Yesterday, Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT) President and CEO J. Noah Brown spoke to graduates of Atlantic Cape Community College (ACCC) in Cape May, New Jersey. Brown encouraged graduates to “be prepared to learn everything you can, find your passion in life, know what makes you happy, and be entrepreneurial in your outlook.”Optimism was a clear theme at the graduation ceremony. Student Government Association President Benjamin Dailey of Absecon, 26, an Iraq war veteran who earned an A.S. in general studies with high honors, told the graduates: “Don't even worry about making the right decision. Rather, make your decision right...The only way to be happy and feel truly successful is by doing the things that make you proud.”
“Passion,” Brown said, “is a key ingredient for success and achievement.” He also encouraged graduates to move ahead in their lives with confidence, to “be an agent for change,” and to be lifelong advocates of community colleges, suggesting that they "help others understand community colleges put wings on dreams.”
Dr. Peter L. Mora, ACCC president, presented honorary associate degrees to Brown, along with Robert J. Boyer, past chairman of the ACCC Board of Trustees; The Honorable Joseph Silipena, former chairman of the Atlantic County Board of Chosen Freeholders; and H. Robert Switzer, a long-standing municipal court judge who served as is this year's Beacons by the Sea Visiting Professor.
The Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT) is a non-profit educational organization of governing boards, representing more than 6,500 elected and appointed trustees who govern over 1,200 community, technical, and junior colleges in the United States, Canada, and England. For more information, go to http://www.acct.org/.
Atlantic Cape Community College enrolls more than 6,500 for-credit students from Atlantic and Cape May counties in New Jersey. For more information, go to http://www.atlantic.edu/.
