{"id":23476,"date":"2022-05-06T14:33:18","date_gmt":"2022-05-06T18:33:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom2\/2022\/05\/06\/honors-program-expands-to-give-students-more-options\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T15:32:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T19:32:15","slug":"honors-program-expands-to-give-students-more-options","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2022\/05\/06\/honors-program-expands-to-give-students-more-options\/","title":{"rendered":"Honors Program Expands to Give Students More Options"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Haverhill, MA (May 2, 2022) \u2013 This fall, Northern Essex Community College students will have twice as many options for <a href=\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/learn\/commonwealth-honors-program\/\">honors<\/a> classes. Seven honors classes and one seminar will be offered, with in-person classes in Haverhill and Lawrence, and one that will meet entirely online.<\/p>\n<p>Any student can register and take these classes regardless of their GPA. However, students who take three honors classes and maintain a GPA of at least 3.2 will be designated as members of the Commonwealth Honors Program. That means if they transfer to a state university, they\u2019re automatically enrolled in the Commonwealth Honors program there, and their honors courses transfer easily. \u201cMA is the only state that has this seamless transition from the community colleges to the state universities,\u201d says Honors Program Coordinator Ginger Hurajt.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_25185\" style=\"width: 343px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom2\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/02\/50432776872_760757ec7a_c.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-25185\" class=\" wp-image-25185\" src=\"http:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom2\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/02\/50432776872_760757ec7a_c.jpg\" alt=\"corner of the library building on a bright sunny day\" width=\"333\" height=\"222\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-25185\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Bentley Library, Haverhill Campus<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Commonwealth Honors Program participants also get the chance to showcase their hard work at the state level. Four NECC students just presented their honors projects at the virtual <a href=\"https:\/\/www.umass.edu\/honors\/curriculum\/opportunities\/MassURC\">Massachusetts Undergraduate Research Conference.<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/learn\/credit-programs\/liberal-arts\/liberal-arts-psychology\/\">Psychology<\/a> student Emily Ellis\u2019 project looks at how connections between brain function and the immune\u00a0system can be used in the development of treatment plans for Alzheimer\u2019s patients. \u201cI have had a great time learning about this, though it was difficult, this research has intrigued me to study this for a career,\u201d says Ellis.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/learn\/credit-programs\/liberal-arts\/liberal-arts\/\">Liberal Arts<\/a> major April Richer of Dover, NH is working on two projects: the first is an oral history of Dover, documenting life during the height of the pandemic and the other examines the role of women during the January 6 insurrection. Avery Hochheiser is an <a href=\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/learn\/early-college\/\">Early College<\/a> student, meaning she\u2019s taking classes while still in high school. Her project looks at the use of CRISPR, a form of genetic engineering, and whether its use should be considered an ethical practice. \u201cThis is graduate level work. We\u2019re asking a lot, and these are very ambitious students,\u201d says Hurajt. April Richer agrees: \u201cIt has been challenging, and exhausting, however it has greatly increased my abilities as a student.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Registration for fall classes is open now. Learn more about the honors program and class options <a href=\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/learn\/commonwealth-honors-program\/commonwealth-honors-program-courses\/\">here<\/a>. Anyone with questions should contact Commonwealth Honors Program Coordinator Ginger Hurajt at <a href=\"mailto:ghurajt@necc.mass.edu\">ghurajt@necc.mass.edu<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Haverhill, MA (May 2, 2022) \u2013 This fall, Northern Essex Community College students will have twice as many options for honors classes. Seven honors classes and one seminar will be [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":130,"featured_media":25294,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[316,317],"class_list":["post-23476","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-programs","tag-honors","tag-honors-program"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Honors Program Expands to Give Students More Options - 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\/2022\/05\/06\/honors-program-expands-to-give-students-more-options\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Honors Program Expands to Give Students More Options - NECC News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Haverhill, MA (May 2, 2022) \u2013 This fall, Northern Essex Community College students will have twice as many options for honors classes. Seven honors classes and one seminar will be [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2022\/05\/06\/honors-program-expands-to-give-students-more-options\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"NECC News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-05-06T18:33:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-05-13T19:32:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/02\/50432776872_760757ec7a_c-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"799\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"533\" \/>\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=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2022\/05\/06\/honors-program-expands-to-give-students-more-options\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2022\/05\/06\/honors-program-expands-to-give-students-more-options\/\",\"name\":\"Honors Program Expands to Give Students More Options - NECC News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2022\/05\/06\/honors-program-expands-to-give-students-more-options\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2022\/05\/06\/honors-program-expands-to-give-students-more-options\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/02\/50432776872_760757ec7a_c-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-05-06T18:33:18+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-05-13T19:32:15+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/b067809b6ac2476027bcd15cea07449b\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2022\/05\/06\/honors-program-expands-to-give-students-more-options\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2022\/05\/06\/honors-program-expands-to-give-students-more-options\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2022\/05\/06\/honors-program-expands-to-give-students-more-options\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/02\/50432776872_760757ec7a_c-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/02\/50432776872_760757ec7a_c-1.jpg\",\"width\":799,\"height\":533},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2022\/05\/06\/honors-program-expands-to-give-students-more-options\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/home\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Honors Program Expands to Give Students More Options\"}]},{\"@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":"Honors Program Expands to Give Students More Options - 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\/2022\/05\/06\/honors-program-expands-to-give-students-more-options\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Honors Program Expands to Give Students More Options - NECC News","og_description":"Haverhill, MA (May 2, 2022) \u2013 This fall, Northern Essex Community College students will have twice as many options for honors classes. Seven honors classes and one seminar will be [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2022\/05\/06\/honors-program-expands-to-give-students-more-options\/","og_site_name":"NECC News","article_published_time":"2022-05-06T18:33:18+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-05-13T19:32:15+00:00","og_image":[{"width":799,"height":533,"url":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/02\/50432776872_760757ec7a_c-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"mbouse","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"mbouse","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2022\/05\/06\/honors-program-expands-to-give-students-more-options\/","url":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2022\/05\/06\/honors-program-expands-to-give-students-more-options\/","name":"Honors Program Expands to Give Students More Options - NECC News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2022\/05\/06\/honors-program-expands-to-give-students-more-options\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2022\/05\/06\/honors-program-expands-to-give-students-more-options\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/02\/50432776872_760757ec7a_c-1.jpg","datePublished":"2022-05-06T18:33:18+00:00","dateModified":"2026-05-13T19:32:15+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/b067809b6ac2476027bcd15cea07449b"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2022\/05\/06\/honors-program-expands-to-give-students-more-options\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2022\/05\/06\/honors-program-expands-to-give-students-more-options\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2022\/05\/06\/honors-program-expands-to-give-students-more-options\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/02\/50432776872_760757ec7a_c-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/02\/50432776872_760757ec7a_c-1.jpg","width":799,"height":533},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2022\/05\/06\/honors-program-expands-to-give-students-more-options\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/home\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Honors Program Expands to Give Students More Options"}]},{"@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\/23476","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=23476"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23476\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33182,"href":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23476\/revisions\/33182"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25294"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}