Press Release

Street Named for Bunker Hill Community College Graduate Killed in Afghanistan

Friday, August 5, 2011

Governor Deval L. Patrick has signed legislation to name a street in Salem, Massachusetts, in honor of a Bunker Hill Community College alumnus killed in action in Afghanistan. James A. Ayube, a Salem resident, graduated from Bunker Hill Community College in 2007 with an associate degree in sociology.

Sergeant Ayube, a U.S. Army medic, was killed by a suicide bomber during a combat mission on December 8, 2010.  The street, Sergeant James Ayube Memorial Drive, will commemorate Sergeant Ayube’s service to the nation.  Ayube, 25, was the recipient of a Bronze Star and Purple Heart.  He had served previously in the Iraq War.

Lloyd Sheldon Johnson, a professor in the Behavioral Science Department at the College, remembered Ayube as “a wonderful and sensitive student who had a focus and a force that were infectious.” 

Bunker Hill Community College currently enrolls more than 400 veterans of the U.S. armed forces.  The College offers a seminar geared to the concerns of veterans, and has recently opened a Veterans Center to help student veterans with GI Bill benefits, academics and health services.

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About Bunker Hill Community College
Bunker Hill Community College is the largest community college in Massachusetts, enrolling approximately 18,000 students annually. BHCC has two campuses in Charlestown and Chelsea, and a number of other locations throughout the Greater Boston area. BHCC is one of the most diverse institutions of higher education in Massachusetts. Sixty-five percent of the students are people of color and more than half of BHCC's students are women. The College also enrolls nearly 600 international students who come from 94 countries and speak more than 75 languages.