Blue Ridge Community College holds commencement

WEYERS CAVE, Va. (WHSV) - Students across the country are celebrating milestones at graduation ceremonies.

On May 11, Blue Ridge Community College held its commencement. College president Dr. John Downey said he believes a lot of people are choosing to get an education at Blue Ridge Community College because of the economic value and the quality of instruction.

“A vast majority of our graduates will be in the transfer program, and most of them will be transferring to 4-year universities to complete their baccalaureate,” he said.

Dr. Downey said most students choose to go through the transfer program, but there are a lot of students in a wide range of career and technical disciplines.

“Everything to aviation maintenance and accounting, to veterinary technology and registered nursing. Typically it’s an associate’s degree, sometimes it is a certificate,” he said. “Those are gateways into a profession directly or a stepping stone to get further education,”

One graduate, Adam Nelson, said he learned about the Transfer Program at BRCC and studied science and engineering. He is transferring to Virginia Tech to continue his education.

“A lot of my friends went here from high school, and we kind of did some research before going to try and make the best decision for what is going to put me in the best league to move forward in life,” said Nelson.

Nelson said the staff at BRCC were wonderful to work with.

“If you do come here, expect some nice friends to meet and good staff to help you along the way,” he said.

Two other students, who will be going to different universities after graduation, said it is fulfilling to make it to graduation day, but there are some things they will miss about their time at BRCC.

“I am definitely going to miss some of the professors and the one-on-one interactions I had with them,” said Johana Ramirez. “I am going to miss them a lot,”

The students said it is never too late, and not everyone’s timeline is the same.

“I had stopped college for a long time and I decided to pursue it again, because I didn’t know what I wanted to do. There is always a chance for people to succeed and to find out what they want to do,” said Ramirez.

Ramirez said anyone can succeed if they believe in themselves and have motivation to do so.