By Steve Tawa

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — It was full circle today for actor Tony Danza, the former “Taxi” and “Who’s the Boss” star whose experience as an English teacher at Northeast High School was captured in the reality show, “Teach.”

Danza returned today for the graduation of the students he taught as sophomores two years ago.

“You guys have done what many students your age have not done: you finished high school and graduated,” he told those assembled for the ceremonies — girls on one side, dressed in red, and boys on the other, in black. “But you have to know this is not the end — it’s just the very, very beginning.”

(Tony Danza addresses graduates of Northeast High School. Credit: Steve Tawa)

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On the Vikings’ football field, students performed a musical number. Danza stood up, waved his hands over his head, got emotional, then sat back down with a satisfied smile.

“All but two are going on to continue their education,” he noted afterward of his former advisees. “And I’m all over those two — still on them. The others are going on to really great schools — Penn, Drexel, and Temple. Really good schools.”

One of Danza’s former students, 17-year-old Tammy Sloan, said she was grateful for the experience.

“He not only taught us what we needed to learn in English, but he also taught us many life lessons that I still use today,” she tells KYW Newsradio. “I’m very thankful.”

Janae Rockemore, 17, who is going to Temple in the fall, agrees.

“It was a phenomenal experience. I learned a lot and had fun there.”

Danza says he enriched his own life by being a part of theirs. He has a book coming out in August, titled, I’d Like to Apologize to Every Teacher I’ve Ever Had: My Year at Northeast High.