December 1, 2020
Volume 2 | Issue 48
Your Weekly Community College Update
Community colleges play an important role in educating and training current and future generations of workers,
in addition to providing affordable and responsive higher education to thousands of Pennsylvanians every year.
Community Colleges: Helping Students through the Pandemic
"Community colleges have long been innovators and leaders in serving students holistically. The pandemic accelerated higher education’s efforts to support students’ basic needs, like food, housing, technology and general well-being. But community colleges had already been modeling how to do this work for years," writes Michelle Dimino in a recent submission to The Hechinger Report.
Nursing Students Help Non-Profit that Covers Part of Medical Costs
For the fifth consecutive year, nursing students from Butler County Community College (BC3) donated a basket that will be raffled to help a non-profit organization raise money for Butler County families in need. The BC3 nursing students are among 11 external donors that contributed to the Butler Health System Foundation’s Caring Angel basket raffle.
CDL Program Offered to Meet Growing Demand for Truck Drivers
The Community College of Allegheny County is offering a Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) program to help meet the growing demand for truck drivers. The course will be offered in December at the Boyce campus and at the Washington County Center in January. Each program will run for eight weeks, with classes meeting Monday through Friday.
Continuing Coverage
PA Community Colleges Respond to COVID-19 as Situation Evolves
Pennsylvania community colleges continue to evaluate their response to COVID-19. As guidance changes, the most up-to-date information from each community college is available through the Commission's website.
Milestones & Congratulations
Happy (belated) Birthday to Rep. Jonathan Fritz and Rep. Summer Lee. May you both enjoy a happy, healthy year!

In a recent submission to The Tribune-Democrat, Pennsylvania Highlands Community College President Steve Nunez reflects that it would be, "...simple, even easy, to write a column that focuses on the negatives of this year. But at this time of Thanksgiving, I think it’s important to show thanks and appreciation for what we have."