Jumpstart at Northern Essex Community College is hosting a reading of former U.S. Army Captain Luis Carlos Montalván’s “Tuesday Tucks Me In” on Monday, Oct. 6, at 6 p.m. at Imajine That, 354 Merrimack St., Lawrence.

This event is free and open to the public.

The “New York Times” bestselling author of “Until Tuesday: A Wounded Warrior and the Golden Retriever Who Saved Him”, Montalván will be accompanied by his best friend and service dog, Tuesday.

Books will be available for purchase and signing, $10 each (cash only). All proceeds will benefit Jumpstart.

Jumpstart is a national early education organization that helps these children develop the language and literacy skills they need to be successful in school, setting them on a path to close the achievement gap before it is too late

To learn more about Montalván and Tuesday visit www.tuesdaytucksmein.com.

For more information and to RSVP contact Melissa Chandonnet, Jumpstart Site Manager at Northern Essex Community College and Middlesex Community College, at 978-656-3404. 

When Northern Essex Community College listed “Response to Terrorism” as one of its fall course offerings, so many students enrolled that another section of the course had to be added.

Today some 40 NECC students are learning the fundamentals of preparing an organization or community for an act of terrorism in the 21^st century from NECC Criminal Justice Program coordinator Paul Cavan and associate professor Scott Joubert.

“It is an historical overview of terrorism as it relates to what we experience today,” says Cavan.

The focus of the course is to provide an understanding of the tools and methods used to plan for, respond to, and deal with the consequences of a domestic terrorist incident involving nuclear, biological, or chemical weapons of mass destruction.

“We are trying to keep our students current and up-to-date with criminal justice program offerings,” says Cavan, “This subject seemed like a great fit…due to the popularity of the course, a second section was opened.”

NECC will continue to offer this course for the “foreseeable future” says Cavan.

“It was so well received,” he says. “We feel it is filling a need.”

He noted that the course transfers well into UMass Lowell’s criminal justice program which is where 40% of NECC criminal justice students transfer.

While “Response to Terrorism,” is a new elective in the Northern Essex criminal justice program, Joubert says students in other majors are enrolling too.

“It was our goal to have this course be of interest to a wide variety of majors including business management, psychology, sociology, and engineering; we should never forget that many fields are impacted by terrorist incidents and the planning for potential threats that terrorist organizations pose to society,” Joubert says.

Northern Essex offers an associate degree in criminal justice and a certificate in law enforcement.

For additional information contact Cavan at pcavan@necc.mass.edu or 978-738-7551.

 

The Music Program at Northern Essex Community College will offer two free master classes in the art of piano playing by NECC music faculty member Christina Dietrich, Sunday, Oct. 19, and Sunday, Nov. 23, at 5 p.m. in the Technology Center on the Haverhill campus.

The purpose of these free workshops will be to give piano players the chance to perform and learn in a cooperative group setting. Solo piano works and instrumental and vocal works with piano accompaniment of various levels of difficulty will be explored. Various aspects of piano performance and preparation will also be discussed. Students at all levels of playing ability will benefit from attending these workshops.

Professor Dietrich has appeared as a soloist with several orchestras. She has performed on the stages of Jordan Hall in Boston, Symphony Hall in Boston, and Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center in New York. She earned a bachelor’s in music from the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, her master’s in music from Boston University and pursued her Doctor of Musical Arts degree at that institution.

In addition to maintaining a concert career, Professor Dietrich is currently on the piano faculty of Indian Hill Music, Northern Essex Community College, and is founder and administrative director of the Chopin Conservatory of Music on the North Shore.

For more information about these workshops contact Christina Dietrich at cdietrich@necc.mass.edu.

Northern Essex Community College offers an Associate of Arts Degree in General Studies: Music and a Music Technology Certificate.

Little did Lina Garcia Kosko know growing up in Colombia that her sister’s profound deafness would shape her own career path.

But, it did. Today the 27 year-old Watertown resident is enrolled in Northern Essex Community College’s deaf studies program where she is laying the foundation to become an American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter. The mother of two girls, seven and two-years-old, she will graduate with an associate degree in May. She currently holds a 3.9 GPA.

Garcia Kosko has been recognized for her academic achievements by the Andover Quota Club, with a $1,500 scholarship. The Andover Quota Club has been funding a scholarship for an NECC student in the deaf studies program for more than 20 years. Quota Club International has been championing the hearing impaired for well over 90 years.

She is one of 250 NECC students overall to share nearly $200,000 in scholarship money for the 2014-2015 academic year. The majority of scholarships range from $500 to $1,500 and come from a variety of sources, including private donors, memorial donations, local businesses, and private foundations.

 “This scholarship is obviously a huge help,” she says. “It is financially beneficial for me so that I can continue to move forward with my education.”

She was presented with the scholarship by Quota Club members Susan Smith, who sits on the Quota Club scholarship committee, and Mary Beth Nason, the current Quota Club president,  when they visited the Haverhill campus.

Her story really began before she was born. Her older sister was born profoundly deaf. Garcia Kosko was born into a household that knew little about raising a deaf child and knew less about the deaf community.

Nearly 15 years ago her sister and dad traveled to America so she could be “fixed” with a cochlear implant. After being enrolled in the Learning Center for the Deaf in Framingham her sister and the rest of the family learned to be proud of her deafness. Eventually, her sister declined the cochlear implant.

During this time, Garcia Kosko, her mom and another sister also had arrived in America. The entire family learned English while her sister had the added pressure of learning ASL.

Garcia Kosko progressed and went on to graduate from North High School in Worcester and earned a medical assistant associate degree from Hesser College. It was not unusual for her to be asked to translate English to Spanish or vice versa. One day a colleague noted that if she learned ASL she could be trilingual.

With that as an incentive, she enrolled in NECC’s Deaf Studies program.

“I love the program,” she says. “It is amazing to see how all the classes connect with my life and all that I have been through with my big sister. Even though I have had a sibling in the deaf culture, I never understood it. This helps me understand.”

Once she graduates from NECC, Garcia Kosko will work toward her bachelor’s degree in Interpreting from Framingham State University. Her ideal job, she says, will be to work as a trilingual interpreter within the Spanish community.

NECC offers Associate of Arts Degrees in Deaf Studies and Deaf Studies: Interpreting Transfer. NECC also offers a deaf studies certificate.

These programs are designed for individuals interested in a career that involves providing services to the deaf and hard of hearing community

These programs prepare students to either enter the workforce directly or transfer to a four-year bachelor’s degree program.

               

Dr. Howard Dean, former Governor of Vermont, presidential candidate, and chair of the Democrat National Committee, visited Northern Essex Community College’s Haverhill Campus on Wednesday.

Calling himself “an optimist by nature,” Dean told the audience, the majority of whom were 20-something college students, “the world is getting better but it’s hard to see that when you’re 20 years old.”

Dean described the political and cultural climate when he was a college student in the turbulent 60’s and said “there is still plenty of inequality in this country but progress has been made.”

He also discussed how the Internet has empowered individuals, sharing the story of Molly Katchpole, a 22-year old Roger Williams College graduate, who was able to change policies at Bank of America and Verizon, by rallying online support through petitions that received hundreds of thousands of signatures each. As a result, the corporations retracted fees that Katchpole felt unfairly targeted lower income people.

“Forty years ago we could have protested but nothing would have happened. What Molly accomplished is an extraordinary thing to be able to do.”

More so than other generations, the current generation of 20-somethings, which Dean calls the first global generation, are doers, he said. “We talked a lot but you go out and do it.”

As an example, Dean shared the success of Teach for America, where young teachers are sent to inner city schools. “Your generation is changing inner city education and you’re not doing it politically.”

He also commended this generation for its focus on commonalities. “You are a global generation that has values that are consistent with people of your age all over. Your commonality is stunning. Partly because of the reach of the internet, you’ve been able to reach out and connect with others.”

After about 40 minutes of remarks, Governor Dean answered a series of questions from the audience with candor and often humor. He was asked about Citizens United (“one of the most destructive court decisions in the history of our country”); the US prison system (“it’s broken”), the electoral system (“it makes no sense”); Edward Snowden (“he forced us to have a debate that we weren’t having and we should have been having); and more.

Dr. Dean served as governor of Vermont from 1991 to 2003, making him the second-longest serving governor of that state. He was also a leading candidate for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination, and served as chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 2005 to 2009.

He currently works as a part-time independent consultant focusing on the areas of health care, early childhood development, alternative energy and the expansion of grassroots politics around the world.

Prior to entering politics, Dr. Dean graduated from Yale University with a Bachelor of Arts in political science in 1971, and received his medical degree from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City in 1978.

Dean’s lecture was the first in a new series at NECC titled “Movers, Shakers, and Opinion Makers.” Funded by the NECC Fund and Academic and Student Affairs, the series is organized by Richard Padova of the Global Studies Department. For more information, contact Padova at rpadova@necc.mass.edu or 978-556-3297.

Northern Essex offers a liberal arts degree with a political science option. For more information, visit the website, necc.mass.edu, or contact enrollment services, admissions@necc.mass.edu, 978 556-3700.