{"id":30648,"date":"2013-08-22T21:13:04","date_gmt":"2013-08-23T01:13:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom2\/2013\/08\/23\/mexican-american-writer-visits-necc\/"},"modified":"2026-05-18T17:11:55","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T21:11:55","slug":"mexican-american-writer-visits-necc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2013\/08\/22\/mexican-american-writer-visits-necc\/","title":{"rendered":"Mexican American Writer Visits NECC"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Students<\/a>

Students in NECC\u2019s Summer Bridge Program spent the day with Mexican American writer Sergio Troncoso.<\/p><\/div>\nStudents in Northern Essex Community College\u2019s Summer Bridge Program had a special treat on Wednesday, August 21 when Mexican American writer Sergio Troncoso visited their classroom at the Dimitry Building in Lawrence to discuss a broad range of topics from how to become a better writer to cultural assimilation to college success tips.<\/p>\n

The author of essays, short stories, and five novels, Troncoso told the students that he likes to explore the theme of families in his writing, including \u201cwhat makes up a family, what disintegrates a family, and what brings them together again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Students had just read Troncoso\u2019s novel \u201cFrom this Wicked Patch of Dust\u201d, which Troncoso\u2019s website describes as \u201ca story about the Martinez family who begins life in a border shantytown and struggles to stay together despite cultural clashes, different religions, and politics after 9\/11.\u201d<\/p>\n

Troncoso told the students that his book is largely autobiographical.\u00a0 \u201cMy parents came from Mexico and I grew up with nothing,\u201d he said.\u00a0 I would go to the public library and read, and it developed this muscle between my eyes.\u00a0 The more you work mentally the easier it becomes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Troncoso went on to attend Harvard and he now teaches at Yale in addition to his writing.<\/p>\n

He says that being bilingual gave him an academic advantage at Harvard since he could do research in Spanish.\u00a0 He also advised students to learn how to write a good research paper, to reach out to faculty and staff with questions, and to embrace hard work.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all about the choices you make in life.\u00a0 Some of the kids I grew up wasted time, doing drugs, while others became doctors and lawyers.\u00a0 There is no magic to going from having nothing to going to Harvard, you have to sacrifice.\u201d<\/p>\n

The NECC Summer Bridge program<\/a> is a free enrichment program designed to help ease student\u2019s adjustment to college life and build a foundation for academic success.\u00a0 Participants work on improving math and English language skills and are introduced to the resources available at Northern Essex.<\/p>\n

Students participating in the Summer Bridge Program included Nathanais Madera, Rackeley Guzman, Genesis Blanco, Framilda Angelina, Katherine Santana, Kiara Colon, Wandy Polo , Johnny Rosa, Yhadira Tiburcio, Orlando Rosario, and Pedro Gutierrez.\u00a0 All are from Lawrence except for Madera who is from Methuen and Gutierrez who is from Haverhill.<\/p>\n

To be eligible for the program, students must be a Latino high school graduate with a 2.5 GPA or better and enrolled at NECC for the fall.\u00a0 THE NECC Bridges Program is funded in part by a grant that NECC received form the United States Department of Education under the Title V Developing Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program and a Massachusetts Performance Incentive Grant.\u00a0 Troncoso\u2019s visit was paid in part by support from the NECC Fund and the Lawrence Cultural Council.<\/p>\n

For more information on the NECC Summer Bridge Program, contact Gisela Nash, gnash@necc.mass.edu<\/a> or 978 738-7413.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Students in Northern Essex Community College\u2019s Summer Bridge Program had a special treat on Wednesday, August 21 when Mexican American writer Sergio Troncoso visited their classroom at the Dimitry Building […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":137,"featured_media":0,"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-30648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archive"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMexican American Writer Visits 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\/2013\/08\/22\/mexican-american-writer-visits-necc\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mexican American Writer Visits NECC - 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