{"id":30234,"date":"2014-11-24T20:32:54","date_gmt":"2014-11-25T01:32:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom2\/2014\/11\/25\/lawrence-veteran-finds-full-college-experience-at-necc\/"},"modified":"2026-05-18T16:38:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T20:38:14","slug":"lawrence-veteran-finds-full-college-experience-at-necc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2014\/11\/24\/lawrence-veteran-finds-full-college-experience-at-necc\/","title":{"rendered":"Lawrence Veteran Finds Full College Experience at NECC"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Justin<\/a>

Justin Merced is a liberal arts major with concentrations in biology and creative writing<\/p><\/div>\n

When Justin Merced of Lawrence enrolled at Northern Essex, he was interested in the academics, of course, but he also was looking for a full college experience. He wanted extra-curricular activities that would help him develop his leadership skills, meet other
\nstudents, and motivate him to stay physically active.<\/p>\n

\u201cI searched the Northern Essex website and found out what I could join,\u201d he says. \u201cOne of the things that I appreciate most about Northern Essex is the amount of
\nactivities offered to students.<\/p>\n

\u201dSince arriving at Northern Essex a year and a half ago, Justin served as vice president of the student senate; was the student representative on the All College
\nAssembly, an advisory board to the president; and ran weekly with the President\u2019s Running Club.<\/p>\n

An Army veteran who has served in Afghanistan and Iraq, Justin is also a leader in the college\u2019s Veterans\u2019 Club. Last fall, thanks in large part to his hard work, the college had a very successful Veterans\u2019 Appreciation Day Luncheon.<\/p>\n

Academically, Justin has excelled at Northern Essex, too, earning a near-perfect 3.95 GPA in his major, which is liberal arts with concentrations in biology and creative writing. He\u2019s a member of Phi Theta Kappa, the community college honor society, and participates in the Honors Experience, a rigorous program for motivated students that\u2019s affiliated with the UMass Commonwealth Honors Program.<\/p>\n

Earning excellent grades is important if Justin is going to achieve his goals. After serving as a medic in the military, he decided medicine was the perfect fit for him career-wise. He plans to earn a four-year degree and eventually enroll in medical school.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Justin Merced of Lawrence enrolled at Northern Essex, he was interested in the academics, of course, but he also was looking for a full college experience. He wanted extra-curricular […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":164,"featured_media":30236,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archive"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nLawrence Veteran Finds Full College Experience at NECC - 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\/2014\/11\/24\/lawrence-veteran-finds-full-college-experience-at-necc\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lawrence Veteran Finds Full College Experience at NECC - NECC News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When Justin Merced of Lawrence enrolled at Northern Essex, he was interested in the academics, of course, but he also was looking for a full college experience. 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