Northern Essex Community College’s commitment to service and community learning continues to grow.

As of this fall, the college has its first civic action plan, identifying goals for the next three years.

Janal D’Agata-Lynch, the college’s civic engagement and service-learning coordinator, who was hired in 2015, is tasked with “preparing students for engaged citizenship” and she does this by creating community service opportunities for our students, by inviting faculty to incorporate service learning projects into their courses, and by seeking out community partners that can benefit from the skills our students bring to the table.

One of D’Agata-Lynch’s priorities has been service learning, in which community service opportunities are incorporated into the course curriculum, making it a classroom experience.

Since D’Agata-Lynch came on campus the number of students involved in service learning has soared, from 232 in 2015/16 to 382 in 2016/17, a 65 percent increase.

Faculty from all areas of the college have embraced service learning, creating opportunities for their students to learn while helping others.

Last semester, the college partnered with Mitch’s Place, a homeless shelter in Haverhill. Professor Jennifer Jackson-Stevens’ respiratory care students offered COPD screenings, smoking cessation workshops, and information on lung health awareness, and Professor Cheryl Charest’s medical assisting students bought, cooked, and served a meal for residents, followed by a blood pressure clinic after dinner.

Another community partner is the Lawrence Boys’ and Girls’ Club.  Students from Professor Lisette Espinoza’s Writing Fusion course mentored children in the program and then wrote essays reflecting on their experiences, and Professor Marc Mannheimer’s Introduction to the Creative Experience students explored the arts with the children, using the tools they learned in the course.

The college partnered with 17 nonprofits this past year.

The new civic action plan, which aligns with the college’s strategic plan and includes campus-wide input, was written by D’Agata-Lynch and Professors Steve Russell and Paula Richards.

It outlines four outcomes with clear goals on how to get there.  The outcomes focus on encouraging faculty to adopt civic learning and service learning; insuring students receive civic education and practice leadership/civic engagement skills; building awareness of community service opportunities among faculty, students, staff, and alumni; and contribution to the economic, social, environmental, education and political well-being of our communities.  The full civic action plan is available online.

If you would like to get involved with service or community learning at Northern Essex, please reach out to D’Agata-Lynch at jdagatalynch@necc.mass.edu or 978 738-7530.

An open house showcasing Northern Essex Community College’s Center for Corporate and Community Education’s new location in the Opportunity Works building at 671 Kenoza St., next to the Haverhill campus, will be held Wednesday, August 23, between 5 and 7 p.m. This open house is free and open to the public.

The center relocated from its most recent space at the Riverwalk in Lawrence. NECC’s 114 noncredit courses, as well as its corporate training programs, will now be offered in the new Opportunity Works building which offers enhanced audio, visual, and computer technologies.

Courses offered in Haverhill will include a newly updated and expanded Human Resources Certificate Program, a Quality Technician Training Program, a Teacher Licensing course, a Payroll Accounting Certificate Program, and the new Sketch Up Part 2, and the popular Project Management Certificate Program.

The enhanced technologies in the building allow for a broad menu of computer training courses now available, including Adobe, AutoCad 2016, IT Certification Training, graphic design, and web design & web hosting.

The new Haverhill location also offers ideal space for the learning opportunities offered by the Life Long Learning initiative, a program of seminars, discussion, and study groups for adults. Within Life Long Learning, the College of Older Learners (CoOL) offers seminar groups in topics such as Audio Storytelling, Historic New England, Now and Zen, Senior Theater, and Non-Traditional Healing.

For additional information contact noncredit@necc.mass.edu or call 978-556-3060. For a complete list of noncredit programs and courses visit the noncredit website.

 

 

Children at home, a job, or fears about whether you can be successful shouldn’t stop you from continuing your education, according to the four panelists who spoke at Northern Essex Community College’s Women Returning to School Information Session on Tuesday evening, August 7.

Presented by Enrollment Services, the panel featured Allison Belisle of Haverhill, 2017 Nursing graduate; Daniela Chavez-Hernandez of Dracut, 2017 Early Childhood Education graduate, Patricia Lyon of Methuen, 2013 Business Management graduate, and Charlene Woodard of Haverhill, 2009 Business Management graduate.  Each shared their own story and offered advice for the audience of 30 women and one brave man, who was there supporting his wife.

Tricia Lyon, a divorced mother of two teens, said it took her a year after getting accepted to muster up the courage to sign up for her first class.  Once she got started, she found she loved school.  “I loved the validation.  I couldn’t believe the feedback I got from my professors.”

The skills Lyon learned in her computer applications course helped her land a job as assistant to the director of the Tsongas Center at UMass Lowell while she was still a student, and she’s received three promotions since then, and is now assistant to the deputy director of athletics.

She’s continued her studies, earning a bachelor’s from UMass Lowell this spring, and now considers herself a life-long learner.  “I want to keep going to classes even if they have to wheel me in with my oxygen.”

Charlene Woodard dropped out of high school at 16, had four children, and, after getting her GED at 29, landed a job at Northern Essex.  She didn’t see herself as a college student, but a student working in her department encouraged her to give it a try, so she did.

Now, over two decades later, she has an associate degree, a bachelor’s from Southern New Hampshire University, and, next spring, she’ll have a master’s from Saint Joseph College.

Woodard confirmed how rewarding the validation is, sharing the joy she felt when she got an “A” on her first quiz in her accounting class.  While she started with traditional classroom courses, most of her coursework has been online, which works best since she works full-time.

Daniela Chavez-Hernandez of Dracut was selected as this year’s student commencement speaker and, in the fall, she is enrolled at Tufts University, but what she focused on were the challenges she faced on her path to a degree.  She came to this country from Mexico at 16, knowing no English, and, after graduating from high school, was in an abusive relationship which she was finally able to free herself from.

The mother of a two-year old and full-time preschool teacher, said “If I share this story it’s because I want to serve as an inspiration to you.  I’m not any smarter than you, I just had a dream.  You must have a dream since you’re in this room.”

Allison Belisle always dreamed of being a nurse but she had dropped out of college once and didn’t think she was up to the academic rigor of a nursing program.

It was after earning an associate degree in communications and having her now three-year old son that she finally had the courage to go for it, enrolling in the nursing program at Northern Essex.

Belisle advised others not to listen to the naysayers.  “I met an academic advisor at NECC who told me I was a great candidate for the nursing program,” she said.  “NECC gave me a second chance.  I’m not a college dropout; I’m a registered nurse.”

Also speaking at the event were Danny Richer, director of recruitment and admissions, and Alexis Fishbone, chief financial officer and veterans’ coordinator.

“Sixty percent of our students are women,” said Richer, “And many are balancing their college work with family and work responsibilities.  This event was designed to inspire others.”

It’s not too late to register for the fall semester at Northern Essex, which begins September 6.  For more information, visit the website www.necc.mass.edu or contact enrollment services, admissions@necc.mass.edu or 978 556-3700.