Montgomery County Community College’s held its commencement for the Class of 2024 on May 16th in the college’s Health Sciences Center gym in Blue Bell. The college awarded 1,533 graduates a total of 1,613 degrees and certificates.

The student commencement speaker was Zachary Denmark of Lafayette Hill, who spoke about living with cationic trypsinogen deficiency, or chronic pancreatitis, starting with his diagnosis as age seven. He credits the college for providing him with the “tools to succeed.”

“Even during COVID, when other colleges were on hold, the administration, faculty and staff at Montco held fast to the mission of providing us with the best education possible to keep us moving forward,” Denmark said. “Coincidentally, it was during COVID that I decided to get an insulin pump, and my life changed forever. I realized that biotechnology was my passion and finding non-narcotic technologies to treat chronic pain would be my life’s work. Montco was able to be that starting place for me to feel that passion.”

Following graduation, Denmark will begin a pre-apprenticeship program at The Wistar Institute, where he will work on biomedical technician training. After that, he plans to continue his biotechnology education at Thomas Jefferson University to earn his bachelor’s and master’s degrees.

Photo by David DeBalko