Alumni Awards 2019
The Venice High School Alumni Association congratulates the 2019 Alumni Award Recipients for their service to Venice High School and the surrounding community.
Congratulations to this Years Recipients!
David and Rosi Kent -
Distinguished Alumni's of the Year
David Kent (‘79) was born and raised in southern California. Rosi Kent,
Palisades High (‘83) came to the United States when she was 14 years old.
David and Rosi both attended Cal State Northridge, where they met in a
computer science class 32 years ago. They have been married for 25 years and
have two sons, Spencer (‘17) and Ryan (‘18).
Rosi, who is a Software Manager at Northrop Grumman,
and David, who owns his own construction company, feel very lucky to have
been such active volunteers during their children’s younger years in school.
Rosi and David began volunteering in the school
community when their first son started kindergarten at Mar Vista Elementary.
They continued active involvement at Palms Middle School and Venice High
School. Rosi and David have worked both in front and behind the scenes at
their boys’ schools on various committees and events. Whether it was leading
the Spell-A-Thon Fundraiser, the building of the Haunted House, co-chairing
the Friends of Palms Booster Club, running the Boys Basketball Snack Bar,
leading the Friends of Venice Magnet group, working the snack bar at the
football games, BBQ’ing for teacher luncheons and senior breakfasts, or
doing the cleaning after school events, they helped at practically every
event.
They believe in the importance of strong parental involvement in the community, so even though their youngest son culminated elementary school in 2011, David and Rosi still come back every year to help during beatification days, Halloween carnivals, PTA Founders Day, and other events. David joined the Venice High School Alumni Association two years ago and is currently the Associations’ Vice President.
Donna Lasman - Gondolier of the Year
Donna Lasman is a Southern California native, born, raised and still
residing on the westside of Los Angeles. She has fond memories of summers at
the beach and the eclectic mix of entertainers and artists along the Venice
Boardwalk. It is no accident that she found herself at home as the CEO for
the Venice Chamber of Commerce. Combining her love for business and
community involvement is what Donna enjoys most about her work.
Donna has more than 30 years’ experience in business,
specializing in the area of business development, management and leadership.
Following college and after working for several firms, she finally joined
the family business, an automotive parts distribution warehouse, as Vice
President/General Manager where she tripled the size of the company during
the 12 years she worked there. After the birth of her son, desiring a more
flexible lifestyle she resigned her position and spent the next several
years working as a community volunteer and as a marketing/business
consultant.
During her years as a community volunteer, Donna was a
passionate advocate for public education, especially literacy. Before her
son entered grade school, she was a reading buddy for the Wonder of Reading
Program. Donna was so impressed with the program and the library, that once
her son entered Cowan Avenue Elementary School, she led the effort to create
a partnered reading program for reluctant readers, and brought a Wonder of
Reading Library to their school. Donna also worked as a library volunteer,
and she managed the semi-annual book fairs for the 5 years that her son
attended there. She loved reading the new releases, and most enjoyed
inspiring children to love reading by suggesting books they would like.
Donna continued working with
struggling readers at Orville Wright Middle School, until budget cuts closed
down the library. While her son attended LAUSD schools, Cowan and Orville
Wright in Westchester, and then Venice High School, Class of 2013, Donna
also served on their governing school site boards.
Donna re-entered the professional world when a friend
recommended her for a position at LAX Coastal Chamber of Commerce working in
Membership. In 2010, after 4 years with the LAX Chamber, she moved on to
serve the Venice Chamber of Commerce as their CEO. Under her leadership, the
Venice Chamber has grown from a 100-member organization to nearly 350
members, and 11 highly functioning committees comprised of dedicated
volunteers that help support the Chamber’s programs and activities. The
Venice Chamber is the organization that takes care of the Venice Sign on
behalf of the Venice Community, and the Chamber produces signature events
such as the Holiday Lighting of the Venice Sign, the Venice Art Crawl, and
the WAVE Awards, an annual event honoring teachers. Since 2012, the Venice
Chamber has also assumed responsibility for coordinating sponsors for the
Jackets of Excellence Program at Venice High School.
In 2016/17, through the Chamber in Action committee, the Venice
Chamber led the effort to restore the POW/MIA mural on Pacific.
Donna is proud and honored to work with the Venice community and
believes that her intimate knowledge of operating a business, combined with
her leadership skills acquired from her business and volunteer involvement
enables her to effectively and successfully represent the Venice community.
Often acknowledged as “The Godmother of Virtual
Reality,” Nonny de la Peña (‘80) is a pioneer of virtual, augmented and
mixed reality who is widely credited with inventing the genre of immersive
journalism. In 2012, her piece “Hunger in Los Angeles” debuted at the
Sundance Film Festival, marking it’s place in history as the first VR
(Virtual Reality) experience to be shown at the festival, and since then her
work has continued to elicit global recognition at institutions and events
such as the Victoria and Albert Museum, Brooklyn Museum, World Economic
Forum and Venice International Film Festival. In 2017, Nonny was named one
of CNET’s Most Influential Latinos in Tech and most recently she received
the 2018 WSJ Magazine Technology Innovator of the Year award.
If you know someone that should be considered for this prestigious honor,
please submit an application.
Go to our website –
http://www.venicehighalumni.com, Go to Get involved – Alumni Annual
Awards. Link
David and Rosi Kent -
Distinguished Alumni's of the Year
Donna Lasman - Gondolier of the Year