Emily Ramirez of Lawrence has been elected the student representative to the NECC Board of Trustees.

A 2010 graduate of Lawrence High School, she is majoring in engineering science and also working on certificates in help desk and electronic equipment technology.

Ramirez, who works 30 hours a week at Best Buy as a member of its Geek Squad, is interested in transferring to a four-year institution to study electrical or computer engineering after graduating from Northern Essex. This year she hopes to start an engineering club at the college.

With a longstanding interest in science, she would like to eventually become a teacher.

Ramirez is the president of the NECC Student Senate, but her term will expire when she joins the trustees July 1.

“Being a part of NECC’s Student Senate helped shaped me,” Ramirez said. “I learned a lot about myself and met so many people. I’m looking forward to continuing my involvement with the college as a member of the board of trustees.”

The NECC Board of Trustees includes nine members who are appointed by the governor of the state to a maximum of two five-year terms as well as an alumni-elected member, who also serves a maximum of ten years, and a student trustee who serves for two semesters.

Nancy Sabin of Plaistow, NH, a Northern Essex Community College retired dean of enrollment services received an emeritus award during the college’s 51st annual commencement exercises last month.

Sabin, who continues to teach computers science at NECC on a part-time basis, began working at the college as a work-study student in 1970. She worked in many departments throughout the college before retiring in 2010. Sabin spent her entire career as a Northern Essex Community College employee. During that time she has helped thousands of students secure funding to make attending college possible. Sabin had a special affinity for working with veterans.

“Over the years Nancy served as a role model for students and other staff, continuing her own education part time while working full time,” said NECC President Lane Glenn before bestowing her with the title of Assistant Dean, Emerita of Enrollment Services.

Herself a graduate of Northern Essex, Sabin went on to earn a bachelor’s in computer information systems from New Hampshire College and a Master of Business Administration degree from Plymouth State College.

At Northern Essex, the rank of emeritus is an honor that recognizes sustained excellence in performance, character, and meritorious service to the college. Emeritus status is given to a retired college employee based on recommendations by the college’s emeritus committee and approved by President Glenn.

When the NECC Knights baseball team clinched the regional tournament in May, the first thing sophomore Derek Dolan said was “We have to call Peanut.”

 

“Peanut” is the young man who the team met May of last year when they traveled to Tyler, TX for the NJCAA Division III World Series and volunteered at a free little league baseball clinic. The mutual admiration between the team and the then 13-year-old was immediate. Long after the team returned home, teammates stayed in touch with Peanut making sure he was doing well in school and on the diamond.

So, when the Knights learned they were headed for Tyler, TX again this year, the first person they contacted was Peanut. Once in Texas, the Knights sophomores introduced the freshman players to Peanut and once again the mutual admiration club was formed. He attended every game and sat in the dugout as the unofficial team mascot.

When the team and Peanut said their goodbyes, promises were made to keep in touch and visit when they could. This week that promise was kept when Peanut, who turned 15 in early June, and his mom Kativa Robinson flew to Boston for a week of sightseeing and Knights seeing.

Already the two have visited with team members, attended a Red Sox game at Fenway Park, visited Maine and New Hampshire and are hoping to take in the city’s historical sites.

“Meeting these team members has been life changing for him,” said his mom. These young kids really look up to the older guys. You don’t know what it has done for him. If everyone treated each other the way they do the world would be a different place.”

Residents of Gilmer, TX with a population of 5,000, the Robinsons were pleasantly surprised by the size of the NECC Haverhill campus when they visited for an impromptu pizza party in their honor. Peanut, who saved $300 umpiring Little League games back home in Texas, spent a good deal of his earnings on NECC items purchased at the college bookstore.

Peanut had his own surprise for the team members. The Robinsons had the hat Peanut wears on his junior varsity high school team replicated and they gave each Knight an orange and black Gilmer Buckeyes baseball hat.

“You’ll have a lot of good boys here,” said his mother. “They have been good for him and he has been good for them…for some he is the little brother they never had.”

For the second time in two years the Northern Essex Community College Knights baseball team went to the NJCAA Division III World Series in Tyler, TX. They finished eighth in the country. Last year they were third in the nation.

This was the third time in the college’s history that the Knights qualified for the World Series. Their first trip to the Division III World Series was in 2006. A year ago, NECC got to within two wins of a national title before bowing out.

The Knights suffered a 2-1 loss to Nassau (N.Y.) in 10 innings on Saturday. Josh Cummiskey threw 8.2 strong innings, striking out three hitters and allowing just six hits in the game. Cummiskey threw 109 pitches in the contest. The Knights scored their lone run in the fifth inning, when Dario Medrano lifted a fly ball to right field, bringing in catcher Chris Legerstrom to take the lead. The Knights surrendered the lead in the next inning when Nassau’s Brandon Gideon scored on an error to tie the game.

The game remained a stalemate until the 10th inning, when a ground ball up the middle scored Chris Appel made walkoff winners of Nassau. Tyler Johnson and Jake Rayner each had two hits for Northern Essex. The Knights notched 8 hits in the contest, but left 11 men on-base. They take on Brookhaven Community College tomorrow at noon.

They lost the second game 9 to 2 to Brookhaven Community College. Freshman Zack Beckwith, of Manchester, NH, who has nursed a back injury since the regional playoffs began, threw for just one inning allowing four runs.

Sophomore Derek Dolan of Lowell relieved Beckwith and kept the team in the game. Dolan went 5.1 innings allowing just one earned run. Alex Mears of Sandown, NH, and Daniel Peters of Salem, NH, each pitched in the game, as well.

Dario Medrano of Salem scored both of NECC’s runs.

Alex Mears, Chris Martin, David Cusack, Derek Dolan, Tyler Johnson, and Nick Goodin represented all Northern Essex nationally twice.

Team members include:
Alex Mears, sophomore, 19, Sandown, NH, Alexander Ray, sophomore, 20, Essex; Anthony Caiani, 18, freshman, Exeter, NH; Cameron Berube, freshman, 19, Rye, NH; Christopher Andella, sophomore , 21, Tewksbury; Christopher Legerstrom, freshman, 21, Tewksbury; Christopher Martin, sophomore, 19, Manchester, NH; Daniel Peters, 19, freshman, Salem, NH; David Cusack, sophomore, 19, Newburyport; David Quezada, freshman, 19, Lawrence; Derek Dolan, sophomore, 19, Lowell; Edgardo Medrano, freshman, 20, Salem; Jacob Rayner, freshman, 19, Billerica; Jonathan De La Cruz, freshman, 19, Haverhill; Joshua Cummiskey, sophomore, 19, Lowell; Nicholas Goodin, sophomore, 20, Dracut; Quinn McCann, freshman, 20, Rye, NH; Trevor Bouvier, freshman, 20, Salem, NH; Tyler Johnson, sophomore, 20, Newton Junction, NH; Zachary Beckwith, freshman, 18, Manchester, NH.