Matt Belfiore gives Jada Ryan of Methuen at hand securing her camera to the tripod.

Matt Belfiore, stands in the center of HC Media’s sleek, new studio at the recently completed Harbor Place at White’s Corner in downtown Haverhill and reflects on what it means for Northern Essex Community College students.

“The space looks deceptively simple,” said the 20-plus year employee of HC Media, “But there is a lot of technology going on in this room.”

Technology that the eight NECC students currently enrolled in the video field production class are enjoying.

As director of operations at HC Media and an instructor in Northern Essex’s journalism/communication program for 11 years Belfiore has history on his side and thus can appreciate what the new location and all its trappings means for his students.

Working and teaching in the new cable access, street-level facility has been nothing short of amazing, Belfiore said. Compared to the older cramped, windowless, studio, on Elm Street, where some of the operations are still managed, he said the new studio and new equipment provide “a much better experience”

Since Bryce Grant, 22 of Andover, never took a class in the Elm Street location, she said she “didn’t know what to expect” at the new studio, but is thrilled with the design and location. Kirk Whelan, 20 of Windham, NH, had taken classes at the old studio and is quite “surprised and impressed” by the new studio.

While Belfiore has been imparting his media wisdom on to Northern Essex students for nearly a decade, in the last three years the video field production class has been retooled with an emphasis placed on creating “video packages in the field” so the studio with its leading edge lighting and equipment helps students create industry worthy packages.

The students in the first group of NECC students to use the new studio were greeted with floor to ceiling windows overlooking a courtyard with a 15-foot water fountain on one side and a bustling Merrimack Street on the other, a rolling news desk, retractable blackout shades, granite floors, cutting edge lighting and equipment, and a control room that operates six cameras.

“It really is a great space,” Belfiore said. “I love it. The students love it. We were always right up there with the better equipment, but this offers an even better audio/visual system. And, we have breathing room here. It’s easier to teach here.”

Belfiore and other HC Media personnel spent well over a year designing the space with three purposes in mind – to serve as a television studio, performance venue, and training facility.

Just that morning the 118-person capacity facility hosted a meet and great for two candidates for a local state representative race and a meeting for the annual Haverhill Stroll.

Now, just hours later, Belfiore, was instructing NECC students on how to mount the video cameras to the tripods, how to level the camera, format the camera cards, and tips on getting wide, closed, and medium shots.

After sending them out into the sunshine in the courtyard overlooking the Merrimack River, Belfiore said, “This really is an excellent facility. We encourage all the NECC faculty to explore using it. It’s a great space. It’s here to be used. That’s why we built it.”

Northern Essex offers an associate degree in liberal arts: journalism/communication option. This degree option provides basic courses and practical experience which prepares individuals for a career in public relations, corporate communication, or print or broadcast journalism, including jobs with newspapers, magazines, publishing, television or radio or transfer to a four-year degree program.

Left to right: Sal Lupoli, chair, MVCC Board; Lane Glenn, recipient of the Wilkinson Award; Governor Charlie Baker; and Joe Bevilacqua, president/CEO, MVCC

Northern Essex Community College President Lane Glenn received the Wilkinson Good Citizenship Award at the Merrimack Valley Chamber of Commerce’s Annual Dinner on Wednesday, Oct. 4 based on his contributions to the chamber, the Lawrence Partnership, and the Merrimack Valley Planning Commission.

The award was presented by Joseph Bevilacqua, chamber president/CEO; Salvatore Lupoli, chairman of the chamber board; and Governor Charlie Baker, who was the guest speaker at the event.

In accepting the award, Glenn said “We all owe service to the space we occupy.”  He said his father U.S. Marine Master Sgt. Raymond Glenn of Houston, TX, is his inspiration.  Sgt. Glenn, who served two tours of duty in Vietnam, stayed in Houston after the recent hurricane, volunteering to help those who had been impacted. He was at the event to watch his son receive his award.

Thomasina Glenn, Lane Glenn’s daughter, and Ray Glenn of Houston, Lane Glenn’s father.

Receiving the Community Spirit Award was former NECC trustee Dalia Diaz and her husband Alberto Suris, publishers of “Rumbo”, a weekly bilingual (English-Spanish) newspaper.  Other recipients included Kate Cook director of business development for Comfort Home Care, Emerging Leader Award, and the US Army’s Haverhill Recruiting Center, Leadership and Valor Award.

Mike Finegold of Andover, artistic director of the Essex Chamber Music Players, will perform with the ensemble at its October 29 concert on the Haverhill campus.

Essex Chamber Music Players in residence at Northern Essex Community College will begin its 2017/2018 with a Sunday, Oct. 29, concert in the Hartleb Technology Center on the Haverhill campus, 100 Elliot St.

The concert, which begins at 2 p.m. will feature the music of Haydn, Shostakovich, Schubert and Gary William Friedman plus a “Tinge of Halloween” music.

Tickets are $15 for general admission and $5 for NECC students with a school identification.

The other concerts of the season include Sunday, March 25, featuring pianist Constantine Finehouse playing selections of Beethoven, Schumann, Chopin, Albeniz, and Bolcom; Sunday, April 6, Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) with a service at 6:30 p.m., followed by a one-hour concert at 7 p.m. at Temple Emanuel, 7 Haggetts Pond Road in Andover; Sunday, April 22, Earth Day Concert, featuring George Crumb playing “Voice of the Whales,” a new work for Earth Day Celebration by David Bennett Thomas on poems of Robert Frost; and Sunday, May 13, Essex Jazz Ensemble featuring the compositions of ECMP founder and artistic director Michael Finegold and Marc Rossi.

For additional information on any of the concerts contact Finegold at ecmp314@comcast.net or visit the ECMP website.

Northern Essex Community College still has openings in its five-week, non-credit, nursing

NECC will offer a new nurse assistant/home health aide program in beginning October 30.

assistant/home health aide program that begins Monday, Oct. 30, and runs through Thursday, Dec. 7. Registration closes Friday, Oct. 20.

This full-time, program will be offered Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and includes classroom instruction and 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 which could serve as a gateway to other health care professions.

The program fee is $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.

Classes will be held fall at NECC Riverwalk, 360 Merrimack St. in Lawrence, Entry K.

The Department of Public Health has approved this 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.

Copies of “A History of Northern Essex Community College” are available in the Bentley Library.

There are a limited number of copies of the recently published book, “A History of Northern Essex Community College, 1960-1985,” by Dr. John Spurk, the late NECC history professor for whom the Spurk Building is named, available to the public.

The book is free and available at the front desk of the Harold Bentley Library on the Haverhill campus, 100 Elliott St.

This manuscript was written by Spurk in the late 1980’s, and edited by his former student Robert Eddy in the early 1990’s after Spurk died in 1991. Anyone who would like a free copy may stop by the Harold Bentley Library on the Haverhill campus and ask for a copy at the main service desk.

Spurk was a professor of history & government at Northern Essex for 24 years until his retirement in 1991. He was a respected and well-loved member of the college community who played a key role in the development of the college. Each year the Dr. John Spurk Memorial Scholarship is presented to a Liberal Arts major who resides in the Merrimack Valley region and is involved in Community Leadership/Service.

Retired NECC President John Dimitry, who as the second president of Northern Essex served from 1975 to 1996, asked Spurk to write the history in 1986. Spurk completed it in the late 1980s and it has been part of the college’s archives since then. Mike Hearn, the college’s director of libraries, can be credited with providing the leadership to get the history published, along with an update covering 1986 to the present written by Mary Wilson, dean emeritus of the college, with contributions from Wendy Shaffer, dean of development.

There are about 100 books available.

For additional information contact Hearn at mhearn@necc.mass.edu.