NECC PROFILE Kevin Comtois

Home: Methuen, Mass.

Age: Still young enough to get away with it, but old enough to know better! (46)

Profession: NECC History Instructor

Hobbies: Playing acoustic instruments including guitar, banjo, and harmonica; camping; vegetable gardening; and kite flying

Last book read: The Price of Politics by Bob Woodward

Latest accomplishment: Transformed half my driveway into a vegetable garden

Quote: “Life is what happens to you when you’re busy making other plans.”

John Lennon

Profile: Born in Lowell, I was raised in a two-family house by working class parents. After attending public schools in Lowell and Tewksbury, I earned my bachelor’s degree in political science and history at Westfield State College and a master’s in American Civilization from UMass Boston.

In 2005 I received a National Endowment for the Humanities grant to study jazz with an expert on the evolution of jazz in America. I have incorporated music into my classes since I began teaching in 1997. I use music to create a relaxed class atmosphere, to lighten the mood before a test, to make a point about a certain time in history or a certain controversial issue in America’s past, and to spark debate and discussion.

In my free time, I write science fiction short stories, music history essays, political blogs, and songs.

Why I do what I do: I love to teach because there is no better satisfaction than seeing people learn new things and connect events in the past with their lives in the present.

Pretend Patients Offer Real-Life Drama

noelle births babies several times a year while Stan is prone to cardiac arrest.

meet two members of the expanded Sim family, the high-fidelity simulators or mannequins used by northern Essex health care students to hone their clinical skills.

The Sim clan of nine includes infant and adolescent mannequins too, according to nancy Harnois, nECC’s technical lab coordinator. The mannequins are controlled wirelessly by the instructor.

New and Expanded Programs Offered in Growing Fields

Beginning in fall of 2013, iHealth@nECC is adding a new program to its list of offerings: ophthalmic Assistant Certificate. ophthalmic assistants provide support to eye doctors by performing and/or assisting with procedures, tests, and clerical duties.

iHealth@nECC programs allow students to complete most of their coursework online and only go to the lawrence Campus once or twice a week. “The iHealth programs are great for working adults who are trying to fit training for a new career into their busy lives,” says nancy garcia, director of iHealth@nECC.

The mannequins, which come with a variety of preprogrammed simulations, can also be programmed to cry, sweat, breathe, talk, have pulses, and feel pain.

Thanks to these high-tech mannequins, nECC is graduating confident students well prepared to sit for their national boards, Harnois says. “The difference between the health care students of yesterday and health care students of today is that today they now are working on simulators that can act like humans,” she says.

The Sim family will move to the new dr. ibrahim El-Hefni Allied Health and Technology Center in lawrence when the building opens next fall.

nECC’s popular paralegal certificate program, which has been offered on the lawrence Campus for more than 15 years, is now also offered in the evenings on the Haverhill Campus. “We are excited to be able to expand our evening paralegal certificate program to the Haverhill Campus. With a full-time schedule, the paralegal certificate program can be completed in one year,” says Judith pollock Ciampi, coordinator of the nECC paralegal program.

The paralegal program, which includes both the certificate and an associate degree, recently received reapproval for another seven years from the American Bar Association (ABA). i t is one of just six ABA approved paralegal programs in massachusetts.

According to the u.S. Bureau of labor Statistics, employment of ophthalmic assistants is expected to grow by 31 percent through 2020, and employment of paralegals is expected to grow by 18 percent.

NECC Student Performance Wows Audience

NECC dance and psychology student krissy Hallett of atkinson, NH was the featured performer at the association of Community College Trustees (aCCT) annual awards Gala, held in October at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston. Hallett performed an aerial dance for an audience of over 1200.