By Daniel Wilson

May 12, 2025

When Isabel Santoyo-Garcia was a kid, she was known as the IT person in her family.

“From a young age, I was fixing printers or navigating the web because my parents didn’t know how to use it, and my siblings weren’t able to help,” she said.

Santoyo-Garcia, who will graduate May 16 with a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and a minor in Mathematics, is the Dean’s Award recipient from the College of Engineering and Computer Science (ECS). Deans’ Awards are given every academic year at Spring Commencement to the top graduating student from each of Sac State’s seven academic colleges.

“With her technical expertise, leadership and commitment to service, Isabel embodies the values and mission of Sacramento State … and is an inspiration to her peers.” -- Kevan Shafizadeh, dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Science

In middle and high school, Santoyo-Garcia noticed how few Latinas were in her STEM courses. Through conversations with teachers, she became inspired to serve as a role model and show how people like her can succeed in technology.

“Technology was a huge influence in my life,” she said.

Santoyo-Garcia grew up in Citrus Heights and chose to attend Sac State to stay close to her family. She is drawn to technology's versatility across disciplines but focuses primarily on back-end web and application development.

“I’m not a really creative person, so I like seeking problems,” she said. “Usually with the projects I develop, there's already a problem set, so I'm not building something from scratch. Having an already set problem … and just following through makes it easier for me as a person who likes setting goals and completing achievements.”

Santoyo-Garcia is most proud of her senior project, where she served as one of the lead developers on a team that created an interactive website for a local high school teacher to teach chemistry online. The site, called ChemClick, allows students to interact with chemicals and see how they react in a safe environment when they don’t have access to a classroom.

“It looks really, really nice, and I really like it because it's going to a good cause,” she said.

The website shows Santoyo-Garcia’s passion for helping others, a theme that runs through many of her projects. They include NatureGuardians, an advocacy website for endangered species, and Timeificers, a software application to make scheduling meetings easier.

Kevan Shafizadeh, ECS dean, said Santoyo-Garcia displays academic excellence in all she does.

“With her technical expertise, leadership and commitment to service, Isabel embodies the values and mission of Sacramento State … and is an inspiration to her peers,” he said.

Santoyo-Garcia's extracurricular activities include a Stanford University robotics internship, service-learning in Ireland as part of Sac State’s Honors Program, and participation in Hornet Hacks hackathon competitions.

“The hackathons were really great (because they) allowed me to dive into AI and include it into the website as an educational source,” she said of the events where groups of students collaborate to solve real-world problems.

In addition to her achievements in and out of the classroom, Santoyo-Garcia expressed great joy in being a first-generation college graduate, knowing many in her family have not had the same opportunities she has.

“They never had the chance to get a higher education because of financial reasons,” Santoyo-Garcia said.

Following graduation, Santoyo-Garcia plans to work for the state in IT while pursuing other projects that expand her skills. She also plans to continue working in her family’s large backyard garden, raising plants such as cacti.

“I just love plants,” she said. “They're just so cute to have.”

Santoyo-Garcia sees receiving the ECS Dean’s Award as a testament to her goal to be a role model.

“It feels surreal. It’s crazy,” she said. “I didn't expect to gain the award, but being part of a community that's part of the minority group, it feels nice to be a role model in a sense. Also, it shows that people from the minority stance can excel to the top levels.”

Read the inspiring stories of the other Deans' Awards recipients.