Getting on Track: The Marlene Grant Story
see page 8
These Cookies are too Pretty to Crumble see page 6
Dear Friends,
If you read just one story in this issue of alumnecc, please make it the feature story on soon-to-be-attorney Marlene Grant, a 2007 Northern Essex graduate, who succeeded here against great odds.
A high school dropout who had her first child when she was 13, Marlene’s potential could have been overlooked by many, but not by her criminology professor, Mary Wilson, who Marlene says “believed in me.”
Not all students have a story as powerful as Marlene’s, but most bring their own challenges to the classroom. Every day our faculty and staff provide students with the personal attention and, most importantly, inspiration and encouragement, needed to succeed. We are changing lives every day. Sometimes, as in this case, we’re fortunate enough to hear the full story, discovering the truly amazing achievements of our former students and hearing how thankful they are for the college.
In this issue, you’ll also read about three students who were selected for a prestigious STEM fellowship program; an Early Childhood Education grad who is creating artistic masterpieces with dough and icing; and a retired Haverhill man who received his associate degree 57 years late.
As Professor Wilson, now retired, says “No role has brought me more satisfaction than that of professor.” I hope you recognize that your support of Northern Essex, whether you’re a donor, a graduate, a volunteer, or a faculty or staff member, makes you a part of our success. Together, we are changing the lives of our students.
Appreciatively,
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, Maureen O’Leary, Mary Wilson-Tauson
FEATURES
6 THESE COOKIES ARE TOO PRETTY TO CRUMBLE
8
Administrators of a prestigious science and technology based education, research, and internship program based in Lawrence are finding a pool of promising STEM talent at Northern Essex Community College.
This summer, three Northern Essex graduates were selected for fellowships with Station1, a unique science and technology program with a focus on societal perspective and social innovation and impact.
The students were selected from many hundreds of applicants from across the nation and the world. After a lengthy admissions process, they were invited to join the program which includes a 270-hour internship with a leading science and technology company; 100 hours of coursework on socially-directed science and technology; and mentoring opportunities focused on academic, career, and social impact. Station1 fellows receive a comprehensive package including a stipend for living expenses, housing, and transportation.
For Jessica Figueroa of Haverhill, this past summer’s Station1 experience was an “eye opener.” The 34-year-old mother of two had an internship with Aphios Corporation in Woburn, a biotechnology company developing treatments for cancer, infectious diseases such as HIV, and neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease, multiple sclerosis, and opioid disorder.
“It made me realize how important it is to not just find solutions, but to also think about what the consequences are to the solution and also look deeper into what causes the problem,” she says.
A first-generation college student and the daughter of Puerto Rican parents who spoke English as a second language, Figueroa earned a degree from Northern Essex in engineering science and is now studying chemical engineering at UMass Lowell.
Station1 fellow Yexis Hechavarria of Lawrence – who earned an associate degree in biology and was this year’s NECC student commencement speaker – came to Lawrence from Cuba as a teen in 2015. She interned at Bambu Vault in Lowell, where she worked in research and development for biomedical applications. This fall, Hechavarria transferred to Merrimack College to study biochemistry. Her long-term goal is to attend medical school.
Luis Robles, also a Station1 fellow of Lawrence, and a father of a two-year old and two stepsons, graduated with an associate degree in lab science, and plans to continue to pursue research in chemistry after completing his fellowship. Robles’ internship was with Continuus Pharmaceuticals in Woburn, where he contributed to pharmaceutical process research and development.
The three NECC grads were an important part of the program, according to Christine Ortiz, Station1 founder and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) professor.
“Jessica, Luis, and Yexis are incredibly talented, thoughtful, and creative students who contribute so much positive energy and intellectual insights to the Station1 cohort of fellows, the curriculum, and internships.”
Hopefully, this is the start of something big, and many future Northern Essex grads will have the opportunity to become Station1 fellows.
Everywhere NECC alumna Renee Terry ‘13 looks, she sees design inspiration for her sugar cookies. Even a simple image can send the Amesbury resident’s mind to imagining layers of royal icing in vibrant or muted shades kissed with sanding sugar to create original designs. Each cookie is a diminutive work of art that the owner of Sweet Cheeks by Renee hand decorates herself.
As so often is the case with entrepreneurs, the 30-year-old’s journey from early childhood education graduate to cookie and cake company owner was a happy and successful accident. The Haverhill native came to NECC after starting at a four-year college where she hoped to channel her creativity toward interior design. Unhappy with the program and the debt she was incurring, she enrolled at NECC with the thought of pursuing a childhood vision of becoming an educator.
“When I was younger I thought I wanted to become a special education teacher having grown up with an uncle who is deaf and intellectually challenged,” she says.
While attending NECC full time, the self-taught cake decorator also worked full time perfecting her talent and creating a style at food market bakeries and a cake shop. It was there that she began experimenting with custom cookies.
“I started to accept that this was my talent,” Terry says. ”This is what I’m supposed to do. This is what makes me happy.”
For the next two years, she supported herself as a substitute teacher while developing her business plan and beginning to bake cookies, first in her 600 square-foot apartment and, when she outgrew that, in her parents’ kitchen. She also got married and started a family.
Once she and her husband Joshua and son Bryson settled in a house with a small but efficient kitchen, she grew the business.
“In the beginning I was using basic cake decorating knowledge, but now I look to artwork for inspiration,” she says. “I’m constantly changing my technique and look. My designs aren’t stagnant. I never do the same thing twice. The textures and dimensions I use set them apart. Every time I create a new set of cookies I say ‘This is my favorite set so far.’”
With more than 15,000 Instagram followers (@sweetcheeksbyrenee), it is clear others have their favorite sets too. Terry is building on this momentum and developing classes, workshops, and private video tutorials.
“One great thing I’ve carried with me from Northern Essex has been time management. That’s where I learned to juggle school, work, and life,” she said.
Now that the family has rounded out with the arrival of baby Jolie this summer, Terry anticipates using her early childhood education training while raising the children. Bryson has already learned a lesson – in the Terry household, cookies are all business.
Opposite page: Renee Terry and some of her stunning hand-decorated creations
When Marlene Grant ‘07 moved from Boston to Haverhill at the age of 25, she had already experienced a life full of challenges: she was born and raised in an area plagued by gang violence, drive-by shootings and overwhelming negativity, and was pregnant with her first child at age 13. She dropped out of high school but subsequently earned her GED on the third try.
In 2005, desperate for a change, greater opportunity, and a safe environment for her children, she moved to Haverhill. At the time, she had no money, no family with her other than her three children, no job, and a brokendown car.
That is when she enrolled at NECC – and quickly found her footing in the college’s social work program.
“I was mesmerized by the beautiful campus, supported by the helpful staff, and inspired by my professors … They were the catalyst for my success,” she says.
Grant emphasizes that her criminology professor Mary Wilson was especially helpful in giving her the boost she needed to succeed.
“Professor Wilson in particular touched my life, allowing me to confront my history in a safe and affirming environment. She believed in me and my ability to confidently move forward.”
The pieces all continued to come together for her as she devoted a portion of each day to walking around the NECC track, where she would mentally refine her goals after class.
“I can honestly say that every major decision I made at that point in my life was made on that track,” she says. The NECC campus truly gave me my voice, taught me to face adversity head on and embrace diversity.”
Grant went on to earn an associate degree in liberal arts: social work option from NECC (2007) and two degrees from the University of Massachusetts Lowell – a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts: psychology (2012) and a master’s degree in regions of economic development and social development (2014). Now actively working toward a juris doctorate degree, she expects to graduate from Massachusetts School of Law in the spring of 2020.
Grant currently serves as the director of operations at Companion Care Partners, LLC in Salem, NH, where she hires, trains, and manages caregivers for a wide range of clients.
And her journey is far from finished. Grant remains passionate about education and eventually hopes to start a mentoring program in business affairs for NECC students. The NECC legacy also continues: her oldest daughter, now a nursing student at Northeastern University, is a proud graduate of the college and her youngest son is enrolled as a student.
“NECC is more than a community college to me. It has made me who I am today … It is part of my family,” she concludes. “If you are looking for a new start, I know your future can begin here!”
Opposite page: Marlene Grant on the Haverhill Campus
I can honestly say that every major decision I made at that point in my life was made on that track,” she says. The NECC campus truly gave me my voice, taught me to face adversity head on and embrace diversity.
Ginger Hurajt is a reader, often reading four books at once, and for nearly three decades she has prompted, cajoled, and encouraged her students to become readers too. “I try to show them that no matter what you are reading or writing about, it relates to your world and can touch your heart,” she says. Her devotion to the written word as well as her students has made her classroom a popular destination.
Name: Ginger Hurajt
Home: Haverhill
Profession: English professor, honors coordinator
Hobbies: Hiking, kayaking, gardening, writing poetry
Last book read: The Overstory, by Richard Powers
Latest accomplishment: In April, I was recognized for my years of service at the Massachusetts Undergraduate Research Conference at UMass Amherst, where I bring NECC honors students each spring to present.
“Travel far enough, you meet yourself.” – David Mitchell, Cloud Atlas
Profile: I’m a reader, a writer, and a lover of literature. I’m not afraid to take chances; for example, I come from a depressed steel mill city in Ohio, but by seeking out and following opportunities I attained my master’s degree in England, then made my way to New England. I love to travel. Recently I drove all around Iceland. I am planning a trip to Japan.
Why I do what I do: The Commonwealth Honors Program and Student Activities support student research and travel, and I’ve been privileged to help students present their work around the state and region. I love to see all of my students grow and become confident members of the college and community. They have so much potential. The world awaits them!
The NECC community is pleased to welcome Allison Dolan-Wilson, a Lowell native with over two decades of experience in higher education, as the newest vice president of Institutional Advancement and executive director of the NECC Foundation, Inc.
Dolan-Wilson, who previously served as executive director of alumni relations at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), now oversees NECC’s Advancement and Marketing Communications departments, as well as the Center for Corporate and Community Education.
“Northern Essex is so important to the lives of not only the students, but the community it serves – and I am proud to be a part of something that has such a deep and direct impact,” she says.
Dolan-Wilson is an Emerson College graduate and received a master’s degree in business administration from San Diego State University, where she also worked for six years. She arrives at NECC following the retirement of long-time vice president Jean Poth.
After almost 30 years of operation, the college’s John R. Dimitry Building, located at 45 Franklin St in Lawrence, was ready for a facelift.
The $6.5 million renovation was completed this past summer, and the space opened to faculty, staff, and students this fall.
The renovated space features new windows; new terra cotta hued siding that complements the college’s Dr. Ibrahim El-Hefni Allied Health & Technology Center and 420 Common St. facades; an improved parking lot; and fresh landscaping.
An inviting new space for learning, the building now creates a united presence for the college in the city, visually connecting college buildings.
It took Ted Gaiero of Haverhill 57 years to get his Northern Essex diploma, and, now that he has it, he couldn’t be happier.
Gaiero enrolled in 1962 as a member of the college’s second class. When it came time to graduate, he was short a few credits. He transferred to Suffolk University, eventually earning his bachelor’s in history, but always regretted not graduating from Northern Essex.
Retired from a career in sales and a second career in the Haverhill Schools, Gaiero kept thinking about that associate degree. When Northern Essex President Lane Glenn learned about Gaiero’s regrets, he arranged to have his credits from Suffolk transferred to Northern Essex, a process which is called reverse transfer. Gaiero received his degree personally from the president this summer. Gaiero was beaming. “It feels phenomenal. I’m just very proud,” he says.
They were once Northern Essex students uncertain of their next career move. Now they are some of the top specialists of a special cardiac and respiratory care treatment system at Boston Children’s Hospital.
Respiratory Care program graduates and colleagues
Mike Cusano ‘05 and John Priest ’09 are proud providers of Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO), a system that offers prolonged cardiac and respiratory support for children and young adults in need of critical care. As one of the highest levels of life support that can be provided, ECMO has required both to go through years of extensive training to attain their current positions.
“This is a great achievement, since we both advanced to this level with our associate degrees,” says Mike. “It also shows that there are many paths that can be taken in the field of respiratory therapy.”
NECC’s respiratory care program recently received the Distinguished Registered Respiratory Therapist (RRT) Credentialing Success Award from the Commission on Accreditation for Respiratory Care.
Two Northern Essex faculty members recently wrote books and are donating the proceeds of the sales to the NECC Fund to benefit student scholarships and academic programs.
Chemistry Professor Mike Cross debuted his children’s book Francesca and the Genie of Science this summer. He hopes to inspire young minds with scientific fun facts. Readers are invited to follow the title character on a journey she takes following a microwave mishap.
Behavioral Sciences
Professor Kristi Arford, unhappy with the dry textbooks available to her students, researched and created her own textbook titled, Coming Full Circle: Rediscovering Ancient Wisdom for the Modern World through Cultural Anthropology. It is used in her Anthropology 1 classes. It has an overarching theme of sustainability. Each chapter features an introduction written by Arford as well as a “Why you should care” section. Already, nearly $2,000 has been generated from sales. The money is earmarked specifically for NECC’s study abroad program.
“Getting a nursing degree from NECC has been a springboard for a career that has been growing, challenging, and inspiring me since the day I graduated over 30 years ago. My ‘thanks’ is through donating, and providing internships for the passionate students of today. Keep it going, NECC! ”
Mary Jewell, Nursing, ‘85 Director of Psychiatric Services at Anna Jaques Hospital
“I am grateful for the opportunity to serve this community, and I am grateful to the school for providing endless outlets to do so, while giving me much in return. I can only speak highly when it comes to Northern Essex because I have received so much from it … Northern Essex has made possible my success as a rising leader, as well as my academic success. Thank you, NECC, for creating an atmosphere where students can thrive.”
Steevie Litchfield-Groves Psychology Major at NECC
TOGETHER, WE ARE CHANGING THE LIVES OF OUR STUDENTS
Hopefully you have been inspired by reading the incredible stories of our students and alumni in this issue of alumnecc. It is because of donors like you that we are able to provide critical scholarships and programs that help our students succeed at NECC. Your donation of any size has a positive impact on our students and communities, helping both to grow and thrive.
Please visit www.necc.mass.edu/giving to make a donation today, or contact Allison Dolan-Wilson, vice president, Institutional Advancement; executive director, NECC Foundation, Inc. at adolanwilson@necc.mass.edu or 978-556-3624 for more information on the many ways you can support NECC.
Elaine Bixby ‘76
Pauline Roberts ‘83
Therese Gauthier ’83
William Shutt ‘88
Mildred Doherty ‘89
Harrison Sagris ‘15
TIMOTHY FOLEY ‘70, a member of the Massachusetts State Track Coaches Association Hall of Fame, has joined the NECC athletics department as the new cross country team coach.
ELIZABETH ABBY STEARNS ‘73 has been recognized for 45 years of service at Anna Jaques Hospital. Her accomplishments were recently highlighted in local media outlets.
RODNEY DOHERTY ‘73, retired editor of the Foster’s Daily Democrat and an avid comic-strip collector, has curated a special comic and poster exhibit, now on display at the Plaistow Public Library.
RON GUILMETTE ‘74 has published his second kayaking book, The Islands of Squam Lake, which chronicles the author’s kayaking adventure to visit all of the lake’s 30-plus islands. (See related story on page 15)
MARK ST. HILAIRE ‘83, has retired from his position as Natick Police Department sergeant. St. Hilaire served as a sworn Massachusetts police officer for 34 years.
MICHAEL PFIFFERLING ‘95 has been named the assistant superintendent of finance and operations at Haverhill High School. His appointment was voted upon unanimously during the School Committee’s June 18 meeting.
RENAY ALLEN ‘02 was lauded in local media outlets for her leading role in founding and organizing the Exeter LitFest, an annual literary festival.
BRIAN MOHIKA ‘06, the newest member of the NECC Alumni Board, recently returned to campus to film a commercial for his company, CathWear. The video can be viewed on YouTube.
DIANNELY ANTIGUA ‘08 has published her debut collection of poetry, Ugly Music, courtesy of YesYes Books. She recently returned to the NECC campus for a special poetry reading and discussion.
NEIL OLIVERIA ‘17, a recent graduate of UMass Lowell’s history program, has been highlighted by the Sentinel and Enterprise for his decades-long journey to a career in education.
LUIS ROBLES ‘19, a high honors graduate of NECC’s applied science program, recently took part in the highly selective Station1 Frontiers Fellowship program, which helps prepare prospective science professionals for research and laboratory careers. (See related story on page 4)
ROB LAGASSE ‘19 has been highlighted in local media outlets, following the news that he was recruited for the Southern New Hampshire University baseball team.
We are pleased to welcome the following alumni to the staff of NECC: SHANNON PETTIS ‘92, accountant; JOANNA INFANTE ’09, liberal arts administrative assistant; ALANA DOHERTY-CROOK ‘13, respiratory care faculty; KIM ORTIZ ‘18, bookkeeper; and ELIZABETH MURA ’19, Campus Compact AmeriCorps VISTA.
The alumni office is always on the lookout for the next great story – and we’d love to hear yours! If you have news to share, please fill out an Alumni Information Update Form at www.necc.mass.edu/update-contact.
DELIA DURAN-CLARK received her associate degree in early childhood education from NECC in 1991. Since that time, she has gone on to earn a bachelor’s degree in psychology: education from Lesley University, a master’s degree in social work from Boston College, a post-graduate degree in school leadership from Instituto Tecnologico de Santo Domingo, and a master’s degree in school leadership from Worcester State University. A proud mother of four and resident of Andover, Duran-Clark now serves as executive director of the Mill Cities Leadership Institute.
When alumnus Ron Guilmette ‘74 was 10 years old, he started kayaking on the Shawsheen River in Andover. It has been a passion of his ever since. Guilmette’s most recent foray into kayaking resulted in the publication in July of The Islands of Squam Lake, a coffee table book featuring photos and stories of his adventures kayaking to the lake’s 30 islands. The book also features aerial photos captured with a drone and taken from a helicopter. This is a follow up to the publication in 2014 of The Islands of Winnipesaukee, which documents his kayaking to all 260 islands in Lake Winnipesaukee.
Guilmette, still an avid kayaker, serves on NECC’s Alumni Association Board and the Board of Trustees.
Baseball may be over for the season, but for NECC freshman shortstop/right-handed pitcher Spencer Brown of Beverly, his career is just getting started. Brown was selected by the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in the 39th round of the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft. He reported to the rookie Arizona League upon signing.
Brown joins a number of fellow former members of the Northern Essex baseball program who have had their names called in the MLB Draft. The most notable draftee out of NECC is likely 1987 National League Cy Young award winner Steve Bedrosian ‘77 who was drafted in the 3rd round of the 1978 MLB Draft by the Atlanta Braves. Good luck Spencer!
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“ At NECC, I was given my own wings to fly. It had everything I needed – the social and emotional components as well as the academic ... I got to where I am because of the people at NECC who cared and I am proud to practice that care in return.Meet Delia Duran-Clark ’91:
“ NECC Helped Me Get There”
Almost 100 student athletes participate in nearly 200 competitions annually
202 students received 250 scholarships totaling approximately $190,000
6% of the students in 2019’s incoming class receive support through the new NECC Promise Program