Joe Morris, a member of Community College of Philadelphia’s first graduating class, remembers his days at the College fondly, and is grateful for the educational and overall life skills he gained while at the College. After graduating from CCP, Morris pursued a robust career in health care and eventually went on to obtain an MBA in Health Administration from Temple University.

“I would say it taught me to be self-reliant,” Morris said about his experience at the College. “And to always be looking for the answer and to explore various avenues to get to that answer, and to consult with others and find out their ideas.”

Morris has used these skills in all of his professional roles, including an air pollution control analyst, a professional liability consultant, an analyst with the New Jersey Department of Health and eventually became Assistant Health Commissioner with the NJ Department of Health. He also worked as the project manager for diagnosis-related groups during a time when the State of New Jersey was experimenting with how to pay hospitals differently for Medicare. “In [January] 1980, we implemented the first set of 26 hospitals,” Morris said. “And it was a success. Medicare adopted it three years later, and they still use it to this day.”

After decades of a successful career following a strong launch from CCP, Joe Morris hopes that the College continues to provide important educational opportunities to the entire Philadelphia community, making it, "possible for some individuals to actually achieve and have a career that they might not otherwise have.”

Sequoia Alldun recently completed Community College of Philadelphia’s Welding program and is now working in an apprenticeship at the Philadelphia Navy Yard. Sequoia grew up around welding because her dad was a mechanic, and when she moved to Philadelphia, she figured she’d give the profession a try herself. CCP was a fast and affordable option to get her started.

Now in her apprenticeship, Sequoia feels like CCP prepared her for the different kinds of welding that she has encountered. “I think preparing for the work I'm doing now is quite difficult, but it prepared me with the knowledge of welding for the different jobs that we could have,” Sequoia said. “But the work we did at CCP outside of the classroom in the welding booths was a pretty on-spot training for getting us ready to take the tests and to start welding.”

Sequoia is grateful for the knowledge that she gained at CCP and for the inclusive space she felt it gave her. “Just the culture at CCP was really nice,” Sequoia said. She appreciated that there was so much diversity in her program. “No one in my class had the same experience or background at all,” she said. “We had a teacher, someone just out of high school...a mechanic, a foreman from a shop. Like everyone was from a different field...which was really refreshing.”

Sequoia has about three years left of her apprenticeship at the Navy Yard. Once that is completed, she will be considered a journeyman, which will set her on a path for further upward mobility or shifting to a different industry.