YCUSD's Doreen Osumi, others honored as 'Women of the Year'

Oct. 15—U.S. Congressman John Garamendi recognized Thursday 57 women, including several in the Yuba-Sutter area, as the 2022 Women of the Year for his 3rd Congressional District.

According to the notification letters received, the honorees were chosen because they demonstrated a "clear commitment to their community through their leadership and dedication to public service."

Among the women chosen was Yuba City Unified School District Superintendent Doreen Osumi.

"I am honored and humbled to have received this award and thank Congressman Garamendi and his wife, Patricia, for this recognition," Osumi said Friday in an email to the Appeal.

After the retirement of Nancy Aaberg in 2016, the Yuba City Unified School District Board of Trustees named Osumi as Aaberg's successor in May 2016. Osumi was formerly the deputy superintendent of educational services.

"We're not going to find leadership outside of the district that exceeds the leadership (Osumi) demonstrated," Aaberg said at the time. "She's absolutely the best candidate."

Osumi came to the district in 2004 from the Sutter County Office of Education, where she was the director of special education for about five years, the Appeal previously reported. She started her educational career as a speech pathologist with Sutter County.

"It was a privilege to see Superintendent Osumi recognized for her stewardship of Yuba City Unified School District and its students through these difficult times," Nicolo Orozco, a member of the Yuba City Unified School District Governing Board, said Friday. "Nowhere is her passion for education more evident than when she is at school sites and working with children, which I know is what she loves to do most, and that was reflected in this recognition she earned."

Other Yuba-Sutter area women who received recognition include Christa McClure, Jill LeVake Abruzzini, Pamela Thompson and Courtney Payne for Sutter County; and Roberta D'Arcy, Cynthia Fontayne, Camille Thomas, Kelly Zimmerman and Amy Nore for Yuba County.

The ceremony for this year's awards took place Thursday at Woodland Community College in Woodland.

"You have been nominated by your peers," Patricia Garamendi said, according to The Reporter newspaper out of Vacaville. "They have been watching you all of these years."

During the ceremony, Garamendi said women accomplish a lot, but don't necessarily tout their accomplishments.

"Women need to stand up and talk about what they do," she said.

According to The Reporter, Democrat John Garamendi said his annual awards are simply a way to honor extraordinary women in every community.

"Each woman was nominated by a predecessor," Garamendi said. "Each of these women are looking to the next generation. ... It's just so critically important."

As part of their recognition, each woman was gifted with a Congressional Commendation that will be preserved in the Congressional Record.