This high-achieving CCP grad came to the United States ‘with nothing.’ But through scholarships, he attended CCP for free and now will do the same at Penn
Daniel Emdin was the only Pennsylvania student to receive the prestigious Jack Kent Cooke undergraduate transfer scholarship.
Daniel “Danny” Emdin struggled early on at Northeast High School in Philadelphia and thought he would likely go straight into the workforce after graduation.
“I didn’t really focus a lot on my academics,” he said. “I was someone who enjoyed doing extracurriculars.”
But that changed — a lot.
Earlier this month, Emdin, 20, graduated from Community College of Philadelphia with a 4.0 GPA and won the prestigious Jack Kent Cooke undergraduate transfer scholarship, which will cover up to $55,000 annually toward his bachelor’s degree for up to three years. He was one of only 60 students nationwide to get the award and the only one from Pennsylvania.
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In August, the aspiring doctor will attend the University of Pennsylvania — an Ivy League school that admits fewer than 5% of applicants — where he will study chemistry or neuroscience. With the scholarship and other financial aid, Emdin said, he will be able to attend Penn for free.
“I’m just very grateful to the CCP community, because if it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t be where I am today,” said Emdin, who got his associate’s degree in chemistry.
Emdin is one of 10 Jack Kent Cooke scholarship winners from CCP since 2011. His older brother, David, was a winner in 2024 and is enrolled at Holy Family University, where he is due to get his bachelor’s degree in biology in December.
Jack Kent Cooke scholarships are “last dollar” awards, meaning they are applied after other aid. The program, which chooses winners based on academic achievement, leadership, and perseverance, also provides advising and access to a community of its scholars.
CCP president Alycia Marshall said the college community is proud of Emdin.
“I had the distinct privilege of witnessing firsthand the strength of his leadership, the clarity of his vision, and the depth of his commitment during his service as Student Government Association president and through his advocacy to elected officials,” she said in a statement. “His impact on CCP is not momentary, it is lasting, and it will continue to shape CCP long after he embarks on the next chapter of his journey.”
Emdin credits his brother with encouraging him to apply to CCP and then for the scholarship.
“Daniel is a superstar,” said David Emdin, 23. “CCP gave him a chance to explore those passions he didn’t know he had.”
Coming to ‘the land of opportunities’
The Emdin brothers came to the United States from Nigeria in 2016 with their mother, Esther, and younger sister, Sharon, who is now a senior at Central High School.
Esther Emdin, who also is enrolled at CCP in the health studies program and is scheduled to get her degree in December, said she made the choice after she lost a fourth child to malaria and was looking for more opportunities for her children.
“We see America as the land of opportunities and a place where you can achieve your dreams,” Daniel Emdin said.
But it was difficult at first because the family arrived in the country “with nothing,” he said, and Esther Emdin worked multiple jobs as a caregiver and health aide to support the family.
Daniel Emdin said his mother “always had a smile on her face and always told us like, ‘Hey, don’t worry about anything. Just focus on your studies.’”
During his freshman year of high school, Emdin said, the pandemic hit and he failed his courses, which were moved to online. His mother was devastated, he said, and he did not want to see that again.
He enrolled in the medical, engineering, and aerospace magnet program at Northeast, and its director, Christopher Frank, became a mentor whom he still talks with regularly.
“We just built a bond over time,” Emdin said. “I started to learn a lot from him.”
Then he got the city-funded Octavius Catto scholarship to attend CCP. Catto scholarships pay for tuition not covered by other aid, as well as money toward food, books, and transportation.
“I didn’t want to live a life of regrets,” Emdin said. “It’s not every day that people get this opportunity. I didn’t want to waste it.”
At CCP, Emdin said, he nurtured his goal of helping his community and serving as a leader. In addition to student government president, he was president of the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society and vice president and cofounder of CCP’s chapter of the American Chemical Society, a student ambassador, and a student researcher in the biotech program. He also served as a volunteer and mentor in other programs.
Emdin said he was on campus from 8 a.m. or 9 a.m. to about 10 p.m. daily during the school week, commuting more than an hour each way by train and bus from Northeast Philadelphia.
“CCP was a like a second home to me,” he said.
He applied to 23 colleges, he said, and was accepted to others besides Penn, including Swarthmore College, Cornell University, and Rice University, all offering full aid packages.
Emdin said he chose Penn so he could remain in the city and be close to his mother. His brother chose Holy Family for the same reason.
Emdin wants to go to medical school and become a “physician policymaker,” he said, both treating patients and helping shape systems that serve marginalized communities. He became interested in medicine after watching his father, an orthopedic surgeon in Nigeria, he said. (His father has not been in his life since the family came to the United States, he said.)
Esther Emdin said she is grateful for the scholarships her sons have received. Her daughter, she said, also received a full scholarship to Holy Family.
“I believe that God just honored my family by giving them scholarships,” she said.
