Kicking off the celebration of Community College month this April, four Montgomery County Community College students recently were awarded with statewide honors for their hard work in the classroom.

Students Cheyenne Diehl, Kaitlyn Leister, Sheila McCoy and Christopher Young were named to the 2021-2022 All-Pennsylvania Academic/Workforce Team, which is sponsored by Phi Theta Kappa (PTK), the international honor society for two-year colleges, and the Pennsylvania Commission for Community Colleges.

This recognition honors an exceptional group of community college students who have achieved academic excellence and demonstrated a commitment to their colleges and communities. To qualify, students must have completed at least 36 credits and have a cumulative GPA of 3.5 or higher. McCoy is honored as a workforce pathway scholar. Workforce students must have a minimum of 12 college-level credit hours at a community college and a cumulative GPA of 3.5 or higher.

Students selected to these prestigious honors have taken the many opportunities afforded to them as community college students to begin exciting and worthwhile careers.

Diehl, 28, of Conshohocken, is a liberal studies major studying to become a Hawaiian/Pacific Islander anthropologist. She credits her time at MCCC for giving her the direction she needed to give her life a needed fresh start.

Leister, 19, of Oaks, who now is a student at Millersville University, is the first student to graduate from MCCC’s new Pottstown College Connections Experience (CCE) program, an immersive academic pathways program. CCE immediately connects first-time college students to a full array of resources, including academic, career and financial advising, as well as loaner textbooks and laptops. She credits the help and direction she received to her success today. Leister plans to become a secondary education social studies teacher once she finishes her bachelor’s degree.

McCoy, 52, of Lansdale, is a student at The Culinary Arts Institute at Montgomery County Community College. She decided to go to culinary school after agreeing to a deal that sent her daughter to graduate school. Today this first-generation college student is almost finished her associate’s degree and is looking to one day open a restaurant.  

Young, 26, of Hatfield, graduated from MCCC as a liberal studies major in the January 2022. He’s currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree at Temple University to become a recreational therapist.

“I want to help people,” Young wrote in his application for the team. “I want to help people in a way that I love and enjoy and believe that I really can make a difference in the lives of others. My ideal dream job would be doing recreational therapy working with kids with down syndrome or autism.”

Young did not wish to be featured for this award.

Pennsylvania’s community colleges collaborate with the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) universities to provide scholarships to All-PA Transfer Team members at PASSHE institutions, providing two years of tuition at any PASSHE school.

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