For Natalia Quinteros, Community College of Philadelphia was a beacon of discovery and the beginning of her roadmap to founding and running Philadelphia Small Works, a multipurpose art gallery space in Fishtown.

After graduating from Philadelphia High School for Girls in 2000, Natalia attended CCP and took classes in all kinds of disciplines: art history, geology and photography. After taking a liking to artistic design elements like composition and perspective, Natalia finally settled on our Architecture program, a great mix of her creativity and aptitude for precision.

“My dad is a contractor, so I was around a lot of construction growing up. It’s hard to explain, but it kind of just made sense at the time,” Natalia said about choosing the architecture program.

“In the same way that I was taking a lot of classes at CCP, I said, 'Let me just try architecture,’ and my first semester in that department...I loved it,” Natalia continued.

After graduating from CCP in 2010, Natalia attended the University of Pennsylvania, where she earned not only a bachelor’s degree in Architecture, but a master’s degree as well.

“It was really an excellent program,” said Natalia of CCP’s architecture program. “It’s intimidating to go from CCP to Penn for a variety of different reasons, but I felt super equipped to do that.”

After finishing her master’s, Natalia worked in architecture and urban planning in Philadelphia for about 10 years before she started to feel a bit uninspired by the real estate development design work she was doing. That’s when she noticed a job opportunity with the Philadelphia Museum of Art for an exhibition designer role. After five years designing spaces for the museum’s special exhibitions program, Natalia decided it was time for her to go her own way.

In 2023, Natalia founded and opened Philadelphia Small Works. She runs the gallery along with Damon Bain, principal artist, curator and fine arts instructor, and Heather Bowlan, literary director, events curator and press manager. While Natalia focuses on designing the space to enhance each exhibition, Damon is the visual artist who helps curate the works; and Heather tackles the creative writing aspects of their gallery experience, coordinating writing workshops and open mic nights, amongst other writing-focused activities.

Though it’s been over a decade since Natalia was a student at CCP, she still holds on to her art history books, referencing them when she’s designing gallery exhibitions and curating artwork. She’s also held on to friends from CCP.

Natalia said, “One of the friends I made that first semester in the architecture program at CCP was just here at the gallery two weeks ago doing a workshop with us.”

When she first set foot on campus, Natalia had no idea she’d one day be opening and running her very own art gallery. CCP gave Natalia the space to explore her interests and find out what she really wanted to do academically and professionally. And given the chance, Natalia said she would not change a single thing about the pathway that got her there.

When Miyah Campbell first came to Community College of Philadelphia, she was not sure what she wanted to study or what she wanted to do, but she knew that she wanted to pursue a career path with greater stability and security. At the time, she was working at a hotel and caring for her daughter as a single mother. Now, she has three college degrees, works as a licensed social worker and is pursuing her doctorate in Social Work.

Miyah first considered attending CCP after her graduation from YouthBuild Charter School in Philadelphia. YouthBuild’s mission is to empower out-of-school youths to develop skills and connect them to opportunities by fostering an environment of love, support, and respect for their whole person. Miyah’s graduation ceremony was held on CCP’s campus, which inspired her to look into enrolling.

“I remember my daughter, at the time, was going to a Montessori school,” Miyah said. “And I was looking at the parents in that community, and they were all working professionals. And I was like, ‘Let me see what schools I might like.’”

Miyah enrolled at CCP and began her higher educational journey with general education courses. “I think that CCP was like a boot camp. I think because I made it there, the other schools, to me, were easier,” Miyah said in hindsight. "I think I definitely learned about the resources that are available at the college level.”

With a few CCP courses under her belt, Miyah realized she wanted to major in the helping field after a friend asked her what she was studying at CCP. “I want to do something like the Dixon House,” Miyah told her friend, and they suggested she take some courses in the Behavioral Health and Human Services department.

The Dixon House, a Diversified Community Services property that serves as a nonprofit, multipurpose social service agency, gives families and children the opportunity to be self-sufficient in their neighborhoods. Miyah saw how impactful the Dixon House was in her own neighborhood and was inspired to attain a similar career.

While she currently works at a dialysis clinic with patients who have End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD). Miyah eventually aims to help young people. In her doctoral program at Widener University, she is planning to focus her research on social media and its effect on young people, specifically relating to gun violence prevention.

“That’s what I would love to do. To work with youth, or work with some type of organization to develop programming around it. Because if I’m engulfed in that literature and research, I will have the tools to address it,” Miyah said.

Throughout Miyah’s academic journey, faculty, staff and mentors have encouraged her to keep going and to lead with her whole self. She said one of the most important things CCP taught her was how to find and utilize student resources. She did that by asking questions and maintaining authenticity. She reflected on this process, saying that not being afraid to ask questions has contributed to much of her success. Miyah said recognizing her own authenticity and carrying it with her all these years has not only kept her pushing forward, but has helped her connect to those that she serves more effectively.

“I find it so important to show up as who you are, because people could take from that and learn,” she said. Miyah hopes to be able to help others by being her authentic self in the same way many of her professors and mentors at CCP, La Salle and Widener have done for her.

After many ups and downs and a lot of hard work, Olivia is now thriving at CCP as a Biology major.

This semester, Olivia also received two prestigious scholarships at CCP. The first is a $1,500 award from the American Association of University Women-Lansdale Branch Scholarship, which is given to women entering their final semester. The second scholarship, the Muriel Shapp Award, is given to students majoring in Biology, and Olivia received $925.

Additionally, Olivia was selected to be part of the Bucknell Community College Scholars Program this past summer and plans to transfer to Bucknell University in the fall of 2025 to pursue a bachelor's degree in Neuroscience, with a minor in Biology.

Though her journey has not been linear, Olivia says, “I’ve learned that that is the beauty of life, and I am excited to see where it takes me.”