State's Oldest Community College Holds 143rd Commencement

PINELLAS COUNTY, FL — More than 2,000 graduates were awarded associate's degrees during St. Petersburg College's 143rd commencement ceremony Saturday at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg.

The event is SPC’s first in-person commencement ceremony since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Graduates from over the past two years who did not have the opportunity to participate in a traditional ceremony were invited to attend.

"Today was filled with so many celebratory moments, and it was especially wonderful to have an in-person commencement ceremony once more," said SPC President Tonjua Williams. "Congratulations again to the class of 2022 as well as our graduates from 2021 and 2020 who joined us at Tropicana Field this morning."

Founded in 1927, St. Petersburg College is Florida's first community college. With this graduating class, SPC has awarded 192,291 degrees.

This year, the college’s youngest graduate was 16 years old, the oldest was 74 years old and 16 graduates were over the age of 60.

Garrick Roe, the Alumni Achievement Award winner, the highest honor a bachelor’s degree graduate can achieve at the college, was the speaker at the commencement ceremonies.

"I started in 2014 as a dropout with a GED and decided to see if I could be the best student I could be," said Roe. "I’ve been writing this speech for about 5 years now."

At the age of 49, Roe is the first to graduate college in his immediate family.

While attending St. Pete College, Roe founded the Permaculture Club, which led to him starting the Food Forest Project to provide food for food-insecure communities with limited access to fresh fruits and vegetables.

"There wasn't a horticulture program here at SPC at the time so I kind of created my own," he said. He developed a self-sustaining 350-square-foot food forest using recycled materials. The food forest produces fruits, vegetables and herbs available to residents living in food deserts, communities that lack grocery stores and access to fresh produce.

Now, with his newly minted bachelor's degree in public policy in hand, he plans to start similar food forests in other parts of the community. He's already received the blessing of the St. Petersburg City Council.

Roe is also planning to get his master's degree at the University of South Florida.

"This is me putting my bachelor's degree in public policy to real-world use, " he said, adding that it's never too late to create a legacy of public service. "The food forest behind is a great resource to leave. It feels good to show everybody that it’s not too late to go back, that you really can change your life. Just decide what you love and go to school for it and do it."

Patricia Roberts also spoke at the commencement. She is the Apollo Award winner, which is the highest honor an associate degree graduate can achieve.

Dr. Stephen Montague of the Class of 1963 was named this year's Outstanding Alumnus.

Montague studied piano and music theory while at St. Petersburg Junior College and went on to win a Fulbright Fellowship to study music composition in Poland. He has been a London-based freelance classical composer, pianist and conductor for nearly 50 years and tours worldwide.

His numerous prizes include the UK’s Composers Hall of Fame, The London Dance and Performance Award for Outstanding Creative Achievement in Music, The International Piano Award for Best New Piano Music Recording for his album, "Southern Lament," first prize at the Bourges International Contemporary Music Competition in France, among others.

SPC awarded:

A broadcast of the commencement is available on the college’s YouTube channel.