2015 - Page 20 of 20

Students Flock to NECC Engineering Program

January 13, 2015/in Archive/by review

Two years ago, when Nathaniel Clark sat down with his parents to discuss college plans, they all agreed that Northern Essex’s Engineering Program was the smartest choice for the honors student. He was already taking classes through the college’s Early College Program, and was having a positive experience.

The Amesbury resident, who graduated from Northern Essex with an Associate Degree in Engineering Science in May 2014, says he would make the same choice again. Now, like many NECC engineering graduates before him, he has transferred into a bachelor’s degree program in electrical engineering at UMass Lowell. In a few years, Clark, a former NECC Presidential Scholar, hopes to step into one of the expected 300,000 open Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) jobs predicted for Massachusetts by 2018.

Coordinator of the NECC Engineering Program, Professor Paul Chanley

More and more, Northern Essex is becoming the first choice for prospective engineers. Just a dozen years ago, there were only 56 students enrolled in the engineering program. Last spring that figure rose to 249 and today that number hovers around 290.

NECC Engineering Program Coordinator Paul Chanley credits the popularity of the Engineering Program, as well as all of the STEM programs, in part, to a national initiative to promote the need for STEM education.

In 2012, the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology announced an urgent need to increase the STEM workforce in this country. The council predicted that the United States will have to increase the number of students who receive undergraduate STEM degrees over the next decade in order to meet the needs of employers.

Northern Essex works strategically to keep its STEM programs relevant so its graduates can be readily employable and/or transfer to four-year institutions. A robust Engineering Program is just one of the many ways Northern Essex is working to stay on trend

Engineering students analyzing an electronic circutwith educating future STEM professionals. In addition to engineering, NECC offers close to 40 other STEM programs.

Last January, the college received a $347,000 STEM Starter Academy Grant from the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education to get students interested in and excited about STEM fields and to provide the resources they need to succeed in STEM programs.

That grant has funded a number of initiatives including equipment for labs, enrichment programs for high school students, and professional development workshops for high school and college faculty. The college received an additional $300,000 for year two of the grant.

NECC continually improves its STEM offerings so students like Clark can fulfill their desire to pursue a STEM career while also fulfilling the current and projected employment needs of the region.

NECC Delivers College Success Seminar to Local High Schools

January 13, 2015/in Archive/by review

A Northern Essex course designed to help students succeed in college is being offered to local students while they are still in high school.

The college began offering its College Success Seminar at local high schools in the fall of 2011, and since then 453 high school students from across the Merrimack Valley have enrolled in the three-credit course, earning high school and college credits.

Lawrence High students attend a College Success Course at NECC taught by NECC Faculty member Shannon Leate-Varney

“Over 80 percent of our graduates are heading to college after graduation,” says Juan Rodriguez, assistant headmaster/personnel and school culture, Lawrence High School, which began offering the College Success Seminar last fall. “College is a big investment for them, and we want to give them the tools they need to succeed.”

Taught by Northern Essex faculty, both in the high schools and to high school students who come to the college’s campus, the College Success Seminar is designed to help students develop their academic skills and understand the behavioral expectations of college life.

Each school system covers the cost of the course differently; funding sources include school budgets, family contributions, and grants.

Shannon Leate-Varney, an attorney who first started teaching in the college’s Paralegal Studies Program, has been teaching the College Success Seminar at local high schools since 2013. “My high school students can’t wait to get to college, and they look at this course as the ticket to being successful in college,” she says. “It’s thrilling to see their excitement.”

In addition to teaching writing, reading, and oral presentation skills, Leate-Varney covers time management, organization, reading strategies, test-taking strategies, and note taking.

As the word spreads, more and more high schools are partnering with the college to offer this course, and this fall three new high schools joined the 10 that were already on board

Thirteen Area High Schools Now Offer NECC’s College Success Seminar

• Amesbury High School
• Haverhill High School
• High School Learning Center, Lawrence
• Lawrence High School
• *Methuen High School
• Newburyport High School
• Notre Dame Cristo Rey, Lawrence
• Pentucket Regional High School, West Newbury
• Phoenix Academy, Lawrence
• Sanborn Regional High School, Kingston, NH
• *Timberlane Regional High School, Plaistow, NH
• Triton Regional High School, Byfield
• *Whittier Regional Vocational Technical High School, Haverhill

*New partnerships as of fall 2014

Bringing the College Success Seminar to local high schools is just one way Northern Essex is partnering with high schools to prepare students for college. High school students are currently enrolled in a wide range of courses and programs at the college from individual courses to Early College Programs, which gives them the opportunity to earn at least 24 college credits while still in high school.

Lawrence High students attend a College Success Course at NECC taught by NECC Faculty member Shannon Leate-Varney

According to a recent study by the American Institutes for Research, students who earn college credits while in high school are more likely than their peers to graduate, enroll in college, and earn an associate degree.

“Our partnerships with Northern Essex are helping our students to thrive,” says Rodriguez. “We’ve grown everything we’ve done with Northern Essex, and we’re talking about new initiatives.”

NECC Offers Courses to Organize Work and Life

January 13, 2015/in Archive/by review

Whether you want to organize your home, your workplace, or your life, Northern Essex Community College Riverwalk is offering a series of four organizing courses to help you get it done.

Both the veteran and novice organizer can benefit from the courses offered Wednesdays from 6:30 to 8:30pm beginning February 4. Each three-week course is $119.

The courses will be taught by Susan Walko, experienced instructor and professional organizer who manages Organiz-ER, a business designed to helping individuals become personally organized in their homes and professional lives.

The courses are “Paper Organizing,” starting on February 4^th “Desk Management” March 4^th, “E-Organizing,” on April 1st and “Organizing for Special Populations.” May 6^th.

Contact Dianne Lahaye at dlahaye@necc.mass.edu or 978-659-1222 for more information. To register contact Enrollment Services at 978-556-3700.

NECC Receives Workplace English Training Grant

January 13, 2015/in Archive/by review

Thirty-six employees at three Haverhill food manufacturing companies will receive Workplace English training thanks to a $71,000 Rapid Response Program Grant awarded to Northern Essex Community College (NECC) from the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education.

This is the third and largest Rapid Response grant NECC has received over the past three years. The Rapid Response Program was created to enable community colleges to respond in a timely manner to the workforce development needs of its local employers. The DHE awards grants through a competitive process to support employer requests for workforce training programs. These programs take into consideration the scheduling needs of working adults.

NECC’s Project Gateway Proposal, which will be funded with the grant, will bring English classes into the workplace for employees at Cedar’s Mediterranean, Joseph’s Gourmet Pasta, and Hans Kissle. The classes, which are approximately 90 minutes long, will be held twice a week and are scheduled to be offered for 17 weeks.

“The food manufacturing sector in our region has been a significant employer of workers with limited English speaking skills,” said George Moriarty, executive director of NECC’s Center for Corporate and Community Education. “The grant allows us to take advantage of that positive employment record by improving workers’ language skills, making them more effective workers on the shop floors.”

The grant gives NECC the opportunity to continue its Workplace English partnership with Joseph’s Gourmet Pasta, renew its partnership with Cedar’s, and create a partnership with Hans Kissle.

An additional part of the grant includes providing English as a Second Language and computer skills training to 20 unemployed individuals. This component of the grant will help create a pipeline of job seekers with strong language skills. The College will collaborate with the ValleyWorks one-stop career center to identify unemployed individuals who would benefit from English as a Second Language training and computer skills.

For additional information contact George Moriarty, executive director of workforce development and corporate relations, Northern Essex Community College, gmoriarty@necc.mass.edu, 978 659-1224.

NECC Offered Affordability and Transfer for North Andover Man

January 8, 2015/in Archive/by review

NECC Business Transfer graduate Lucas Lombardo

For Lucas Lombardo, Northern Essex helped him find his academic direction and prepared him to continue to pursue it as a transfer student at Boston University — all while staying within his budget.

The 22-year-old graduated in May 2014 with an Associate of Science Degree in Business Transfer. With a near-perfect GPA, he graduated with high honors and the Excellence Award for business transfer. He also won the Outstanding Student Award presented each year by the NECC Alumni Association to a graduating student who has distinguished him or herself through academic achievement and involvement in either campus activities or community service. This North Andover resident fulfilled all the criteria through his involvement in Boy Scouts as an Eagle Scout and as president of NECC’s Beta Omicron Chapter of the National Business Honor Society Alpha Beta Gamma and member of the Honor Society Phi Theta Kappa.

Lucas shone in the classroom as well.

His managerial accounting professor said Lucas was one of the best students he ever taught in all his years of teaching. A pretty heady compliment for the 2012 North Andover High School graduate who says he enrolled at NECC to test the educational waters. He knew he wanted to further his education and he had a strong interest in business, but didn’t feel confident enrolling in an “expensive four-year school.”

After studying in NECC’s business transfer program he settled on a finance focus.

“I found the school to be great for someone in my situation,” he says. “I saved a lot of money and figured out what I wanted to study without making a commitment to an expensive four-year school. I have worked really hard and I was able to transfer to a really great school.”

Lucas is a junior at Boston University where he studies business finance.

HHS Early College Program Graduates 18

January 8, 2015/in Archive/by review

Eighteen Haverhill High School seniors already have 27 college credits, even though they won’t graduate from high school until May.

These students have been participating in the Haverhill Early College Program, a partnership between the high school and Northern Essex Community College.

Students in the program earn both college and high school credits for courses taken during high school. Courses are taught at the high school by college professors and high school teachers qualified in the discipline, and include classes such as English Composition, U.S. History I and II, American Literature I, and Introduction to Psychology. Students complete the program with 27 credits and can take additional college courses on their own, graduating with 30 to 36 credits or over a year of college. The credits earned from Northern Essex are transferable to other colleges and universities.

Haverhill Mayor James Fiorentini, Early College Graduates Kayleigh Bergh and Jocelyn Dubois, Haverhill Superintendent James Scully, State Senator Kathleen O’Connor Ives, and NECC President Lane Glenn.

On Tuesday, January 6, the high school celebrated these motivated students with a graduation ceremony in the high school library. The ceremony included remarks by James Scully, Haverhill superintendent of schools; Beth Kitsos, Haverhill High School principal; James Fiorentini, Haverhill mayor; Lane Glenn, president of NECC; and Kathleen O’Connor Ives, state senator. The 18 graduating seniors and their parents as well as the 36 juniors who are currently enrolled in the program attended the event along with city, college, and high school administrators.

“These students learned that working hard and sticking with it pays off,” said Mayor Fiorentini in his remarks. “The college credits they’ve earned can be applied to any public college or university in the state and just about any private school.”

The program helps make college more affordable, according to President Glenn—who asked anyone who was concerned about the cost of college to raise their hands—and also ensures that students don’t require developmental courses once they enroll in college.

Principal Kitsos explained that the program was started four years ago with a small co-hort of nine students. The second year the program doubled in size to 18 students and the junior class has 36 students enrolled.

Kitsos said that she has seen MCAS scores increase as a result of the program and student confidence levels rise as well.

Senator O’Connor Ives is a champion for Early College Programs and, as a result of her advocacy, four local high schools—Haverhill, Amesbury, Newburyport, and Methuen—shared $175,000 in funding to support these programs earlier this year.

“This is precisely the type of programming that should be offered to every high school student,” she said. It prepares them for college, saves them money and builds confidence in those that may think they are not college bound.”

Kayleigh Bergh, one of the graduates, plans to spend the second semester of her senior year taking additional courses at Northern Essex in addition to her high school work. She says she was “nervous” to start college work as a sophomore but had the “best year ever”, claiming “it’s nice to know that college professors can be fun and open.” Bergh plans to transfer to UMass Lowell or UMass Amherst and major in computer science. Eventually she’d like to pursue a career in computer forensics.

Northern Essex partners with many local high schools, offering programs like the Early College Program, which are designed to be sure students are prepared to succeed in college. In addition to the four high schools that received the recent funding, Northern Essex has partnerships with Pentucket Regional High School; Triton Regional High School; Whittier Regional Vocational Technical High School; Lawrence High School; Phoenix Academy, Lawrence; High School Learning Center, Lawrence;; Sanborn Regional High School, and Timberlane Regional High School.

For more information on NECC’s college partnerships, contact Lori Weir, NECC director of PK-12 Partnerships, 978-556-3943 or lweir@necc.mass.edu.

The Haverhill Early College Program was featured in HC Media’s Haverhill Journal. View it.

Postponed: NECC Professor Presents White Fund Lecture on Quackery

January 8, 2015/in Archive/by review

Dr. Mike Cross, an assistant chemistry professor at Northern Essex Community College, presents a White Fund lecture on recognizing quackery.

Dr. Mike Cross, an assistant chemistry professor at Northern Essex Community College, will present a White Fund lecture on recognizing quackery.

This presentation has been postponed due to this week’s weather. As soon as the new date is set, it will be posted.

A White Fund lecture titled “Snake Oil: Can You Tell Fact from Fiction?” will be presented by Northern Essex Community College Assistant Chemistry Professor Mike Cross at Lawrence High School’s Performing Arts Center, 70-71 North Parish Road, Lawrence on Thursday, February 12, from 1:30 to 3 p.m.

This event, which is free and open to the public, is offered in partnership with Northern Essex.

The late 19th and early 20th century is considered the “Golden Age of Quackery”; a time when snake oil salesmen sold patent medicines to an unsuspecting public. This lecture presents many of the scientific and medical “quack” tonics and devices so prevalent during this time period as well as their modern counterparts. Can you tell scientific fact from fiction or will you fall prey to the snake oil hucksters of today?

Before joining the faculty at NECC, Dr. Cross was an instructor of chemistry and department chair at the College of Eastern Utah. He believes that education should be fun and exciting. He enjoys incorporating demonstrations and magic tricks into his teaching.

Dr. Cross holds a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of Utah where he specialized in oxidative lesions in DNA and RNA.

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

The views expressed in the White Fund Enlightenment Series Presentations are the views of the speaker and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of Northern Essex Community College.

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.

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.

She Teaches the Teachers to Teach

January 5, 2015/in Archive/by Ellen Small-Davis

Jody Carson holding an Eric Carle Book and some legos.

Assistant Professor of Early Childhood Education Jody Carson.

When Jody Carson was nine, the budding educator taught preschool to her two younger siblings. Today, this NECC professor teaches others to teach preschool.

“Teaching was a natural fit for me,” says the Early Childhood Education professor. “I spent many hours teaching (my siblings) letters, numbers, shapes, and colors.”

In addition to having eager and patient siblings, the Hampton, NH, resident clearly had a strong sense of personal direction.

“I started babysitting early. By high school, I was already taking courses in early childhood education,” she says.

After high school, Carson enrolled in the very program she has taught in for the past eight years.

“It was a life-changing decision…I made amazing connections …I knew from the time I was a student here that I wanted to come back and teach,” she says.

After graduating with her associate degree from Northern Essex, Carson earned a Bachelor of Arts in Human Development from Lesley University and a Master’s of Education in Child Development from Southern New Hampshire University.

Before teaching at NECC, Carson taught preschool for eight years.

As a mother of two and preschool teacher to dozens, she knows that as much as children will be children, working with children is always changing.

“This field is filled with wonder, excitement, creativity, play, and learning,” she says. “No two days are ever the same. Early learning experiences lay the foundation for future learning.”

As federal and state governments place more of an emphasis on early childhood education and as the population of 3 to 5 year-olds grows, Carson notes that employment of preschool teachers is projected to grow 17% through 2022 according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

This is good news for those who want to pursue teaching young children.

“The ability to inspire others has always motivated me – teaching young children allowed me to do this every day,” she says. “As a teacher of future teachers, I have the ability to reach so many more children through their teachers.”

Northern Essex offers three associate degrees in the education field: Early Childhood Education, Elementary Education, and Liberal Arts Middle/High School Teaching.

Students Flock to NECC Engineering Program

NECC Delivers College Success Seminar to Local High Schools

NECC Offers Courses to Organize Work and Life

NECC Receives Workplace English Training Grant

NECC Offered Affordability and Transfer for North Andover Man

HHS Early College Program Graduates 18

Postponed: NECC Professor Presents White Fund Lecture on Quackery

She Teaches the Teachers to Teach

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