Blue Ridge Community College graduated more than 500 students this year, among the largest classes ever.

In print and online, over the airwaves and in the social marketing realms of facebook and twitter, graduation stories abound. Uplifting stories of personal triumph go hand in hand with pomp and circumstance.

And this year, more than ever, community colleges appear to be getting their share.

Older students go back to school and succeed beyond bounds, like Central Virginia Community College’s Kathleen Fort, who graduates not only from CVCC but from four-year Randolph University at the same time – with a 4.0 at each.  Graduating together with her son, reports the Lynchburg News & Advance, she put together an art studio degree at the private university with a technology-driven graphic arts degree at CVCC.

David Dutton, a Lord Fairfax Community College alum, is now making news as a featured graduate at the University of Mary Washington – proof that community college is a prudent and productive step to a bachelor’s degree. Hearing disabled, he put together an American Sign Language club at Lord Fairfax, then did the same at his four-year university, where he also petitioned to have ASL classes meet foreign language requirements.

Both of these students received honors at their community colleges – including a trip to Richmond as a member of the exclusive “top 10 community college students in Virginia” team sponsored by PTK each spring.

Then there are the students who earn their associate’s degree and graduate from high school the same spring: like PDCCC’s Lindsay Crews.

And the students, like TCC’s Jason Elliott, who find — that despite any previous misperceptions — community colleges are a great place to start.

These stories are among many others.

Graduation stories may seem legion this year partly because the number of graduates themselves has been increasing at a faster rate over the past two years. Final numbers aren’t in for 2010, but the number of graduates jumped up 7 percent for 2009 and 7 percent for 2008 – after a number of years of smaller percent increases. With spring enrollments up 10 percent, it’s no wonder many of Virginia’s Community Colleges are calling this year’s class among the largest graduating classes ever.

Guaranteed transfer agreements that require an associate’s degree may be kicking in for the university-bound; shorter term certificate programs, also on the increase, are appealing for job seekers in a poor economy.

Or perhaps today’s community college graduates are increasingly the microcosm of a more diverse age.

– posted by Susan Hayden