The pomp and circumstance. The students. The stories. The celebration.
Saturday, I stood on stage watching hundreds of students—of all ages and backgrounds—process to their seats, united in the fact that they all achieved something special, something most people in the world have not—a college degree.
The payoff of a State System degree can’t be denied. It provides so many students, more than 700,000 since 1983, with the opportunity to have a high-demand career in their own community or anywhere around the world. Not only can our graduates earn significantly more money throughout their lifetime than those with only high school education, a degree puts them on a path to upward economic mobility. As someone who has spent his career working to educate leaders across the country on initiatives designed to raise educational-attainment levels and to promote economic mobility, especially among low-income and minority students, I’m thrilled to be able to part of these life-changing moments. It’s the icing on the cake for me as chancellor.
Over the next week, we’ll continue to celebrate the achievements of thousands of students who are graduating from our 14 universities. These students are prepared for success by the outstanding faculty and staff who set the bar high and guided them throughout their journey.
As our students succeed, so will our state. Eighty-eight percent of our students come from Pennsylvania, and most will stay here after graduation to join half a million other alumni. Our students are Pennsylvania’s future and we are helping write that future today. Our System Redesign addresses the need to expand the breadth and quality of the educational opportunities we offer students to respond to workforce demands in our state. We will continue to provide all Pennsylvanians with affordable, career-relevant educational pathways into sustaining careers.
Here are just a few examples of our outstanding spring graduates:
- Social work major overcomes adversity thanks to supportive campus community
- Non-traditional student overcomes obstacles to earn degree
- Triplets Graduate Together
- A Family’s Educational Journey
- Student to be first Tesla video production intern
- Nursing Outcomes
- This 60-year-old Philly grandmother lived in the dorms. Now she’s the Class of 2019 valedictorian.
As uplifting as this is, I remain sad and disappointed to see the longstanding support program for disabled students at Edinboro U dismantled. Young people with disabilities are also a disadvantaged minority facing huge barriers to educational attainment. So many young people have found their place, found community, and found a path to independence and educational achievement, in the past 30 years at Edinboro. Programs like this take generations to build, but they can be destroyed overnight. I wish that you, PASSHE, and Edinboro had seen the value of what had been built at Edinboro, seen the importance of your commitment to the "Sitting Scots," and looked for ways to keep the program going. There are success stories that will not be told in your future blog posts, because of this decision.
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