An accountant turned chef. An opera singer now a horticulturist. The son of two Nigerian chiefs. And a man who had to overcome his fear of dead bodies.

        Today, each of the four will call themselves graduates of the 2002 class of Cincinnati State Technical and Community College in Clifton. Nearly 3,000 people are expected to attend the commencement, which begins at 7 p.m. About 975 students are eligible to receive degrees.

Jay Valento works in the kitchen of Trio restaurant. (Craig Ruttle photo) | ZOOM |

        “We are, in the truest sense of the word, a college for all the people in this community,” said Ron Wright, Cincinnati State president.

        The institution is getting a reputation, he said, for consistently providing quality employees to the community and affordable courses for students. Cincinnati State's tuition is $62.50 per credit hour.

        The University of Cincinnati's will be $195 per credit hour in the fall in the school's bachelor's degree programs.

        In today's tight job market, more students are turning to the school, Cincinnati State administrators say, to change careers or take advantage of the 97 percent job placement rate in the co-op programs.

CINCINNATI STATE

• Location: 3520 Central Parkway, Clifton.     • Founded: Chartered by the Ohio Board of Regents in 1969.     • President: Ron Wright.     • Full-time enrollment: 7,500.     • Degrees: 70 associate degrees and 47 certificate programs.     • Student body: Average age is 26; 25 percent are minorities; 54 percent are women.     • Alumni: 16,000.

        Increasing the institution's visibility in the higher education community is also filling the rolls. Full-time student numbers increased 16 percent for the spring term compared to the same time last year.

        To bolster the two-year school's reputation, Dr. Wright has also become the voice that builds partnerships off campus rather than one that directs everyday operations. And many of today's graduates at Cincinnati State say their time at the college was well-spent.

        For Jay Valento, the classes mean tossing up fresh summer vegetables into a succotash instead of crunching numbers as an accountant. Working at E.W. Scripps and Chiquita didn't fulfill this Food Network junkie's love of cooking. So he decided to enroll at Cincinnati State in the culinary program.

        Today, he'll leave with an associate's degree in chef technology.

        He started as a pizza cook at Trio in Kenwood and has been promoted to shift leader, and the one who often creates the nightly features.

        “I'm really glad I did it,” the 31-year-old from Pleasant Ridge said. “It's everything I thought it would be.”

        Heather Wiggins, 26, of Pleasant Ridge has a degree in voice and theater from Indiana University, but discovered through a job at Rentokil Tropical Plant Services that she has a different dream.

Wiggins

Ifeakanwa

Chisley

        “I thought it was too good to be true to get paid to water plants,” she said. “But I found myself falling in love with them, especially tropical plants.”

        She was recently promoted to sales and design at the Blue Ash company and eventually wants to pursue a doctoral degree in soil science.

        Born in Atlanta to Nigerian parents, both of whom are chiefs of their nation, Chimdi Ifeakanwa moved back to Africa when he was 3. But he returned in 1998 to the United States to go to college.

        Unsatisfied with the program at the University of Cincinnati, he chose the computer network engineering program at Cincinnati State.

        He is now working for RHI Consulting in downtown Cincinnati and is building a Web site for the school's human resources department.

        The 22-year-old from Middletown hopes his father, whom he hasn't seen in four years, will be able to fly in from Africa to celebrate his graduation.

        Cincinnati State helped Mr. Ifeakanwa gain practical experience in the computer field and he plans to stay in the United States and work toward his bachelor's degree.

        “With Cincinnati State, the teachers themselves actually are in the fields they teach in,” he said.
       

Cemetery training

        Louis Chisley's road to graduation today began after losing his job of 17 years when Gibson Greeting Cards in Amberley Village closed in 2001. Looking for another career — with the help of a federal training program — he enrolled in cemetery management at Cincinnati State.

        Mr. Chisley, 43, of Roselawn is the first graduate of the program, the first of its kind in the nation. It's a partnership between Cincinnati College of Mortuary Science and Cincinnati State.

        Earning two degrees from the mortuary school and one from Cincinnati State, Mr. Chisley will be qualified to embalm bodies and manage a cemetery.

        Now fulfilling the state requirement to serve as an apprentice for a year, he is working for Thompson Hall and Jordan Funeral Home. It didn't take Mr. Chisley long to overcome his apprehension of dead bodies to embalm more than 50, well beyond the 20 required.

        “I guess I was the right person in the wrong situation making the right choice,” he said. “And here I am at the finish line.”

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