Uncategorized

College officials hand-delivers scroll to busy, working graduate at family restaurant

Study International Staff

31 May 2017

Like many students who attend HACC, Jenny was balancing the responsibilities of supporting her family while pursuing her associate degree. Source: Shutterstock

When Ruzhou Tang, known to her friends as Jenny, was too busy helping out at her parents’ restaurant to attend her own graduation ceremony earlier this month, the ceremony came to her instead.

Four officials from the Harrisburg Area Community College (HACC) in Central Pennsylvania, in full academic regalia, took Tang’s degree with them to her family’s No 1 Szechuan restaurant in Red Lion and presented the scroll to the graduating senior there.

“Like many students who attend HACC, Jenny was balancing the responsibilities of working and supporting her family while pursuing her associate degree,” the college’s president, John Sygielski, said in a press release, as reported by USA College Today.

“It was our privilege to honour her hard work and the 4.0 GPA she earned in a special way.”

https://twitter.com/USATODAYcollege/status/869752013067702273

The three other officials from HACC were vice-president Darrlyn Jones, dean of academic affairs Marjorie Mattis, and business director Kathleen Brickner.

Tang works as a translator for her parents at the restaurant.

The student at the York Campus of HACC was 10 years old when her family immigrated from China to the United States. She graduated from Dallastown High School and later enrolled in the community college’s business administration programme.

HACC, established in 1964, is the first and largest of community colleges in Pennsylvania. According to its website, 54,761 students graduated from HACC as of June 30, 2015, and the institution currently has 19,000 degree-seekers and more than 6,000 workforce development students.