Jun 03, 2025 3:15 pm
Pierce College is proud to announce the selection of four exceptional former students who were honored during this year’s Distinguished Alumni celebration. Nominees are carefully selected based on their achievements in academics, business, community and humanitarian support, or personal triumph over adversity. This year’s honorees provide inspirational examples of the impact Pierce College can have on students and the community.
Pierce College’s 2025 Distinguished Alumni are: Christopher Johnston, Husky Post Prison Pathways at University of Washington Tacoma, class of 2015; Jacqueline Justice, Attorney at Law, class of 2002; Angela Arteaga, Dual Language Teacher, class of 2022; and Terrell Engmann, class of 2018 and Co-founder of Basilica Bio.
Christopher Johnston is a program specialist at Husky Post Prison pathways at the University of Washington Tacoma — a program which supports formerly incarcerated students as they complete their educational goals. Johnston, who spent four years incarcerated, knows firsthand the difficulties experienced by the students he serves in the Husky Post Prison pathways program. He said Pierce College was one of the first places he ever felt he truly belonged, and he tries to provide that feeling to the students he serves now.
Jacqueline Justice is an attorney and Pierce College alumna. Justice said through her education at Pierce she was able to open doors that led her to a thriving career as an attorney, where she now primarily represents children in foster care. While a student at Pierce College in 2002, Jacqueline said she felt right at home and emersed herself in classes, activities, and an on-campus job as a tutor, where she enjoyed supporting her peers and learning from them.
Terrell Engmann is the co-founder of Basilica Bio and a fifth year PhD candidate in biomolecular sciences at Boise State University where he studies breast cancer metastases. He is also the co-founder of Basilica Bio, which brings environmental justice programs into the classroom through high school internship programs, professional development, and workshop opportunities. Engmann is a graduate of the Running Start program at Pierce College where he earned his associate degree before attending the University of Washington for his bachelor's degree.
Angela Arteaga, originally from Colombia, is a dual-language teacher at Karshner Elementary School in the Puyallup School District. In 2023, Arteaga was named the Puyallup School District's Educator of the Year. Arteaga said she enjoys watching her students be inspired by languages, just as she was when she first came to Pierce College. While attending Pierce College, Arteaga was a scholarship recipient, which she said made it possible for her to balance her schoolwork with her responsibilities as a mom and become the educator she is today.