Beverly native and former Beverly High School coach Nelson Desilvestre has been named head coach of NECC’s track & field.

Nelson Desilvestre has been pretty much on the run since the third grade. Now the Beverly native brings his 40 years of track and field experience, as both a participant and a coach, to Northern Essex Community College’s co-ed track and field team.

“We are very excited to have Nelson on our staff here at NECC,” said Northern Essex Athletic Director Sue MacAvoy. “Nelson has a great deal of experience behind him with coaching and officiating track and field. He knows the Merrimack Valley very well which will help in recruiting.  We are very much looking forward to seeing this track program rebuilt and we think Nelson will be the one to do it.”

Inspired by the athleticism exhibited by the 1976 Olympians during the games in Montreal, Canada, the then 10-year-old Beverly grade-schooler laced up his own running shoes. Desilvestre started competing in Beverly YMCA’s youth track meets and was taken by the way it made him feel.

“I found I like speed. I like running fast. I like the feeling of running fast,” he says. “It came easily to me. It was a natural fit.”

His running career continued in junior high school where he ran spring track for two years preparing him for a successful run at Beverly High School. He graduated in 1984, but not before making a name for himself as a standout athlete. In 2011 he was inducted into the Beverly High School Hall of Fame.

Following high school graduation, Desilvestre took his talents to the University of Maine where he continued to run indoor and outdoor track while earning his bachelor’s in economics. By graduation, he was one of the top 10 performers in the triple jump in the university’s history.

Over the years, Desilvestre has continued to compete at the masters level – primarily in the Bay State Games. Married and the father of three grown children, when he is not competing, he operates Topsfield based SI-TECH, INC., one of the oldest silicon brokerage firms in existence.

With all his experience, it seemed natural for Desilvestre to turn to coaching. He has been coaching high school track for more than 23 years. A total of 18 years as head boys’ track coach at Beverly High School. For the last four years he has been the co-head winter track coach at Manchester-Essex Regional High School.

As successful as he has been as a high school coach, Desilvestre always wondered about coaching at the college level. He no longer has to wonder. He accepted the position earlier this month and has already started recruiting.

“I’ll be working with an adult population now,” he said. “I anticipate the level of commitment will be higher.”

In addition to a high level of commitment, he said, he looks for everyone’s best effort and personal goal.

“It’s all about finding out where you are at and improve on that while having fun,” He said. “I want them to have a positive experience here and take it with them for the rest of their lives.”

DeSilvestre will have open office hours for prospective spring track and field participants on Wednesdays beginning January 4 in the Sport and Fitness Center on the Haverhill campus.

He can be reached at ndesilvestre@necc.mass.edu or nelsondesil@aol.com

(L to R) NECC graduates Christopher Guard and Jennifer Nunez, who are seeking bachelor’s in nursing at Regis at NECC, NECC President Lane Glenn, Regis President Antoinette Hays, and Lawrence Mayor Dan Rivera.

Geography is often destiny when it comes to colleges and universities.

Nationwide, most college students attend campuses 20 miles or less from their homes.  And between the challenges of distance, transportation, living expenses, and the rising cost of many four-year universities, more students in the Merrimack Valley, and especially those in Lawrence, are finding it harder to get the education they need.

That’s why NECC launched Communiversity partnerships this past year on the Lawrence Campus, bringing new educational and professional initiatives to the city and area residents.

Through programs offered by Regis College, a leading Catholic University outside of Boston, and Lyndon State College, a public college located in Vermont, students who have earned an associate degree at NECC can now complete a bachelor’s degree from a four year college and stay at Northern Essex while they do it.

The two colleges formally celebrated the new partnerships with NECC at launching ceremonies held at Northern Essex’s El-Hefni Allied Health & Technology Center in Lawrence.  Last November, Regis announced students will be able to earn 100 percent of their credits toward a Regis bachelor’s degree at the downtown Lawrence site.

“Regis has a long track record of educating multicultural, first-generation students and sees great potential in the residents of Lawrence,” said Regis President Antoinette M. Hays, PhD, RN.  “We believe we can significantly contribute to the area’s economy by improving the quality and skill of our healthcare workforce.”

At the recent ceremony in September, for the collaboration with Lyndon State College, the first dual-state partnership to deliver bachelor’s degree programming in Massachusetts, NECC graduate Jean Carlos Diaz of Lawrence explained that although an associate degree was an important checkpoint in his journey, he did not want to attend a four-year college and live far from home.  As a student enrolled in Lyndon’s Bachelor of Science degree program in Computer Information Science, Diaz said, “ I am experiencing an out of state college right in the town that I live in.”

To learn more about enrolling at Northern Essex for the fall, visit the website or contact Enrollment Services at, admissions@necc.mass.edu or 978-556-3700.

Robert Reich’s book on capitalism will be discussed during a winter CoOL session.

Three new winter sessions including one on Zen, will be offered by Northern Essex Community College’s College of Older Learners (CoOL) Program beginning in January on the Haverhill campus, 100 Elliot St.

CoOL is a program for individuals who are over 50 and want to participate in challenging educational opportunities.

“Establishing a Personal Spiritual Practice,” led by Liz Anderson, will be offered on Tuesdays from 2 to 4 p.m. from January 31 through February 28 in Room 103 of the B Building.

“Zen” an active exploration of zen in regard to our everyday lives, led by George Medelinskas will be offered Wednesdays from 1 to 3 p.m., February 1 through March 1 in Room 107 of the B Building.

“Reading Robert Reich’s ‘Saving Capitalism for the Many and Not the Few’,” will be led by Bonnie Pearlman on Thursdays from 2 to 4 p.m. February 2 through March 2 in Room 103 of the B Building.

Each session is $30.

Seminar leaders will give a brief presentation of the courses being offered later this spring during a CoOL Seminar Showcase on Tuesday, March 14, 2017, from 2 to 4 in the Tech Center on the Haverhill campus, 100 Elliot St.

For more information and to see what sessions will be offered in the spring visit the CoOL website or contact Christine DeRosa at cderosa@necc.mass.edu or call 978-659-1225. Register online  or call 978-556-3700.

NECC will offer a new nurse assistant/home health aide program in beginning in February 2017.

Northern Essex Community College will hold two information sessions for a new five-week, non-credit nursing assistant program that begins in February at NECC Riverwalk in Lawrence.

The first info session will be held Wednesday, January 18, from 10 to 11 a.m. for the February 27-March 31 nurse assistant training program. Another information session will be held on Wednesday, February 1, from 10 to 11 a.m. Both information sessions will be held at NECC Riverwalk, 360 Merrimack St., Lawrence. A second training program will be held April 24 through May 26.

The Department of Public Health recently approved a 125-hour program that introduces fundamental nursing assistant skills and information. It prepares participants to take the Massachusetts state examination to become licensed as a certified nursing assistant and be listed in the Nurse Aide Registry. Participants who successfully complete the program will also receive a home health aide certificate.

The program focuses on communication, safety and infection control procedures, and basic personal care skills for patients/residents in sub-acute, long-term care and in an individual’s home. Other topics include vital signs, documentation, and legal and regulatory practices. This full-time, program will be offered Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and includes classroom instruction, skills practice and clinical experience at a local, long-term care facility under the supervision of a registered nurse.

This is an opportunity to enter the in-demand, direct-care field and can also serve as a gateway to other health care professions.

The program fee $1,279 plus $86 fee for books and materials. For more information email Nancy Tariot at ntariot@necc.mass.edu or noncredit@necc.mass.edu.

Dr. Ethel Schuster, a Computer and Information Sciences Professor at Northern Essex Community College, will present a free presentation titled “Digital Life: Gizmos and Gadgets” at the Wilmington Memorial Library, 175 Middlesex Ave., from 7 to 8:30 p.m. on Wed, Dec. 14. The event is open to the public.

In this presentation, the audience will learn about new technology, including robotic vacuums, e-readers, electronic pens, GPS’s, wireless keyboards, web cams, and more. Professor Schuster will bring her suitcase filled with new technology and give the audience a chance to try it themselves.

A Colombian native, Schuster holds a master’s and PhD from the University of Pennsylvania, specializing in Computational Linguistics and Artificial Intelligence.

She has taught at Northern Essex Community College since 2000. Prior to that she taught at UMass Lowell, and Regis, Merrimack and Simmons colleges. Her interests are wide and include work on scientific writing for non-native English speakers, in collaboration with researchers at the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, and encouraging and enhancing the technology learning process in all age ranges, especially among women and young girls.

This presentation is sponsored by the Wilmington Memorial Library.  Professor Schuster is part of the NECC Speakers Bureau, which has speakers available to present to public and private school systems, libraries, service clubs, and more.

For information on the presentation, call the library, 978 658-2967 or visit the website https://wilmlibrary.org/

For information on the NECC Speakers Bureau, please visit the Speakers Bureau website or contact the group at speakersbureau@necc.mass.edu or at 978-556-3862.