Community College of Philadelphia is proud to maintain strong connections with many local four-year institutions to make transferring easy and successful for CCP students interested in continuing their education. In particular, CCP’s relationships with schools in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) allow students to pursue additional degrees with ease and at affordable costs.

Keyonna Brinkley, ’22, knew she wanted to go to Millersville University from the day she first visited its campus during a school trip in 9^th grade. She originally started her educational career at CCP in 2013 studying Education but quickly realized that field wasn’t for her. In 2020, Keyonna came back to school at CCP to start her college career again, this time majoring in Behavioral Health and Human Services. In her time at CCP, Keyonna became very close with many of the professors in her major. When it came time to figure out plans for after graduation, Keyonna knew immediately that she wanted to transfer to Millersville to attain her bachelor’s degree in Social Work.

“The transition just came super easy because I knew that I already wanted to go to Millersville,” Keyonna said. “So, when I found out they had an online format and that I would be able to be accommodated with my work schedule, then it was like, ‘ok, that’s where I'm going.’”

Originally, Keyonna thought she would take some time off from her educational journey between graduating from CCP and starting at Millersville. But when Commencement came around, she shifted her mindset. “It didn’t make sense.” Keyonna said. “I was like, ‘why stop here? You got the opportunities; you got people in your corner.’ So, it just felt right to go straight into it.”

Now, Keyonna is set to graduate with her Master of Social Work degree in August of this year. She said that she is excited about the possibility of one day returning to CCP to teach alongside the very professors who taught and supported her.

For Tamisha Hardee, the idea of transferring to a four-year college was instilled in her early on during her education in the Nursing department at CCP. She recalls West Chester University’s consistent presence and support being the main reason why she transferred there for her bachelor’s degree.

“They were proactive about coming to the school and letting us know what the requirements were for transfer.” said Tamisha. “So, because of that I was able to take 90 credits at CCP and then transfer to West Chester and only have to take 30 credits.”

After graduating from CCP in 2016, Tamisha started a nursing job at Hahnneman Hospital and transferred to West Chester at the same time. Tamisha said she was grateful to be able to do this, because the hospital paid for her tuition.. After finishing her bachelor’s degree at West Chester, she went on to pursue a master’s degree from Western Governors University. And now, Tamisha has come full circle—she’s back to CCP as a full-time faculty member in our Nursing department.

“I never ever thought I would be full-time faculty and lecturing,” Tamisha said. “But I like the connection I get to have with multiple students. I feel like I can be more helpful to students because I have personal experience with CCP being in the program.”

CCP has several success stories from students like Keyonna and Tamisha who transferred to PASSHE schools and earned a bachelor’s degree, some who continued their educational journeys. CCP is proud to offer pathways for students to achieve their goals on campus and afterward, whether at another college campus or right back here teaching alongside their first college professors.

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.