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| For Release: IMMEDIATE | Contact: Public Affairs |
| Date: April 5, 2001 |
North Carolina Community College Students Score First Team Academic Honors
RALEIGH: It’s the "National Championship" of Community College and Junior College Academics, and three North Carolina students are on the first team!
KwaiChun Lee Chan, an Education major from Wayne Community College in Goldsboro, Karen Metcalf Rippy, a Secondary Education major from Cleveland Community College in Shelby, and April Layne, an Opticianary major at Durham Technical Community College, have been named to the 2001- 2002 All-USA Academic First Team. They are among 20 students selected from a field of 1,472 from across the country. Each will receive trophies and a $2,500 scholarship from USA TODAY.
North Carolina is the only state to have three students on the First Team recognized today at the American Association of Community Colleges convention in Chicago, Illinois. "The North Carolina participants in the convention are bursting with pride that three first team All Americans are from North Carolina," said North Carolina Community College System President H. Martin Lancaster, who was present for the announcement. "This is an appropriate recognition of the System, the college staff, but most of all, that great students who have chosen to pursue their dream of higher education at one of our fine institutions. We are all very proud of these three great students, but we are also proud of all of our students and their success." There are also 20 students each on the Second and Third Academic Teams.
Chan, 45, is an immigrant from Hong Kong who totally embraced educational opportunities in her new home. A kindergarten teacher in Hong Kong, she plans, after completing her baccalaureate degree, to become an English as a Second Language instructor in her second home. Chan was also named a Centennial Scholar for North Carolina, is a member of Phi Theta Kappa (the national scholastic honorary society for community and junior colleges), and was an Academic Excellence Award winner in 2000.
Rippy, 36, will have three Associate degrees (English, History, Social Science) when she delivers the graduation address at Cleveland CC in May. She has a 4.0 GPA and plans to teach History or English after completing her baccalaureate degree at UNC-Charlotte. She is the Honor Society vice president, was selected as an Outstanding Transfer Student, and will receive the NCCCS Academic Excellence Award in May.
Layne, 23, will continue her education and plans to become an optometrist. She has a 4.0 GPA, is president of the Student Senate, is president of the Scholastic Opticians Association, and will also receive the NCCCS Academic Excellence Award in May.
April is Community College Month. This year community colleges are celebrating a year-long commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the public community college movement, dated from the founding of Joliet Junior College in Illinois.
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