{"id":23712,"date":"2021-03-02T19:04:28","date_gmt":"2021-03-03T00:04:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom2\/2021\/03\/03\/music-grad-selected-to-sing-at-dhe-29-who-shine-event\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T15:19:26","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T19:19:26","slug":"music-grad-selected-to-sing-at-dhe-29-who-shine-event","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2021\/03\/02\/music-grad-selected-to-sing-at-dhe-29-who-shine-event\/","title":{"rendered":"Music Grad Selected to Sing at DHE &#8220;29 Who Shine&#8221; Event"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_23789\" style=\"width: 277px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/media-old\/2021\/03\/Alicia-Catalano-hydrangea-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-23789\" class=\"wp-image-23789 size-medium\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/media-old\/2021\/03\/Alicia-Catalano-hydrangea-1-267x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"267\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-23789\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">NECC Music Major Alicia Catalano<\/p><\/div>\n<p>There is one thing Northern Essex music major Alicia Catalano always knew she wanted to do. \u201cAll I ever wanted to be was a singer, music is my passion,\u201d she says. She started a band with her brother when they were just teens, and they played in and around their hometown of Newburyport. They even opened up for jazz-rock band Blood, Sweat and Tears.<\/p>\n<p>When it came time to decide what to do after graduating from Whittier Tech in culinary in 2018, where she served as class president, Catalano found herself at a crossroads. She wanted to explore college, but didn\u2019t want to totally uproot her life. \u201cI was super confused; music was the only thing I wanted to do. And I thought, you don\u2019t have to go to school to be a musician,\u201d she remembers. Catalano says NECC provided the perfect solution. \u201cI still feel like I\u2019m in limbo, I\u2019m not really sure what I want to do in life. But going to NECC has given me that time and opportunity to explore in an affordable way.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Catalano, who performs under the name Alicia Malana, has certainly made the most out of her time at NECC. She just released her first single called <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=2woEBIdRyYs\">\u201cForgive\u201d<\/a> and she has been selected to perform for the Department of Higher Education\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mass.edu\/system\/29whoshine.asp\">\u201c29 Who Shine Awards\u201d<\/a> in May, an event hosted by Governor Charlie Baker and honoring a top graduate from each community college, state college and university in Massachusetts.<\/p>\n<p>This spring, Alicia Catalano will graduate with her <a href=\"https:\/\/www.necc.mass.edu\/learn\/credit-programs\/performing-arts\/general-studies-music-option\/\">associate\u2019s degree in music<\/a>, and in the fall she will earn another <a href=\"https:\/\/www.necc.mass.edu\/learn\/credit-programs\/business\/\">associate\u2019s degree in business<\/a>. NECC\u2019s General Music degree gives students the skills for a variety of careers in performing, teaching, sound engineering and much more. Credits also transfer to a number of bachelor\u2019s degree programs at four-year schools.<\/p>\n<p>When she\u2019s not performing, creating music, or studying, she is busy designing a line of bags called <a href=\"https:\/\/shopbyalicia.com\">\u201cBy Alicia\u201d<\/a> which she markets online. Catalano says her degrees will help her continue to pursue her passions, while figuring out her next step. \u201cI will say to my mom I feel like I\u2019m behind, because it took me three years instead of two or two and a half to get my associate\u2019s degrees. And she\u2019ll say,\u00a0 \u2018You\u2019re not behind, you\u2019re figuring it out at a different pace.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This story was written by Melissa Bouse.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The multi-talented Alicia Catalano recently launched her first single and a line of bags which she sells online.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":130,"featured_media":24986,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[12,20,9,11],"tags":[24,55,67,427],"class_list":["post-23712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","category-students","category-alumni","category-community","tag-29-who-shine","tag-alumni","tag-art","tag-music"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Music Grad Selected to Sing at DHE &quot;29 Who Shine&quot; 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