Columbia College-Orlando alumnae honored by the Columbia College Alumni Association (CCAA)

Columbia College-Orlando alumnae honored by the Columbia College Alumni Association (CCAA)

The Columbia College Alumni Association (CCAA) honored Sandy Adams ’00 with the 2012 Columbia College Distinguished Alumni Award for attaining outstanding regional and national recognition in one’s chosen career field and Shanta Barton-Stubbs ’05 with the 2012 Columbia College Community Service Award for demonstrating outstanding leadership and service to the citizens of one’s community.

Both Adams and Barton-Stubbs earned degrees from Columbia College-Orlando.

After a stint in the U.S. Air Force, Adams served more than 17 years as a deputy sheriff in the Orange County Sheriff’s Office and was involved in road patrol, foot patrol, intelligence and undercover work. She was elected to the Florida House of Representatives in 2002. Her subsequent re-elections to the Florida House led her to join the U.S. House of Representatives in 2011. She is in her first term serving as the representative of Florida’s 24th district.



Sandy Adams '00

Adams has received numerous awards over the course of her career including the Pace Legislative Leadership Award, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement Legislative Appreciation Award, the Ninth Judicial Circuit of Florida – Champion of Justice Award and the Legislative Session Outstanding Service Award. In addition, she earned the Florida Professional Firefighters Legislator of the Year Award in 2007 and the Florida House Leadership Award in 2009. A tireless advocate for victim’s rights, Adams helped organize a local chapter of Concerns of Police Survivors.

Adams lives in Orlando, Fla., with her husband, Judge John Adams. Together they have three children.

Barton-Stubbs founded New Image Youth Center in 2004, a nonprofit for children in the poverty-stricken neighborhood of Parramore in Orlando, Fla. She wanted the children to have a safe place to learn in a positive and motivational environment — essentially, a place where they could create a “new image” of themselves. In eight years, the center has gone from serving eight children to more than 50. Every day after school, New Image welcomes students to play games, get help from tutors, go on field trips and ultimately, give them an experience they wouldn’t normally have. Under her direction, no teenage pregnancies or juvenile arrests have occurred with any of the New Image youth during the eight years of the program’s existence. Six of the students are enrolled in college.



Shanta Barton-Stubbs '05

In addition to her responsibilities at New Image, Barton-Stubbs is a certified life coach, a registered mental health counselor for the state of Florida and operates Underconstruction Empowerment Services, where she travels around the world empowering others to be their best.

In 2011, she was a L’Oreal Paris Woman of Worth and received the Leader of the Year Award from Iota Phi Theta University of Central Florida chapter. She won the title of Ms. Corporate America 2009, the 2008 Magic Maker Award given by the National Basketball Association’s Orlando Magic and the Bank of America Local Hero Award in 2007.

Barton-Stubbs earned a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice with honors from Columbia College in 2005, and a master’s degree in mental health counseling from Webster University in 2009. She resides in Maitland, Fla.