CITY OF INDUSTRY, Calif. -- Former Cal Poly Pomona women's basketball student-athlete Sandra Mitchell, Class of 1989, was one of 11 individuals to be honored during the 59th Annual Cal Poly Pomona Alumni Awards Gala at Pacific Palms Resort on Saturday evening.

Sandra Mitchell is a true Renaissance woman. Her life and career have spanned numerous sports, professions and geographical locales, all of which have led her to her present career: vineyard owner and winemaker.
 
"Our current venture is definitely the most challenging and rewarding," she says. "We started with 5 acres and now have 15 acres and a winery. There's nothing better than watching the sunset from our gazebo and drinking a glass of wine that we made."

As a multi-sport athlete at Monrovia High School, Mitchell attended several colleges and universities (suffering numerous injuries in the process) before arriving at Cal Poly Pomona in the mid-1980s. She played basketball for legendary coach Darlene May and was part of the university's NCAA Division II National Championship team in 1985. She graduated in 1989 with a degree in kinesiology.
 
"Being a student athlete and earning my degree taught me that hard work always pays off," she says, "and that I'm also not defined by my degree." Because she received a scholarship, Mitchell says, she feels strongly about giving back.
 
Mitchell went on to earn a degree in marine technology from the College of Oceaneering in the L.A. Harbor and worked as a dive medic and hyperbaric chamber operator for McDonnell Douglas at their underwater test facility in Huntington Beach. She also worked in international trade for several years, served as a docent at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, operated heavy equipment for film production and construction, and worked with the Office of Naval Research.

"I never wanted to do just one thing," she says.
 
Mitchell and her wife of 22 years, Bridget Belland, own Sambridge Vineyards and Winery in the high desert community of Phelan, where they reside.

Click here to learn more about Sandra.

To learn more about the CPP Distinguished Alumni Award and this year's honorees, click here.