{"id":22399,"date":"2025-02-11T13:38:26","date_gmt":"2025-02-11T18:38:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom2\/2025\/02\/11\/here-to-help-familiar-faces-greet-students-on-the-lawrence-campus-2\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T13:30:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T17:30:13","slug":"here-to-help-familiar-faces-greet-students-on-the-lawrence-campus-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/02\/11\/here-to-help-familiar-faces-greet-students-on-the-lawrence-campus-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Here to Help: Familiar Faces Greet Students on the Lawrence Campus"},"content":{"rendered":"

This story originally appeared in the fall 2024 edition of alumnecc<\/a>, the alumni magazine of Northern Essex Community College.<\/em><\/p>\n

45,000. That\u2019s how many hours- give or take- the women behind the Welcome Expres<\/a>s desk on the Lawrence Campus have spent working together. They\u2019ve celebrated milestones, helped each other through tough times, and become a family. But most importantly, they\u2019ve welcomed thousands of students into the Northern Essex family.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat personal touch is important to them,\u201d said Ilia Colon \u201911, the newest member of the team who has been at NECC for 25 years.<\/p>\n

She joined Elizabeth Mercardo \u201995, \u201909 and Paula Pancorbo \u201906, \u201912 as an enrollment services specialist in 2003, though her connection to the college goes back much further than that.<\/p>\n

\u201cI first came to the college in 1995 to get my medical transcription certification,\u201d she recalled. \u201cI was working in a building across the street as a property manager. I had my kids young, and I was a single mother, so I was thinking about them.\u201d<\/p>\n

After earning her certificate, she returned to Puerto Rico, where she was born and where many of her family members still lived. A year later, she was back in Lawrence, and ready to continue her journey at NECC.<\/p>\n

She first took a work-study role in the health program and then became an administrative assistant for the English for Speakers of Other Languages<\/a> (ESOL) program in 1999. Three and a half years later, she learned about the full-time opening with Enrollment Services<\/a>. The hiring manager called Colon\u2019s supervisor for a reference, which must have been glowing because she was hired on the spot.
\n\u201cIt all started in this building,\u201d she said of the Dimitry Building at 45 Franklin Street. Colon went on to earn an associate in arts: general studies degree<\/a> from NECC in 2011.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Mercado had a similar experience. She received an associate degree in administrative management: travel\/tourism in 1995. After an internship at Logan Airport and a short time working for the Merrimack Valley Regional Transit Authority, she saw an ad in the paper for the enrollment position at NECC and decided to apply.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was the last one to get interviewed and I was really hoping for this great opportunity. When I was hired, it was a dream come true. As a student, I always had that vision of one day helping other students accomplish their goals.\u201d<\/p>\n

That fateful day was 28 years ago. Though some of the mechanics have changed \u2013 no more paper applications, for example \u2013 the essence of the role remains the same.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do it all! We connect them to financial aid, we refer them to services, we\u2019re recruiting,\u201d Colon remarked. \u201cBut most of all, we\u2019re a personal connection for them. Some really want and need that interaction; they don\u2019t want to do everything online.\u201d<\/p>\n

Colon recalled the time a mom came in with her daughter. The daughter wasn\u2019t sold on the idea of enrolling, but after a short talk with Colon, she decided to give it a try.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just told her \u2018You have a lot of opportunities. My mother never told me to go to college.\u2019 The mom came back and thanked me and said, \u2018I don\u2019t know what you did to change her mind!\u2019 We do that all the time for our students. We want to go the extra mile.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mercado said it\u2019s especially helpful that the enrollment staff in Lawrence are bilingual.<\/p>\n

\u201cOften, we\u2019re talking to the student in English and then we\u2019re translating it into Spanish for the parents. And we\u2019re happy to do that because it\u2019s what makes the process easier for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many of those students who benefited from that extra attention are now paying it forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the things I love about my job is that we see the students, and then we see them come back with their children. That is \u2013 wow \u2013 I love it. We had one just today! It happens all the time, almost every day,\u201d said Mercado.<\/p>\n

Both women said they are reminded every day that welcoming students isn’t just a job; it’s an opportunity to change lives.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love working here, I love to work with the people,\u201d reflected Colon. \u201cI love to see people succeed.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This story originally appeared in the fall 2024 edition of alumnecc, the alumni magazine of Northern Essex Community College. 45,000. That\u2019s how many hours- give or take- the women behind […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":130,"featured_media":26435,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[9,13,15,20],"tags":[243,646,54],"class_list":["post-22399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-faculty-and-staff","category-headlines","category-students","tag-esol","tag-welcome-express","tag-alumnecc"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHere to Help: Familiar Faces Greet Students on the Lawrence Campus - NECC News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/02\/11\/here-to-help-familiar-faces-greet-students-on-the-lawrence-campus-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Here to Help: Familiar Faces Greet Students on the Lawrence Campus - NECC News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This story originally appeared in the fall 2024 edition of alumnecc, the alumni magazine of Northern Essex Community College. 45,000. That\u2019s how many hours- give or take- the women behind […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/02\/11\/here-to-help-familiar-faces-greet-students-on-the-lawrence-campus-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"NECC News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-02-11T18:38:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-05-14T17:30:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/03\/Welcome-Express.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"mbouse\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"mbouse\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/02\/11\/here-to-help-familiar-faces-greet-students-on-the-lawrence-campus-2\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/02\/11\/here-to-help-familiar-faces-greet-students-on-the-lawrence-campus-2\/\",\"name\":\"Here to Help: Familiar Faces Greet Students on the Lawrence Campus - NECC News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/02\/11\/here-to-help-familiar-faces-greet-students-on-the-lawrence-campus-2\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/02\/11\/here-to-help-familiar-faces-greet-students-on-the-lawrence-campus-2\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/03\/Welcome-Express.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-02-11T18:38:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-05-14T17:30:13+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/b067809b6ac2476027bcd15cea07449b\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/02\/11\/here-to-help-familiar-faces-greet-students-on-the-lawrence-campus-2\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/02\/11\/here-to-help-familiar-faces-greet-students-on-the-lawrence-campus-2\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/02\/11\/here-to-help-familiar-faces-greet-students-on-the-lawrence-campus-2\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/03\/Welcome-Express.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/03\/Welcome-Express.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":800},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/02\/11\/here-to-help-familiar-faces-greet-students-on-the-lawrence-campus-2\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/home\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Here to Help: Familiar Faces Greet Students on the Lawrence Campus\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/\",\"name\":\"NECC News\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/b067809b6ac2476027bcd15cea07449b\",\"name\":\"mbouse\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c9bc5063d1d57b90679530f25125157606b6c761a74463fd22130b67b9567bc5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c9bc5063d1d57b90679530f25125157606b6c761a74463fd22130b67b9567bc5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"mbouse\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/author\/mbouse\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Here to Help: Familiar Faces Greet Students on the Lawrence Campus - NECC News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/02\/11\/here-to-help-familiar-faces-greet-students-on-the-lawrence-campus-2\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Here to Help: Familiar Faces Greet Students on the Lawrence Campus - NECC News","og_description":"This story originally appeared in the fall 2024 edition of alumnecc, the alumni magazine of Northern Essex Community College. 45,000. That\u2019s how many hours- give or take- the women behind […]","og_url":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/02\/11\/here-to-help-familiar-faces-greet-students-on-the-lawrence-campus-2\/","og_site_name":"NECC News","article_published_time":"2025-02-11T18:38:26+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-05-14T17:30:13+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":800,"url":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/03\/Welcome-Express.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"mbouse","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"mbouse","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/02\/11\/here-to-help-familiar-faces-greet-students-on-the-lawrence-campus-2\/","url":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/02\/11\/here-to-help-familiar-faces-greet-students-on-the-lawrence-campus-2\/","name":"Here to Help: Familiar Faces Greet Students on the Lawrence Campus - NECC News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/02\/11\/here-to-help-familiar-faces-greet-students-on-the-lawrence-campus-2\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/02\/11\/here-to-help-familiar-faces-greet-students-on-the-lawrence-campus-2\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/03\/Welcome-Express.jpg","datePublished":"2025-02-11T18:38:26+00:00","dateModified":"2026-05-14T17:30:13+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/b067809b6ac2476027bcd15cea07449b"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/02\/11\/here-to-help-familiar-faces-greet-students-on-the-lawrence-campus-2\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/02\/11\/here-to-help-familiar-faces-greet-students-on-the-lawrence-campus-2\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/02\/11\/here-to-help-familiar-faces-greet-students-on-the-lawrence-campus-2\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/03\/Welcome-Express.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/03\/Welcome-Express.jpg","width":1200,"height":800},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2025\/02\/11\/here-to-help-familiar-faces-greet-students-on-the-lawrence-campus-2\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/home\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Here to Help: Familiar Faces Greet Students on the Lawrence Campus"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/#website","url":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/","name":"NECC News","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/b067809b6ac2476027bcd15cea07449b","name":"mbouse","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c9bc5063d1d57b90679530f25125157606b6c761a74463fd22130b67b9567bc5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c9bc5063d1d57b90679530f25125157606b6c761a74463fd22130b67b9567bc5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"mbouse"},"url":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/author\/mbouse\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22399","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/130"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22399"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22399\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33988,"href":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22399\/revisions\/33988"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26435"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}