MAYOR MICHAEL A. NUTTER TO DELIVER KEYNOTE ADDRESS AT COMMUNITY COLLEGE OF PHILADELPHIA'S 42ND COMMENCEMENT

PHILADELPHIA, April 30, 2008–Mayor Michael A. Nutter will address 1,819 Community College of Philadelphia graduates, their families and friends at the College’s 42nd annual Commencement, which begins at 2 p.m., Sunday, May 4, at Temple University’s Liacouras Center, Broad Street and Cecil B. Moore Avenue.

Sharing the stage with the mayor will be City Council President Anna C. Verna, who will receive an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters. Council President Verna, who has represented the Second Council District since 1975, was elected president of City Council in 1999, becoming the first woman in Philadelphia’s 300-year history to lead the 17-member legislative body.

Council President Verna has long been an advocate for education. As Council President, she has sought more funding for the College, and she has sponsored initiatives to investigate the high drop out rate among Philadelphia youth.

"We must continue to focus resources on our schools since they provide the groundwork for our students to move on to the innumerable choices of colleges and universities available to them in Philadelphia," she said in her Jan. 7 swearing-in speech.

Mayor Nutter, a former Fourth District councilman, has made supporting Community College of Philadelphia and its mission of open access to all a priority of his administration. His first budget submitted to Council in the spring included a recommended increase of $4 million for the College’s next fiscal year.

Council President Verna has indicated her support of the $4 million boost and believes it will pass City Council. Stephen M. Curtis, president of Community College of Philadelphia, has said if the additional funding is approved, the College will freeze student tuition and fees next academic year.

Community College of Philadelphia was a critical gateway to higher education for many of the expected graduates and certificate recipients who will be receiving associate's degrees in the Arts, Applied Science, General Studies and Science, as well as certificates in Addiction Studies, Disability Studies, Family Home Visiting, Human Services, Justice, Management, Social Gerontology and Youth Work.

The College will confer 2,288 degrees and certificates on 1,819 graduates -- an increase from last year's 1,797 degree and certificate recipients. Approximately half of the graduates will go on to attend four-year institutions of learning. Many of the graduates will receive two degrees or certificates.

Among those following the College's path to possibilities is Diana D. Sokeng from Cameroon, who began her studies at the College when she was 16 years old. Today, she is 17 and graduating with a 4.0 GPA. Sokeng has been accepted at Temple University’s Fox School of Business, under the College’s Dual Admissions program. She also has applied and is waiting to hear back from two of the nation’s most prestigious business schools – The School of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University and the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Sokeng discovered the College via a Google search on the Internet. She had graduated from high school in Cameroon four years ahead of schedule and wanted to continue her studies abroad. She was searching for educational opportunities in the Philadelphia area because she has an uncle who lives in Upper Darby.

When she asked her uncle what he knew of Community College of Philadelphia, Sokeng was delighted to discover he was an alumnus. "He told me it was a pretty good school and that I could do well there," she recalled.

Sokeng applied for admission and was accepted. Culture shock initially subdued the teen-ager’s naturally ebullient personality, but she soon dived into College life, becoming a student ambassador and an active member of the Student Government Association.

Her social activities did not distract Sokeng from her studies. The student of economics and political science will graduate with highest honors. "I really want to improve the part of the world that I come from,” Sokeng said. “I plan to work for the United Nations or the World Bank one day."

Sokeng is like thousands of students who start their higher education experience at the College, earn a two-year degree and move on to four-year programs. Mayor Nutter and Council President Verna agree that the College plays a pivotal role in the effort to encourage more Philadelphians to pursue postsecondary education.

The mayor has set a series of aggressive goals that include doubling the number of Philadelphians with college degrees and encouraging more people to re-enroll and complete their degrees. It is part of his broad strategy to change the city’s direction by creating a better educated workforce.
"If we succeed, our city will be richer for it because an educated employee makes more money across a lifetime than a low-skilled worker," Mayor Nutter has said.