on the House Committee on Science, helpedobtain funding for a state-of-the-art planetarium for De Anza,which is now known as the largest planetarium on a college campuswest of the Rockies.
Now with a student population of 25,000, De Anza has given manyof Honda’s former high school students “outstanding educations,”combining excellent general educational and vocational courses,Honda said.
Fong, who has helped with every one of Honda’s campaigns and wasa student at the high school where Honda taught, said Honda is aclassic public servant and a politician who is real, close andapproachable.
In their spare time, the men visit karaoke bars because Hondaloves to sing. Fong said Honda is a “down-home, nice guy.”
De Anza political science professor Gregory Druehl has also beena personal friend of Mike Honda for over 30 years.
“[Honda] hired me for my first job at San Jose State and we havebeen friends ever since. Mike is the most honest, dedicated andcaring person I have ever known in public life,” said Druehl.
Another close friend of Honda’s, former mayor of Cupertino andChairman of De Anza’s Asian & Asian American Studies DepartmentMichael Chang, said, “It is well known that Mike’s early experiencegrowing up in an American concentration camp had a great impact onhim. I think his life’s work is to make America live up to its ownideals of equality and opportunity for all.”
Now that he represents part of the state with the mostAsian-Pacific Islanders, Honda has made Asian-American concerns animportant mission.
He authored a resolution seeking reparations for internment,and, as a state lawmaker, helped get Chinese and Vietnamese ballotsfor Santa Clara County.
He has co-chaired the Congressional Asian Pacific AmericanCaucus. Honda praised the diversity of De Anza’s studentpopulation, with students from around the world and from manyethnic and racial backgrounds.
“This, to me, is a critical component of the true learningexperience that higher education affords,” Honda said.
Chang said, “I am most inspired by Mike’s inner strength anddirection, his courage to stand up for what he believes in, and hispersistence. To him education is much more than just academicknowledge. His Peace Corps experience was as important to hiseducation as attending university. Mike Honda always try toconvince students that politics and policy does matter. There arereal choices, and students should not be bystanders, but activelyweigh-in, since they are directly impacted.”
The graduation ceremony will be on June 26, 2004 from 9 to 11a.m. at the Outdoor Events Arena.
