We are so proud of your hard-fought victory. Your education is something that nothing and no one, not even a pandemic, can take away from you. Never forget the significance of the achievement we are celebrating this season.
Please enjoy the congratulatory messages and student stories we’ve collected and take some time to reminisce on the memories you’ve made, the lives you’ve touched and the experiences that have brought you here today. You can share your own stories on our Yearbook and Where Will You Go pages.
We look forward to celebrating with you in person as soon as we are able. We will be adding new content to this site from your peers, teachers and community members regularly, so check back often.
Congratulations from Dr. Generals
Congratulations from Mayor Jim Kenney
Graduates, from Frankford to Kingsessing, from Oregon to Olney Ave, Philadelphia applauds you and we have the videos to prove it. Please enjoy these congratulatory messages from some of our favorite Philadelphians and friends of the College.
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Jeremiah J. White, Jr.
Board of Trustees Chair
Community College of Philadelphia -
Kendall Stephens
Class of 2020 Student Speaker
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Michael Banks
Alumni Association President
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Kendra Brooks
Councilmember-at-Large
City of Philadelphia -
Congressman Dwight E. Evans
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Pat Toomey
U.S. Senator for Pennsylvania
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Drs. Joseph and Gwendolyn Williams
Graduates of the first class of Community College of Philadelphia
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Cherelle Parker
Philadelphia City Council, District 9
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Marc Zumoff
76ers Play-by-Play Sportscaster
Congratulations to all our graduates:
We are proud to announce that through their devotion to learning and a love of their field, the following students have earned Community College of Philadelphia’s 2020 Academic Awards:
Andreas Copes
When first he enrolled at Community College of Philadelphia in 2017, Andreas Copes believed he wanted to pursue a degree in Liberal Arts and eventually end up in the field of public relations. Now, as he finishes up his associate degree at Community College of Philadelphia, Copes will move on to the next stage of his academic career having discovered a new career trajectory in journalism and media, and having earned multiple awards and scholarships, work experience and professional connections. An enthusiastic member of the College’s campus community, Copes embraced every opportunity to get involved on campus, proving that higher education can illuminate parts of ourselves we didn’t know existed, and lead us down new pathways.
Tria Jones
Decades ago, Tria Jones had a calling to be a nurse but life kept getting in the way.
Yet, on April 30, 2020, her 40th birthday, Tria took her final exam in Community College of Philadelphia’s Nursing program. She passed and earned her associate degree. She and her 95 classmates now are studying for the NCLEX, the Nursing licensure exam for registered nurses.
Liam Spady
“From a really young age I loved food,” recalls Liam Spady, a recent graduate of Community College of Philadelphia who received his associate degree in Culinary Arts. “I loved cooking, which is what I did because in school, I got kind of bullied. I was always into books... I didn't do what the other guys did. So, I went into the kitchen.”
96 Nursing Students
In a Class By Themselves
The Nursing faculty, led by Dr. Tamika Curry, an assistant professor of Nursing, and Laureen Tavolaro-Ryley, the Independence Foundation Chair in Nursing, helped to organize an online celebration so the close community of learners could gather a final time to say their goodbyes.
