Our alumni love to share the positive impact Northern Essex has had on their lives, and I always enjoy hearing their stories.
In this issue of alumnecc, Lawrence police officer Ivan Soto praises his “inspiring” professors; Art and Design major Kailey Johnson describes how she became powerful and gained more direction and happiness at Northern Essex; and Hennessey School Principal Shalimar Quiles shares how her internships and mentorships led her to a career “that matched [her] passion.”
Community colleges like Northern Essex are changing lives, and we need to do a better job of telling our story. We know what we do and how well we do it, but not everyone appreciates or recognizes the full extent of our role within higher education.
I hope to address this, and I’m looking for your help.
Later this spring, as we near graduation, I am planning to launch a social media campaign— #MyCommunityCollege— that targets community college alumni nationwide. I will be reaching out to Northern Essex alumni, including Ivan, Kailey, and Shalimar, as well as high-profile community college graduates such as actor Tom Hanks, writer Amy Tan, and Northern Essex’s own Tom Bergeron. Anyone who has attended a community college will be encouraged to update their LinkedIn profile and other bios to be sure their community college is included, and to share their community college affiliation with pride on their social media channels.
The goal is to create a groundswell of support for our community colleges. Are you in?
Warmly,
Lane A. Glenn, President
Editor: Maureen O’Leary
Contributing Editors: Sarah Comiskey, Ellen Small Davis, Ernie Greenslade, Wendy Shaffer
Graphic Designer: Susan Stehfest
Writers: Sarah Comiskey, Ellen Small Davis, Ernie Greenslade
When NECC art alumna Reneiry Santiago ‘17 shared with Marc Mannheimer, her former art professor, her interest in curating an art exhibit, he knew just where she should start – at Northern Essex. For years, Mannheimer had imagined an all NECC alumni art show, but with a full teaching schedule, serving as coordinator of exhibits for the Linda Hummel-Shea ArtSpace, as administrator of the NECC Art Instagram page, and his own art, he knew he had little time to set aside for such an endeavor. But, with a co-curator, the show could become a reality.
And so it did.
The first alumni art show, displaying the works of 10 alums who graduated from the General Studies: Art and Design program, was exhibited in the ArtSpace in the Harold Bentley Library on the Haverhill campus for a month this winter. The show included 44 works, including paintings, drawings, prints, digital design works, and photography.
“I agreed to co-curate the moment he mentioned this,” Santiago says. “It was an amazing opportunity and I’m really grateful.”
Mannheimer, who has taught at the college for 18 years, would like to see this become a regular event.
“Our graduates are extremely successful artists and designers who have transferred to top art and design schools,” he notes. “I believe it is very important for our college and department to allow our current students and the local community a chance to experience the range of talent our students possess.”
The NECC Art and Design program provides a focus in either fine arts, multimedia, photography, or graphic design. Each focus leads to an associate degree.
Kailey Johnson ’16, who exhibited four pieces, transferred into the Museum of Fine Arts School in Boston, where after she earned her bachelor’s degree began working in the MFA’s member and visitor services department.
“I’ve always been an artist at heart, but never saw it as a career option, she says. “I enrolled in this program and everything just clicked. Everything came into place. I was happier. I had more direction. I felt more powerful. I always felt like I had something to say and here I learned a visual language to express myself.”
Austin Wells ’16 was eager to participate in the show. “Why? Because I love this art department. The faculty are more like friends.”
The works and stories of many of the art & design alumni can be viewed on the neccartdesign Instagram page.
Photos from the Alumni Art Show, clockwise from top left: Co-curators Reneiry Santiago and Professor Marc Mannheimer; Autumn Markey ‘15; Ryan Silva ‘16; Kailey Johnson ‘16; Kailey, Reneiry, Ryan, and Autumn; Austin Wells ‘16
Men’s Baseball
Men’s & Women’s Basketball
Men’s & Women’s Cross Country
Men’s & Women’s Esports
Men’s Golf
Men’s Soccer
Women’s Softball
Men’s & Women’s Track & Field
Women’s Volleyball
NECC’s esports program comprises multi-player video game teams that compete with colleges and universities throughout the country. All games are in an online multiplayer format and studentathletes compete as a team to defeat opposing institutions. The growing esports industry is a multi-million dollar business.
When three new varsity sports are added in the fall—men’s soccer, women’s basketball, and esports—Northern Essex will have one of the largest athletics programs at a Massachusetts community college, according to Dan Blair, the college’s athletic director.
Already a baseball powerhouse, with a team that has competed in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) World Series seven times in recent years, Northern Essex has been focusing on growing the number of student athletes who are participating in varsity sports and expanding opportunities available for students to compete at the varsity level. Those efforts are already producing results. Last year, 90 students were competing in varsity sports, a 110 percent increase from two years ago, when there were 43 student athletes.
While the future of athletics at Northern Essex is growing, the college also wants to pay tribute to the achievements of past Northern Essex athletes. This year the first Athletics Hall of Fame was launched, with a banquet held on February 28.
“We’re growing our athletic program, adding sports and athletes, and we felt it was a good time to honor the successes of the past,” says Blair. “The Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony will be an annual event, and there will be an open nomination process for future inductees.”
Inaugural inductees to the hall of fame included Noelia Figuereo, a runner from Haverhill who, less than 10 years ago, was a two-time national champion. After graduating from Northern Essex, Figuereo transferred to Merrimack College, where she ran track and earned a bachelor’s in Spanish in 2015 and a master’s in education in 2017. She is now working for a nonprofit that is under the Department of Mental Health.
The 1970/71 men’s basketball team, which captured the state title almost 50 years ago, was also inducted. With a 21-6 record, the team captured both the Massachusetts Community College Championship and the Eastern Massachusetts Small College Conference Championship.
Eight of the 13 members of the team attended the banquet including Neil Reardon, who went on to coach the Newburyport High School girls’ basketball team for 27 years until his retirement in 2010. Speaking on behalf of the team, he says “It’s almost 50 years since we played ball together and this is a special night for all of us.”
To learn more about athletics at Northern Essex, visit the website at www.neccknights.com.
Alumnus Ivan Soto ’14, a member of the Lawrence, MA Police Department, was on duty the afternoon of September 13, 2018, when he received the shattering news from his wife: their house was engulfed in flames – one of the nearly 80 homes in all that would be damaged or lost during the Merrimack Valley gas explosions that devastated parts of Lawrence, Andover, and North Andover that day.
In the wake of the news, Soto was faced with two options: salvage what he could of his home or return to work. He chose the latter.
“As a police officer you swear to protect and serve your community,” Soto says of his decision.
After checking on his home and ensuring that his wife and two daughters were safely evacuating the city, he returned to his police cruiser and did just that – working and fighting alongside the thousands of others who were affected that day. It was a moment, he explained, that would have a permanent influence on him.
“This has certainly changed my life forever,” he says, noting the many people who, months later, are still struggling amid the aftermath.
The decision to work on while his home burned, while seemingly counterintuitive, was a no-brainer for someone like Soto, who had long been drawn toward the idea of protecting his community.
“I have always been interested in law enforcement,” he says. “It’s a selfless but rewarding career and I knew I was meant to be part of it.”
Soto’s journey to his current career began back in 2012, when he first enrolled at NECC as a criminal justice major and began to develop the skills required to push forward. He credits the many professors he met along the way with helping him make it to his current position.
“My NECC professors were just inspiring across the board – particularly my criminal justice professors. They always gave us advice on how to pave our own way into the field.”
And pave the way he certainly did. By 2014, Soto had earned a certificate of completion in law enforcement and an Associate of Science Degree in Criminal Justice. He only continued on from there, graduating from the NECC/Methuen Police Academy in 2017, at which time he was sworn in as an officer to the Lawrence Police Department.
His short time in law enforcement since then has brought with it an incredible array of challenges and rewards alike, but throughout even the most difficult moments he stands firm by his mission to serve the community – and his decision to start it all with NECC. “If I could,” he says, “I would do it again.”
Community college changed Michael Penta’s life. Now, as a community college professor, he hopes to have the same positive impact on his students’ lives.
Before community college, Penta, a self-described “geeky” educator, cycled through a half dozen unskilled jobs before he enrolled in a basic computer class and found his passion.
Penta earned associate, bachelor’s, and master’s degrees and now harnesses his energy and enthusiasm for the front of the classroom. He encourages students to take risks because this is how they will best succeed.
Name: Michael Penta
Home: Lowell
Profession: Assistant professor, computer & information sciences
Hobbies: I like to make things, explore new technologies, listen to podcasts, learn about the labor movement in the United States, and regional history.
Last book read: Dark Tide: The Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919, by Stephen Puleo
Latest accomplishment: Last year I was awarded tenure. I was also nominated for the Haverhill YMCA Educator of the Year Award.
Quote: “You can’t think about thinking without thinking about thinking about something,” Seymour Papert
Profile: I am a dedicated educator and lifelong learner. I have a passion for teaching, computer science, mathematics, and design. Before NECC, I was a program developer and associate director of a center focused on hands-on, design-based learning. That informed my teaching style and laid the groundwork for my graduate studies in computer science education – my thesis focused on the role of video game programming in math education.
Why I do what I do: That early computer science course began a journey to the joy and beauty of computer science and mathematics. While pursuing my own education, I found a new passion in teaching. Community college laid my foundation, so joining the faculty at NECC seemed like a natural fit.
“ I give back to NECC because it was an important stepping stone to where I am today. Making the decision to invest in myself and my future was easy for me. Actually following through and succeeding was the challenging part. I now gain a great amount of satisfaction helping other students that may be traveling a similar path.”
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NECC’s Institutional Advancement Office can provide you with additional information about the many ways of giving to NECC. Call or email Jean Poth, vice president of institutional advancement; executive director, NECC Foundation, Inc. at 978-556-3624 or jpoth@necc.mass.edu.
Steven R. Roy, Jr., Engineering Science, ’06 Principal at Energy Code Advisors
Thanks to a generous pledge of support from the Lupoli Family Foundation, Northern Essex will soon be home to a culinary arts center in downtown Haverhill.
Named the Lupoli Family School of Hospitality & Culinary Arts, the center is set to occupy two floors of the new “Heights at Haverhill” building, a mixed-use development opening later this year. The space will include classrooms, laboratories, a test kitchen, and a restaurant where aspiring chefs can hone their skills. The “Heights” building will also house an office of the MassHire Merrimack Valley Career Center (formerly known as ValleyWorks), which provides training and other services to thousands of job seekers each year.
“My family is honored to partner with NECC in their efforts to ensure that all students have equal access to a quality education,” says Salvatore Lupoli, President and CEO of Lupoli Companies.
Like other community colleges, NECC has, over the course of the past decade, been challenged with a decline in state funding. Support from organizations like Lupoli Companies will help ensure NECC’s ability to thrive amid an unstable market.
NECC currently offers an Associate of Science Degree in Business Management: Hospitality and will soon offer a Culinary Arts Certificate program.
Parnassus, NECC’s student literary arts magazine, recently received a 2018 Magazine Pacemaker Award for literary/art from the Associated Collegiate Press, a prestigious, national, educational nonprofit. Parnassus was judged on the quality of the writing and editing, photography, art and graphics, layout and design, and overall concept or theme. Published each spring, the magazine includes student poetry, creative nonfiction, and fiction, and photography and artwork. The magazine, in its 53rd year of publication, has received numerous awards over the decades. To see this year’s issue, visit www.parnassuslitmag.com.
The Revolving Test Kitchen (RTK), operating at NECC’s Lawrence location at 420 Common St., welcomes its newest restaurateur Angie Jimenez, the owner of Bocaditos, which specializes in Latin-inspired dishes.
In its third year, the RTK is a private/public collaboration between Lupoli Companies, the City of Lawrence, The Lawrence Partnership, and NECC. It provides food entrepreneurs the opportunity to operate a restaurant in the commercial kitchen-space for 12 months.
“RTK allows entrepreneurs a chance to learn and grow without the financial burden associated with beginning a business,” says Sal Lupoli, president and CEO of Lupoli Companies.
Bocaditos is the third RTK business. The first was Ray Gonzalez’s Coco Ray’s, which now operates at 197 Parker Street in Lawrence.
“This was a life-changing opportunity and I am grateful,” says owner Raymond Gonzalez.
The most recent start-up restaurant to benefit from the program was El Encanto BBQ, owned by Danny Torres. He is currently scouting a permanent location.
“This is a great chance to grow as an entrepreneur and really be successful,” he says.
Jimenez uses locally-sourced, fresh ingredients to prepare healthy dishes served in a fast-food environment.
A scholarship funded by Oprah Winfrey is helping NECC alumna Tia Franklin-Garrett of Amesbury pay for her bachelor’s degree.
Tia was awarded a $5,000 Oprah Scholarship. The television talk-show host and author recently spoke at UMass Lowell, where she matched the funds raised for the scholarships.
A 2016 graduate of Amesbury High School, Tia earned an associate degree in criminal justice and a certificate in law enforcement from NECC in December of 2018.
The 20-year-old is enrolled in UMass Lowell’s criminal justice bachelor degree program. Following graduation in 2020 she hopes to work as a court advocate or crisis intervention worker.
“Financially, this scholarship takes a huge pressure off my shoulders,” she says. “It gives me the opportunity to advance my education and go forward to reach the goals that I’ve set for myself.”
Timothy Barry ’74
James Riley ’78
Janice Alestock ’79
Patricia Woodbury ’81
Stephen Comeau ’82
Debra Toutant ’84
James Cawley ’85
Daphne Sirois ’99
Cynthia Patton ’03
EDUARDO CRESPO ‘70, CEO of Hispanic Market Solution, has been appointed to the Board of Directors of the Commonwealth Corporation by Governor Charlie Baker.
RYAN ZANNINI ‘96, has joined the team of New Fed Mortgage, where he will begin a new position as a licensed mortgage loan originator.
LAUREN BRANSCOMB ‘12, a dental assisting graduate, has enrolled in the University of New England (UNE) dental school program. Branscomb’s accomplishments were recently featured in the NECC Newsroom.
ISSAMAR HERRERA ‘16 was featured as part of the “Why Lawrence” video series, courtesy of the Lawrence Partnership, through which she discussed her positive experiences with the city’s career development programs.
SHANLEIGH MCGONAGLE ‘17, one of the first graduates of NECC’s new public health program, has been highlighted in the local press for her work in promoting wellness and nutrition programs in the community.
We are pleased to announce that the following alumni have joined the staff of NECC: JULIO ORTIZ ‘13, STEM tutoring assistant; SHANDRA GAOUETTE ‘15, enrollment services clerk; and DAVID ARIVELLA ‘16, library staff assistant.
Monday, September 30, 2019 | Atkinson
Alumni and friends of Northern Essex Community College are invited to attend the annual golf tournament on September 30 at the award-winning Atkinson Resort & Country Club. Proceeds benefit the NECC Athletics Program, which sponsors 12 intercollegiate athletic programs for men and women. Please visit www.necc.mass.edu/golf-tournament to sign up today.
Saturday, October 5, 2019 | Haverhill Campus
Come one, come all! Join NECC for its third annual Homecoming and 7th Annual Campus Classic 5K, which will take place on Saturday, October 5, 2019 on NECC’s Haverhill Campus, 100 Elliott Street. Appropriate for people of all ages, the day will include lawn games, food options, music, an alumni homerun derby, and much more.
NECC’s Homecoming will begin with the Campus Classic 5K at 10 a.m. The 5K will include a chip-timed start and finish. To learn more or register, please visit www.necc.mass.edu/campus-classic
More information on Homecoming can be found at www.necc.mass.edu/homecoming.
SHALIMAR QUILES received her Associate of Arts Degree in General Studies from NECC in 2008. Since that time, she has gone on to earn a bachelor’s degree in communications from Simmons College, a master’s degree in education from Merrimack College, and, more recently, a rewarding career as Principal at the James F. Hennessey School in Lawrence. She credits NECC with helping to launch her path toward success:
At NECC I received the college experience I never knew I needed. From internships to mentorships, I was not only challenged to pursue a career that matched my passion, but also to develop the organizational and interpersonal skills necessary for leadership.
