Commencement Is A Family Affair For Several Community College Grads

Provided by Bucks County Community College:

At Bucks County Community College’s 49th annual commencement Thursday, three families will have multiple reasons to celebrate. A mother and her twin sons from Warminster will receive degrees, another mother-son pair from Churchville will graduate, and twin brothers from Warrington will continue on a parallel career track that began in high school.

The Danihels: Mother, twin sons, and a ‘revolving door’

Florence “Patty” Danihel of Warminster had long loved working as an assistant teacher at St. Andrew Preschool in Warminster. She decided to return to Bucks, where she had earned an associate degree in secretarial studies back in 1983, in order to earn a second degree – called a Program of Study award – in early education, a credential that has qualified her to be promoted to lead teacher.

She was inspired to return at age 51 when she read a graduation story about a woman who, at age 64, had earned her degree at Bucks and was transferring to Kutztown University.

“I thought, ‘maybe I can do this,’” Danihel recalled. “I enrolled that fall, taking one or two courses at a time. It has been so gratifying to finally achieve this goal, even though it has been nine years in the making.”

Meanwhile, her 22-year-old identical twin sons, Kevin and Brian Danihel, enrolled at Bucks about three years ago and will be graduating alongside their mother. Kevin is earning an associate degree in small business management and plans to transfer to Liberty University in Virginia to complete his bachelor’s degree, while Brian is earning an associate degree in graphic design and plans to transfer to Temple University’s Tyler School of Art. Both graduated high school in 2012 from Philadelphia Montgomery Christian Academy in Erdenheim, Pa.

Danihel describes her house as a constant revolving door for the past few years, as both sons worked to pay for their cars, car insurance and tuition and attended classes, while she worked at the preschool and attended class at night. “We’d sometimes pass each other in the parking lot” at Bucks, she said with a laugh.

The Mooneys: ‘Friendly competition’ between mother and son

Mary Mooney of Churchville had worked in education for many years, including her current position helping special-needs children for the Bucks County Intermediate Unit.

She always wanted to continue her own education, and took courses as her schedule allowed, working toward an associate degree as a paraprofessional instructional assistant. But the pace sped up when her 26-year-old son, Thomas Mooney, enrolled in the associate degree nursing program at Bucks.

“He was always much more competitive than me,” she says of her son, a 2006 graduate of Council Rock High School South, where he was a track star who set school records that still stand. “He would tease me that ‘I’m going to graduate before you do.’”

That sparked a friendly, lighthearted competition between mother and son, and in fact inspired each of them to work harder toward their academic goals. Thomas, who is married with two children, moved his family back home when he decided to return to school to change careers and become a nurse. All three generations of the family will be at commencement to cheer them on.

The Servis Twins: parallel culinary career paths

Identical twins Nicolas and Stephen Servis of Warrington have followed parallel career paths since they were 16, when they enrolled in the culinary arts program at the Middle Bucks Institute of Technology in Jamison. After graduating from Central Bucks High School South, the brothers became full-time students at Bucks in the college’s highly regarded hospitality and tourism program, while also working full-time as cooks in a Warrington restaurant. Now 20, they will once again be side by side when they graduate with associate degrees Thursday.

Commencement is ‘All in the Family’

All three families will celebrate their achievements at 6 p.m. Thursday, May 21, in the Gymnasium on the Newtown campus. They are among 1,048 graduates that comprise the class of 2015. A live-steaming webcast of the ceremony is available at www.bucks.edu/news/commencement. Commencement speakers include Bucks alumnus Jim Bishop, founder, owner, and CEO of the Cornerstone Clubs; student speaker Alexandria Flor, and college president Stephanie Shanblatt.