Students in Northern Essex Community College’s Summer Bridge Program had a special treat on Wednesday, August 21 when Mexican American writer Sergio Troncoso visited their classroom at the Dimitry Building in Lawrence to discuss a broad range of topics from how to become a better writer to cultural assimilation to college success tips.

The author of essays, short stories, and five novels, Troncoso told the students that he likes to explore the theme of families in his writing, including “what makes up a family, what disintegrates a family, and what brings them together again.”

Students had just read Troncoso’s novel “From this Wicked Patch of Dust”, which Troncoso’s website describes as “a story about the Martinez family who begins life in a border shantytown and struggles to stay together despite cultural clashes, different religions, and politics after 9/11.”

Troncoso told the students that his book is largely autobiographical.  “My parents came from Mexico and I grew up with nothing,” he said.  I would go to the public library and read, and it developed this muscle between my eyes.  The more you work mentally the easier it becomes.”

Troncoso went on to attend Harvard and he now teaches at Yale in addition to his writing.

He says that being bilingual gave him an academic advantage at Harvard since he could do research in Spanish.  He also advised students to learn how to write a good research paper, to reach out to faculty and staff with questions, and to embrace hard work.

“It’s all about the choices you make in life.  Some of the kids I grew up wasted time, doing drugs, while others became doctors and lawyers.  There is no magic to going from having nothing to going to Harvard, you have to sacrifice.”

The NECC Summer Bridge program is a free enrichment program designed to help ease student’s adjustment to college life and build a foundation for academic success.  Participants work on improving math and English language skills and are introduced to the resources available at Northern Essex.

Students participating in the Summer Bridge Program included Nathanais Madera, Rackeley Guzman, Genesis Blanco, Framilda Angelina, Katherine Santana, Kiara Colon, Wandy Polo , Johnny Rosa, Yhadira Tiburcio, Orlando Rosario, and Pedro Gutierrez.  All are from Lawrence except for Madera who is from Methuen and Gutierrez who is from Haverhill.

To be eligible for the program, students must be a Latino high school graduate with a 2.5 GPA or better and enrolled at NECC for the fall.  THE NECC Bridges Program is funded in part by a grant that NECC received form the United States Department of Education under the Title V Developing Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program and a Massachusetts Performance Incentive Grant.  Troncoso’s visit was paid in part by support from the NECC Fund and the Lawrence Cultural Council.

For more information on the NECC Summer Bridge Program, contact Gisela Nash, gnash@necc.mass.edu or 978 738-7413.

Inaugural poet Richard Blanco, a Cuban-American author, will present a lecture titled “Becoming an American,” on Tuesday, September 24, at Lawrence High School, 70-71 North Parish Road, as part of the Northern Essex Community College White Fund Lecture Series.

This event, which runs from 8:45 to 10 a.m. with a Q & A followed by a book signing is free and open to the public.

Born in Madrid, Spain, to Cuban exiles, Blanco was just weeks old when his family moved first to New York City and later Miami, Florida, where he was raised and educated. Since childhood, Blanco felt caught between two worlds: the imaginary world of his Cuban heritage as seen and heard only through his parents nostalgic stories about the “homeland” and the other imaginary world of the “real” America that he envisioned from TV shows and history book—a very different place from the predominantly Cuban community where he grew up.

Blanco will share poems and commentary that explain how he navigated a cultural identity between these two worlds, culminating with his experiences as inaugural poet when, for the first time, he came to a real understanding of his place in America as an American.

He was selected, this year, by President Obama to be the fifth inaugural poet in history, he joined the ranks of such luminary poets as Robert Frost, Maya Angelou, Miller Williams and Elizabeth Alexander. On January 21, 2013, he read his original poem, “One Today” as an honorary participant in the official inaugural ceremony.
Blanco also penned “Boston Strong” a poem he performed at the TD Boston Garden Benefit Concert and at a Boston Red Sox game at Fenway Park. He has published several books of poetry including “City of a Hundred Fires,” “Directions to The Beach of the Dead” and “Looking for The Gulf Motel”.

He has received numerous awards including the Agnes Starrett Poetry Prize from the University of Pittsburgh Press, the Beyond Margins Award from the PEN American Center, the Patterson Poetry Prize, Maine Literary Poetry Award, and the Thom Gunn Award from the Publishing Triangle. His poems have appeared in top literary journals including, The Nation, the New Republic, Ploughshares, Michigan Quarterly Review, and TriQuarterly Review.

He holds a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering and as well as Master in Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Florida International University. He currently lives in Bethel, Maine.

For additional information on this lecture contact Martha Leavitt, director of operations – Lawrence campus, at mleavitt@necc.mass.edu

The White Fund’s purpose is to have a free series of interactive presentations for Lawrence area adults, youth, and children. The audience is encouraged to seek wisdom, cultural enrichment, and intellectual enhancement by attending and participating.

Funded by a generous financial gift from the Honorable Daniel Appleton White, the White Fund Lecture Series has provided cultural conversation featuring well-known lecturers in fields such as history, literature, travel, the arts, and politics. The White Fund is collaborating with Northern Essex on this series. This program is also supported in part by a grant from the Lawrence Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency.

For additional information or to be notified of upcoming events in the White Fund Enlightenment Series, call 978-738-7403 or visit the White Fund website.

Dr. William Heineman, vice president of academic affairs, Northern Essex Community College, is pleased to announce the appointment of students to the Dean’s List for the Summer 2013 term.

To be included, students must attain a grade point average of 3.3 or higher within the term, carry six or more credits within the term, and be matriculated in a degree program.

With campuses in Haverhill and Lawrence and extension sites in Methuen and Groveland, Northern Essex Community College is a state-assisted college, offering over 70 associate degree and certificate programs as well as hundreds of noncredit courses designed for personal enrichment and career growth. More than 7,300 students are enrolled in credit associate degree and certificate programs on the Haverhill and Lawrence campuses; and another 6,700 take non-credit workforce development and community education classes on campus, and at businesses and community sites across the Merrimack Valley. Northern Essex is the only state college located in the lower Merrimack Valley Region of Massachusetts.

For more information, visit the website at www.necc.mass.edu.

Dean’s list students include: