Students may wonder if De Anza has it’s own Hallmark store whenthey pass by an office window in the lower outside level of theHinson campus center.
The office belongs to Student Activity Specialist La DonnaYumori-Kaku, who will be celebrating her 25th year at De Anza onOct. 22.
Yumori-Kaku’s office walls are lined with an eclectic collectionranging from Disney characters to Pez dispensers to singing candyjars. Her collection began when a student gave her a Winnie thePooh figure. She currently collects charms for charm bracelets andgives something to everyone who stops by her office. “My momsays that I was always the one passing out popsicles to myfriends,” Yumori-Kaku says.
Students might know Yumori-Kaku for passing out candy, but there ismuch more behind coordinating Student Activities, such as managingClub Day, drives for food and other items, counseling forums, doingpaperwork, and the never-ending phone calls.
Although some consider the job tedious, it has been a good matchfor her personality and “has kept [her] young.”Yumori-Kaku explains, “In some ways you deal with clubs, butevery year, every quarter, everyday, is different… and thatvariety has kept me stimulated.” Getting to know students ona more personal level, staying connected, and seeing them move onin life are the high points of her job. She also loves seeingstudents accomplish something she didn’t think could be done.
What frustrates Yumori-Kaku is when students don’t follow throughor don’t show up to a well publicized event. However, she doesn’tget mad at students if they back out.
She says, “I think what this job has taught me to do is beflexible, like bamboo.”
Highlights of Yumori-Kaku’s career are when she received aPresident’s Award and was recognized by De Anza’s president, andwhen she was given a Classified Staff of the Quarter Award.Yumori-Kaku says she’s no superwoman, and without the help of JohnS. Cognetta, student activities director, Dennis Shannakian,student activities administrative assistant, and numerous otherfaculty and staff she wouldn’t be able to make Student Activities asuccess.
Yumori-Kaku, an only child, grew up in the Los Angeles area, andattended West Los Angeles Community College, before transferring toSan Jose State. She majored in recreational studies and has aMasters’ in counseling education. She says, “As an only childmy mom really showed me to share rather than, ‘it’s just mine andyou can’t have it.”
Yumori-Kaku’s immediate family include her husband, who works as acounselor at De Anza, and Kuma, their three-year-old Siberianhusky. She wishes she could travel more, but after getting Kuma,who she describes as a “furry kid” she had to put hertravel plans on hold.
In the meantime, Yumori-Kaku says the place she would most like tovisit is a rubber stamp store because she is into crafting, or thelibrary because there are so many books she has not yet read.
Students who know Yumori-Kaku may have to get used to a new look inthe near future. Always generous, Yumori-Kaku has been letting herlong black hair grow for three years to donate to “Locks ofLove”, a foundation that makes wigs for cancer patients.
Other hopes she has for the future are to build more rooms forstudents to have club meetings in and to arrange for De Anza tohave a “campus hour”, where no classes are offered oncampus for one hour so things like a radio station can make as muchnoise as it wants.
Students who wish to speak with Yumori-Kaku may find her in theStudent Activities Office or email her atYumoriKakuLaDonna@fhda.edu. Other students who just want toadmire her office can walk by her window under the studentcenter.
