JCC Celebrates Degree Completion Day on Oct. 3

Students attending classes at Jefferson Community College today will find a series of events happening on campus, all designed to encourage them to complete their associate's degree. The events are part of Jefferson's participation in New York State Completion Day, an initiative of all 37 community colleges in New York state, which have a combined enrollment of 335,000.   The 30 State University of New York (SUNY) and seven City University of New York (CUNY) community colleges have set aside Wednesday, October 3, to send a simple message: Students who complete an associate degree have better prospects for jobs, scholarships and transfer to four-year schools.  The state’s community colleges have adopted the slogan of “Commit. Complete. Compete”.

Jefferson has planned a variety of engaging and informative events for students throughout the day.  Students will be asked to take the Completion Day Challenge and sign a large banner pledging to complete their degrees. Exhibits with posters will prompt students to ask how a college degree leads to professional, personal and financial rewards. For example, a display of an ambulance staffed by a Jefferson alum/ paramedic prompts students to ask: “How can a Jefferson degree help save lives?"  Two Completion Cabs, driven by faculty and staff, will give students a ride to class along with a few factoids about the value of completing a degree.   During the Completion Day Carnival, students can visit booths staffed by faculty and staff and play fun games designed to inform students about resources on campus that can assist them with finishing their degree and graduating from Jefferson.  Music, free popcorn, snow cones  and cotton candy along with faculty/staff wearing gear from their alma mater will add to the carnival atmosphere! 

Other Completion Day celebrations from across the state include:

• Cayuga Community College will host a panel featuring recent alumni who will share the struggles they faced in completing their degrees and how their decision to complete has affected their lives.

• Faculty and staff at Corning and Monroe community colleges will wear clothing bearing names of their alma maters and talk to students about what motivated them to graduate.

• Erie Community College alumni who transferred to Buffalo State will talk to current students about their adjustment to a four-year college.

• Fashion Institute of Technology students will visit tables to get information on honor societies, careers, internships, academic support and other topics.

• At Finger Lakes Community College visiting speaker Isa Adney, author of “Community College Success” (March 2012, NorLights Press), will offer advice for making the most of community college. Her presentation will be made available to the other community colleges via webstream.

• At Jamestown Community College, Clinton Community College and many other campuses, members of Phi Theta Kappa, the international honor society for two-year colleges, will ask students to sign a pledge to complete their academic programs.

• Mohawk Valley Community College students can have their photos taken in graduation garb and get a quick review of their credits to determine how close they are to completion.

• Orange County Community College has invited alumni who are prominent in the Middletown community to talk about their paths to success.

• Students at Schenectady Community College have been invited to a lunch to hear the personal stories of successful graduates.

• At Sullivan Community College faculty who are also alumni will talk to students about the benefits of a community college education.

Along with the other SUNY and CUNY schools, Jefferson will share statistics and information with students to boost the case for completion, such as:

• Students who complete an associate degree can expect to earn $400,000 more in a lifetime than a high school graduate. For those who transfer and earn a bachelor’s degree, the figure rises to $900,000. (Source: U.S. Census Bureau)

• An August 2012 report by the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce finds that almost half of the jobs lost in the recession have been recovered and virtually all of those jobs required some form of postsecondary education. (Source: “The College Advantage: Weathering the Economic Storm”)

• New York residents who transfer directly from a SUNY or CUNY two-year college with an associate degree are guaranteed entry to a four-year SUNY college. (Source: SUNY Transfer Guarantee Program Guidelines, Document Number: 3303)

* Fall 2011 enrollment data, SUNY and CUNY combined