Popcorn Packaging designed by Brandon Heanssler, Lyndon State College’s web & digital designer, is one of the pieces of art included in the Lyndon@NECC art show.

Lyndon State College will celebrate the launch of its new Visual Communications bachelor’s completion program at Northern Essex Community College with a faculty and student art exhibit running from March 1 through March 31 on the Lawrence campus.

The opening reception will be held Wednesday, March 1, at noon in NECC’s Dimitry Atrium, 45 Franklin St., where the exhibit will be displayed. The exhibit and reception are free and open to the public.

The reception will provide an opportunity for prospective students to learn about the Visual Communications Program and career options in graphic design and advertising as well as other Lyndon@NECC programs including Music Business & Industry and Computer & Information Systems. Light refreshments will be served.

In addition, on Friday, March 10, Lyndon faculty and students will be available to discuss career possibilities in visual communications at an open house in the Dimitry Atrium, at 11 a.m.

The Visual Communications Program began in January for students who have completed an associate degree or are finishing an associate degree at NECC. The program offers the only arts-related classes at NECC’s Lawrence campus.

“Graphic design, which is part of the Visual Communications Program, is used in practically every business,” says Lyndon Site Director Kristin Hunt, who is based at NECC in Lawrence.

The Visual Communications major with a graphic design concentration, covers e-publishing, multimedia, print, and product packaging, will prepare students to work in a range of positions and businesses, from corporate communications and public relations to marketing and desktop publishing.

“It’s about being able to tie together the different facets of branding and communication,” Hunt says.

The Visual Communications bachelor’s completion program is more affordable than many bachelor’s programs because Massachusetts residents get the lower Vermont in-state tuition rate.

The new degree is one of three bachelor’s degree completion programs in the Lyndon @NECC program, which was established in fall 2016 with the Computer & Information Systems Bachelor of Science degree.

A bachelor’s degree in Music Business & Industry with concentrations in music and self-promotion and music industry management will be launched in fall 2017. Students will gain skills in managing events, artists and venues; working with contracts; booking acts; and other areas.

In addition to ongoing faculty support and career advising for students, the programs emphasize “advance-level internships and senior projects that are really meant to prepare them for the workplace. That’s definitely a hallmark of the programs and of Lyndon State,” Hunt says. “Students will leave each program with work experience and developed projects under their belt. That is really important.”

For more information, visit Lyndon@NECC.

Northern Essex offers an Associate in Art degree in General Studies: Art that prepares students for transfer into a four-year program or for a career in photography, visual arts, graphic design, and multimedia.

Nine years ago, when Northern Essex Community College English Professor Dr. Paul Saint-Amand introduced the Peace Poetry Contest, he hoped for a “good response”.

Since then, the annual contest has collectively drawn more than 10,000 poems and nearly 1,000 pieces of art, written and drawn by kindergarteners to octogenarians from as far away as Pakistan and Nigeria.

“I had hoped the response would be good, but never thought so many students, teachers, and community members would so generously embrace this social justice activity over the years,” says the Vietnam era veteran and Rockport resident. “Each year, I am pleasantly surprised by the volume of submissions, but, more important, I am overwhelmed by the care and level of poetic expression found in the entries. The reading event just keeps getting better, filling our tech center to capacity each spring.”

Saint-Amand, is founder and project director of the National Peace Poetry Project and the director of the Vietnam Veterans Chapbook Project.

NECC Professor and Peace Poetry Reading and Contest founder Dr. Paul Saint-Amand, looked on as Alva Yankowitz of Andover, one of last year’s winners, read her original poem during the 2016 Peace Poetry Reading last May.

The contest deadline is Wednesday, March 15, 2017. The reading event for the winning submissions is Friday, May 5, 2017.

The NECC community members as well as students from K-12 classrooms (both public and private) and those adults affiliated with these schools are invited to create and submit original poems on the subject of peace.

“We believe that children cannot learn to speak the language of possibility, or envision a culture of peace, if they do not have the opportunity to identify such moments and values within themselves and their relationships,” says Saint-Amand. “It is our responsibility, as educators, to offer students a way to fuel their imaginations and embrace the concept of peace.

NECC English Professor and Peace Poetry founder Dr. Paul Saint-Amand, with former student and NECC alumna Diannely Antigua, who was the guest speaker at last year’s Peace Poetry Reading night, and NECC President Lane Glenn.

For additional information, contact Saint-Amand, at (978) 556-3307 or psaintamand@necc.mass.edu

The Peace Poetry Contest & Reading is a program offered under the Service Learning umbrella at NECC. Its goal is to honor the ideal of peace through the creation and submission of works on the topic.

This contest is sponsored by the Office of the Vice President for Student and Academic Affairs, Division of Liberal Arts, the English Department, and Service Learning Committee. This contest is not affiliated with a political organization and holds no formal position on the current state of world affairs.

The U.S. Navy Band Brass Quintet – “Top Brass” will

The U.S. Navy Quintet will perform at NECC on March 9.

perform at Northern Essex Community College in the Hartleb Technology Center, on the Haverhill campus, 100 Elliot St., on Thursday, March 9, at 7 p.m.

This event is free and open to the public.

Since 1971 the Navy Band Brass Quintet has performed at libraries, museums, and schools around the country and has performed at an inaugural event for President George W. Bush.

The quintet’s repertoire includes works from the 16th through the 20th centuries, with many of the compositions arranged by its members. Brass Quintet members are often featured soloists with the Concert Band and perform in Navy Band recitals.

Under the direction of Lieutenant Gregory Fritz, Navy Band Northeast is one of 11 official bands of the U.S. Naval War College in Newport, R.I. and serves the military and civilian communities throughout the Northeastern United States.

Seats are general admission on a first come first serve basis.

This event is sponsored by the NECC Music Department. NECC offers an Associate Arts Degree: General Studies Music Option. The program is designed to give students a strong foundation in music. The program is suited either to students who want to transfer to a four-year college or those who want to begin or continue an interest in music.

For additional information contact Michael Lecuyer at mlecuyer@necc.mass.edu.

The early stages of a guitar….a signed guitar soundboard.

Last march, when Northern Essex Community College engineering professor Juan Oscar Azaret crafted a one-night workshop weaving together physics, engineering, and the classical guitar, he worried it wouldn’t draw an audience.

When more than 100 faculty, students, and community members filled the Hartleb Technology Center on the Haverhill campus, he knew he had found kindred souls.

The North Andover resident is hoping to attract those musical allies with a second one-night workshop titled “Those Mysterious Existences: Art, Science, Lutherie, and the Classical Guitar” on Wednesday, March 8, at 6:30 p.m. in the Hartleb Technology Center, 100 Elliott St. on the Haverhill campus.

This event is free and open to the public.

Engineering Professor Juan Oscar Azaret.

An engineer of 35 years, Azaret is also a classical guitarist and luthier (someone who makes or repairs string instruments) and a long time board member of the Boston Classical Guitar Society. Multitalented, Azaret has a multi-faceted appreciation of the classical guitar and believes others can too.

“This idea that the classical guitar and the sound it produces can be of interest to students of varied disciplines was the catalyst for these events. The evening is designed around the idea of “the art and science of the classical guitar,” Azaret says, “through performance, perception, design, and acoustics.”

“This project will provide a vehicle for students in each of these fields to appreciate certain foundations and applications of their studies as they relate to each other,” he says. “We want them to be interested in the academics of it, but entertained as well.”

The program will include performances of classical guitar works by Robert Ward, a professor at Northeastern University and Brookline Music School and concert

Classical guitarist Bob Ward will perform during the one-night workshop.

guitarist. The focus will be on the music and how “beautiful and approachable music” is created on a classical guitar as well as how guitars are created. Partially constructed guitars will be available to show the anatomy of the instrument.

The second half of the night will be dedicated to examining sound. Specifically the science and engineering that creates the sound. Participants will be able to “see” sound through the use of a spectrum analyzer, oscilloscope, and vibrating string lab set-ups in an interactive audio visual presentation.

A guitar is born…gluing the back bracing.

“It will link the instrument, the performer, the music, and the listener,” he says.

This presentation is funded, in part, through a new Academic Innovations Mini-Grant which was created by the college to encourage curriculum innovation.

Students from NECC’s physics, engineering, and music classes will be in attendance, and the public is invited to attend.

For additional information contact Juan Oscar Azaret at joazaret@gmail.com