Outstanding student, undervalued school
Bridgeville’s Alysse Dambrot has been named Pennsylvania’s 2022 New Century Workforce Scholar. She’s a second-year student in the Community College of Allegheny County’s physical therapist assistant program.
The award offers a tribute to Ms. Dambrot for being so outstanding a student. It also offers a tribute to CCAC, an often undervalued institution in the Pittsburgh region.
Given by Phi Theta Kappa, the honor society for community college students, the award goes to “the most outstanding workforce-bound student from each state.” Any student in a community college or an associate degree program is eligible. Students are honored not only for academic success but also for leadership, involvement in school activities and application of their education outside the classroom.
Ms. Dambrot speaks enthusiastically of her time at CCAC. She recommends it for a “a cost-effective, quality option for a meaningful education.” Attending CCAC after attending a four-year university, she believes she got the same level of education there as she’d gotten at the university.
The school has also provided “a wealth of new opportunities for me as I prepare to enter the workforce,” she says. She praises the small class sizes and her close relationships with professors and classmates. “I would recommend CCAC to anyone and everyone. It has given me more than I could have ever expected when I applied to the program two years ago.”
Ms. Dambrot’s award gives us a chance to point to an under-appreciated Pittsburgh resource. CCAC educates over 30,000 students in a wide number of subjects. It offers over 150 degree, certificate, diploma and transfer programs. It also offers hundreds of noncredit and workforce development courses.
Significantly, 73% of their graduates leave without any debt, and 40% of their students say they couldn’t have continued their education without the school.
In terms of the influence of its faculty and graduates, CCAC ranked second among community colleges in Pennsylvania, according to a study by the Academic Influence company. CCAC trailed only the tiny and much more expensive Manor College in Jenkintown.
We congratulate Ms. Dambrot for her award and the Community College of Allegheny College for its success in educating the people of Pittsburgh.