Hampton City Council Ceremonial Session Recognizes Dual Enrollment Students and Proclaims Teacher Appreciation Week - May 13, 2026
Hampton City Council Ceremonial Session – May 13, 2026
Mayor Jimmy Gray called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m. with all council members present except Councilman Randy C. Bowman, Sr., who was on vacation. The sole ceremonial agenda item was the recognition of 69 Hampton City Schools dual enrollment students who earned associate degrees before their high school graduation. The session also included the reading of a proclamation declaring May 4–8, 2026, as Teacher Appreciation Week.
Ceremonial Items – Recognition of Dual Enrollment Students
- Mayor Gray welcomed attendees, including school board member Joseph C. Kilgore, Superintendent Dr. Raymond Haynes, and other school division leaders.
- The mayor noted that the 69 students collectively saved their families an estimated $730,470 in tuition, fees, and textbooks by completing college credits through the dual enrollment program with Virginia Peninsula Community College.
- Brian Marcese, marketing and outreach coordinator, highlighted the program’s growth from two students in 2018 to 69 students in 2026, calling the achievement a testament to student dedication and educator support.
- Each student was called by name, received a certificate, and posed for a photograph with council members.
- City Manager Mary Bunting remarked that no other school division in Virginia had produced 69 associate-degree-earning high school students at one time, and she praised the students for making the city proud.
- Mayor Gray read a proclamation designating May 4–8, 2026, as Teacher Appreciation Week in Hampton, honoring educators’ contributions.
Key Outcomes
- The council recognized all 69 dual enrollment students (full list included in the minutes).
- The mayor signed and presented the Teacher Appreciation Week proclamation.
- The meeting adjourned at 5:59 p.m.
Meeting Transcript
Good evening, everyone, and uh welcome to uh the Hampton City Council ceremonial session. Um I'd like to welcome everyone to this special ceremony tonight, and I'm pleased to welcome uh many of the uh students from our dual enrollment program at Hampton City Schools are joining us tonight. We have 69 outstanding dual enrollment students, and these uh young people have diligently work on diligently work to earn their associates' degrees, which they will receive on Thursday evening before they have received their high school diplomas at their commencement ceremony. So uh let me all mention to you the staggering number since these students accomplish this within their high school environments instead of paying college tuition, it represents a significant savings for their parents if they go on to college. Uh the sum total of 730,470 dollars is how much they've saved your parents, and let me repeat that that number 730,457 dollars that you save with uh the credits you've earned in high school. Congratulations to all of you. So before I get started, I want to uh acknowledge uh some of our school board uh school division leadership with us this evening. We have uh from uh school board, Mr. Joe Kilgore. Thank you. Thank you for joining us and uh from the school division leadership. We have Dr. Raymond Haynes, Superintendent, Dr. John Caggiano, Deputy Superintendent and Chief of Staff. We have Miss Shamika Pollett, Chief of Secondary School Leadership. Uh Dr. David Cochley, executive principal. And we have Miss Woodruff, Helen Woodruff. I can't see you over there. Good. How are you doing? Uh she's the Academy of Principal. And uh Dr. Love Doll Steele, is she with us this evening? How are you doing? Good. Thank you for being here. All right, we have a lot of ground to cover this evening as we present the recognition certificates, and uh, we do need to move through it quickly so that everyone has an opportunity to be recognized. So our council members will join me in front of the day as to congratulate our students. But I'm also going to ask that we not individually shake hands. We've already talked about that part. Our clerk will call the students' name in alphabetical order. Doc uh Mr. Brian Marcase will give all the students their certificate, and then we'll ask each of them to join us in the middle of the council members for a photograph. And the parents, you may feel to run up and uh take a photograph of uh your student uh at the appropriate time. So with that, I am going to turn it over to our marketing and outreach coordinator Brian Marcese, who will take it from here. Brian. Thank you, Mayor, Vice Mayor, members of council, city manager, and city attorney. Tonight is something we get to do that's genuinely exciting. We get to recognize 69 students who decided that high school wasn't enough of a challenge for them. Um they're getting their associate's degree before their high school diploma. When Hampton City Schools partnered with Virginia Peninsula Community College to launch the AIDS Academy, the idea was to give students who are ready for more the opportunity to pursue a college degree alongside their high school diploma. Everybody, this is a lot of people. Um in 2018, two students proved that this could be done. Tonight, as you can see from the crowded chambers, 69 students have shown just how far the idea has come. These students who balance the demands of high school, the sports, the activities, the friendships, the ordinary chaos of just being a teenager, while simultaneously completing a full two-year college degree. It's unimaginable, and they will receive their associate's degree tomorrow, an entire month before they walk across the stage for their high school graduation. That's not an accident, it's a decision that they made every single day to show up and do the work to their families here tonight. You know what this journey is actually look like. You guys saw the late nights, the early mornings.
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