LA Pierce College Brahma Beat - Issue 114

Pierce College Named Best Community College in 2025 Daily News Readers' Choice Awards 

Pierce College has been voted Best Community College in the Los Angeles Daily News 24th Annual Readers’ Choice Awards—a prestigious honor made possible by overwhelming community support and thousands of readers votes across the San Fernando Valley. 

In addition to earning the top spot as Best Community College, Pierce also took home Favorite Nursing School, Favorite Trade/Specialty School, and Favorite College Extension Program, solidifying its reputation as a leader in accessible, high-quality education across disciplines. 

“This is an extraordinary recognition of our college’s mission and the incredible work our students, faculty, and staff do every day,” said Pierce President Aracely Aguiar. “To be named ‘Best’ in multiple categories is a testament to the strength of our programs, the dedication of our teams, and the trust we’ve built with the communities we serve.” 

Pierce College Awarded NASA Grant to Host MESA Robotics Competition

Pierce College is proud to announce its participation in a collaborative NASA-funded project aimed at expanding STEM opportunities for community college students. In partnership with Los Angeles Mission College and Los Angeles Valley College, Pierce will help lead a new MESA-led robotics competition supported by a NASA Minority University Research and Education Project (MUREP) Planning Prize.

The $50,000 prize was awarded through NASA’s Open Innovation platform HeroX and supports the development of a NASA Community College Aerospace Scholars (NCAS) Robotics Competition that will bring together students from across the San Fernando Valley. The program targets MESA (Math, Engineering, Science Achievement) students pursuing STEM degrees and aims to make competitive robotics and NASA career pathways more accessible.

Pierce Students Lead the Way at UCLA Samueli Engineering Transfer Program

This summer, eleven Pierce College Brahmas took part in UCLA Samueli Engineering’s Introduction to Engineering Design for Transfer Students. Typically reserved for incoming UCLA transfers, this competitive program made special accommodations for Pierce students, reserving six exclusive spots as a testament to the growing partnership between the two institutions. The Pierce College representation consisted of six current MESA (Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement) students and five alumni.

The four-week program immersed students in “Basic Training” workshops, where they explored coding, circuits, microcontrollers, CAD, and fabrication. It all culminated in HAcK, a high-energy, 36-hour team competition challenging participants to design and build “spy tech” devices to solve real-world engineering problems.

Pierce College students made up an impressive 16% of the entire cohort, the largest representation from any community college. Beyond the prestige, these students earned UCLA credit and gained early exposure to the rigorous, collaborative environment of university-level engineering.