For 97 years, St. Petersburg College has been a beacon of light in our community, an invaluable and accessible resource for people seeking better lives for their families and fulfillment in their careers.
What grew from a need to provide local students with the chance to receive an affordable college education close to home remains at the forefront of everything we do today: to provide job training and higher learning to Pinellas County residents who seek better jobs, better lives and strong communities.
When we opened our doors as St. Petersburg Junior College on Sept. 12, 1927, we became Florida’s first community college with an initial class of 102 students.
Over the years, we have met the demands of our growing population by opening 11 learning sites across the county and quickly adapting to the changing needs of our local employers. Today’s workforce requires our graduates to be nimble in their thinking and ready to take on new opportunities.
Our approach has been to advance and acknowledge today’s needs for a different kind of education than we offered 97 years ago. Throughout the decades, this mission has been woven into the community’s fabric, as have our graduates.
In the 1940s, the College provided ground training for Navy pilots in World War II and welcomed back the surge of veterans who took advantage of the GI Bill. In the 1950s, we joined the wave of unprecedented growth in Pinellas County and expanded our programs and general education courses.
In 1965, we merged with Gibbs Junior College, the area’s predominantly African American college, knocking down barriers of segregation. By 1977, our student population had exploded to 13,288 students, up from 451 in 1950 and we had granted 25,500 degrees.
In 2001, we were the first community college in the state to offer bachelor’s degrees as we became St. Petersburg College. With the recent approval of three new bachelor’s degrees, our baccalaureate degree count will rise to 22 in Fall 2025.
SPC now serves more than 30,000 students each year in the Tampa Bay area and around the world. We are drivers of the economy and believe the basics of a college degree or certificate should be available to everyone.
Providing avenues for economic mobility is key. We work hard to forge creative corporate partnerships, attain state and federal grants, and fund innovative programs so that more students can afford a college degree.
With the support of our Board of Trustees, we launched the Promise Scholarship in 2023 to expand access to education to students from high-poverty areas. More than 1,000 scholars from eight Pinellas County high schools are taking advantage of our promise to pay their tuition and fees so they can earn degrees unencumbered by debt or worries about how they will pay for college.
Like water in a river that ripples as it flows toward the sea, our approach ripples into our communities as our graduates enter the workforce ready to contribute to the economy and achieve personal goals.
For example, in response to the need for highly skilled workers in advanced manufacturing, we are developing a state-of-the-art training lab at our Midtown Campus thanks to a recent investment of $7.2 million in state grants. By ramping up training in semiconductors, mechatronics, automation and robotics, we will help fill the talent pipeline in Florida and Pinellas County, which ranks second in the state for most manufacturing businesses.
The success of our more than 201,000 graduates tells the story. Our average associate degree graduate earns nearly $20,000 more each year than someone with only a high school diploma or equivalent. Those with bachelor’s degrees make annual earnings of $33,000 more than a high school graduate.
We honored our 97th birthday during SPC Day on Sept. 12 when the college community came together to reflect on St. Petersburg College’s great history, celebrate the achievements of our alumni, students, faculty and staff, and renew our commitment to support SPC’s mission of changing lives through accessible, high-quality teaching and learning experiences. Moving forward, our mission continues: to answer your call for exceptional educational opportunities for all who seek better jobs and better lives.
Dr. Tonjua Williams is president of St. Petersburg College.
