BHCC Student Takes Winning Video to Washington D.C.

News provided by

Apr 08, 2010, 11:35 ET

BOSTON, April 8 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Dennis Medina, a Boston police officer attending Bunker Hill Community College, is one of five winners of a video competition for non-traditional students. Medina, along with four other winners, will travel to Washington D.C. in mid-April to meet with federal legislators and policymakers to discuss federal initiatives for helping students complete college.

The five winning videos were chosen from 200 entries in the "Take America to College" nationwide competition. The competition was sponsored by Purple States, a media company that dramatizes what is at stake for the public in policy decisions, in conjunction with Banyan Branch, a media marketing group, and DCTV, a media arts organization that works to expand public access to the electronic media arts. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation provided funding for the project.

In his video, Medina recounts his repeated efforts to secure a college degree, stating that family responsibilities often got in the way of fulfilling his educational dreams. With a somber, policeman's voice, his video-story tells of his hopes and struggles: "When I was employed by the Corrections Department I started taking college classes again, but money got tight, and life got in the way. When I moved to the Boston Police Department, I realized that without a college degree I couldn't further my career. I can only take one or two classes a semester -- night classes, sometimes midnight classes."

Medina's video – along with the other winning entries – can be viewed at http://www.takeamericatocollege.com.

Bunker Hill Community College is the largest community college in Massachusetts. The College enrolls more than 11,700 students on two campuses and at five satellite locations. BHCC is one of the most diverse institutions of higher education in Massachusetts. Six in ten students are people of color and more than half of BHCC's students are women. The College also enrolls more than 690 international students who come from more than 95 countries and speak 75 different languages.

SOURCE Bunker Hill Community College