alumnecc Fall 2023 Volume 25

VOL 25 | FALL 2023

A M AG A Z I N E F O R A LU M N I & F R I E N D S O F N O R T H E R N E S S E X CO M M U N I T Y CO L L E G E

Deep Thinking NECC Alumni Shaping the Future of Artificial Intelligence

ALSO

The Legacy of Dr. John Santos ’68

Message from the President

INSIDE

Hello Friends,

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Campus life couldn’t be more exciting this semester! As we begin to make holiday plans with those we love, I extend a warm welcome to each of you as we delve into a topic of immense significance in our rapidly evolving world – artificial intelligence.

In this issue of alumnecc, we embark on a journey to explore the intricacies, advancements, and potential implications of artificial intelligence. We stand at the crossroads of innovation and ethics, and it is imperative that we, as a community, engage in thoughtful discussions and critical reflections on this transformative technology.

Whether or not you’re aware of it, artificial intelligence, or simply AI, has become an integral part of our lives, touching various aspects of society – from healthcare and education to industry and entertainment. Our alumni have always been at the forefront of adapting to new challenges and embracing opportunities. This issue is a testament to our graduates’ continuous curiosity and dedication to lifelong learning.

Within these pages, you’ll meet fellow alumni working in the AI field and learn how faculty and staff are leading AI initiatives to improve student services at Northern Essex. You’ll read a wonderful tribute to NECC alumnus Dr. John Santos ’68, who founded Nature’s Classroom some 50 years ago. We’ll also give you a behind-the-scenes look at the television show School Spirits through the eyes of NECC alumna Kiara Pichardo ’15, who stars as Nicole.

As we celebrate NECC’s commitment to fostering knowledge and innovation, we take pride in the thoughtful accomplishments of our alumni, faculty, and staff who have embraced AI in various domains. Whether you are a pioneer in developing AI-driven solutions or an enthusiast curious about the implications of AI on society, please enjoy these stories and perspectives.

Together, we will continue to be at the forefront of change, guiding our world toward a future enriched by knowledge, compassion, and innovation.

Appreciatively,

Alumni Shaping the Future of Artificial Intelligence

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The Legacy of Dr. John Santos ’68

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From the NECC Stage to the Big Screen

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On Campus/ In the Community

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Alumni News 'N Notes

Editor: Melissa Bouse Contributing Editor: Sarah Comiskey Creative Director: Trev Stair

Lane A. Glenn President

Writers: Melissa Bouse, Sarah Comiskey, Keith Paul, Alex Pecci ’02 Research Assistance: Shana Murrell

SPOT THE AI! Some text in this issue was written with the assistance of ChatGPT. See if you can spot it, and check page 14 for the answer!

COMMUNITY IS ALL AROUND US

This year’s Fall Convocation featured stories from alumni, students, and faculty on the theme of the “Transformative Power of Education.”

Pictured: Trustee Jouel Gomez ’15, Portsmouth Poet Laureate Diannely Antigua ’08

This year’s 6th Annual Golf Tournament raised a record $36,000 for NECC Athletics, thanks to the generosity of alumni and friends, 200 golfers, and picture-perfect weather.

NECC Faculty Fellow and Assistant Professor Devan Walton has written a book on applications and implications of artificial intelligence in education. “The ABCs of ChatGPT for Learning” is available now in paperback and as a digital download.

MassReconnect is here! This new program allows Massachusetts residents age 25+ who have not already obtained a college degree to attend any of the state’s community colleges for free. More than 144 NECC students were among the first to receive MassReconnect awards.

Governor Maura Healey officially unveiled the Tuition Equity Bill on NECC’s Lawrence Campus.

The Council for Opportunity in Education invited journalism major Daniela Valdivia-Terres to speak at its summit in Washington D.C. this fall after she took part in the prestigious Keith Sherin Global Leaders Program at The Hague, Netherlands.

Pictured: Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll, Senate President Karen Spilka, President Lane Glenn, NECC Student Joan S., and Gov. Maura Healey

CAN’T GET ENOUGH ALUMNECC?

Scan to access the new digital archive!

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NECC Alumni Embrace AI A Look at the Frontlines of a Booming Industry Our alumni are innovating every day, and perhaps in no industry is the pace of innovation more rapid than in information technology.

We are pleased to introduce to you four NECC alumni who are working at the forefront of the ever-evolving field of IT – and the implications that artificial intelligence has within it.

Michael Pratt ’13

Zheondre Calcano ’14

Principal Operations Manager, ExecuServices Co-founder of TailWeaver; Acting CTO of ProfitPro, Inc.

Software Engineer Microsoft

When it comes to the topic of AI, Michael Pratt is an open book:

A single class at NECC framed Zheondre Calcano’s career trajectory. The Haverhill resident, who arrived at NECC with the intention of becoming a mechanical engineer, initially enrolled in Michael Penta’s Intro to Computer Science course only to fulfill a minimum credit requirement for his program.

“This is a massive passion of mine, and I can talk forever about it,” he says.

The Danvers resident and father of five has, over the years, become something of a natural entrepreneur in the AI innovation realm. Pratt currently manages and/or owns several technology platforms, including an AI story generation tool and an AI car dealership sales and training tool, with more projects in the works. All were created with one essential goal in mind: helping make the lives of others a little bit better.

His drive to improve the lives of those around him runs deep. Before he found success in the tech industry, Pratt struggled for years with personal challenges, including addiction. He says it was only thanks to the push of friends and professors, including many at NECC, that he found the confidence to succeed and overcome. Now he thrives on giving back in the way he knows best, through technology.

“NECC was really a turning point for me,” Pratt says.

“While I was using, the encouragement I got from my professors, and the extent they, and others at NECC, went to help me succeed… gave me the confidence I needed to seek help and improve my life.”

Pratt’s latest upcoming project is a website and AI tool that will help people identify and mitigate potential mold issues in their homes – a project that emerged through his own family’s recent experience combatting mold-related health challenges.

“It has inspired us to want to help others suffering from something similar,” he says.

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“I actually had never heard of computer science and didn’t want to enroll,” he says. “But I really liked Michael Penta’s class. I liked the fact that any machine could be controlled with a code.”

His interest in this previously unexplored area soon developed into a passion, and he took his newfound skills to UMass Lowell, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in computer science in 2017. Now, just six years later, he has what many in his field would consider a dream job: a fulltime position at Microsoft.

In an average workday, Calcano is largely responsible for writing code for tasks and fixing internal applications that contain errors. While he doesn’t work with AI systems directly, he notes that AI does have a large and growing presence at Microsoft. His team recently created an AI Large Language Model (LLM) that can write libfuzzers, a term for tools that find vulnerabilities within a code base.

Still in its early stages, the AI has already shown promising results, sometimes writing libfuzzers that gain 100 percent coverage.

“It could literally take my job,” he jokes.

For now, he prefers to see AI for what it should be: a helpful tool to enhance the quality of an engineer’s work rather than one to replace it.

Samantha Romano ’16

Shawna O’Neal ’13

Senior Consultant (IT Service Management and Operations) ServiceNow

Co-founder & Web Developer Dodgy Code

When Samantha Romano reflects on her life and career, she says that, to some extent, she was always bound for IT. As a child, she jumped at every opportunity she had to help her dad, also an IT professional, configure computers and set up home networks.

That passion for tinkering and configuring with computers has stayed with her.

Often, when Shawna O’Neal is hard at work building websites and applications for her clients, she likes to reflect on the people she met along her career journey, including her former classmates at NECC, where she got her career start.

Romano initially began her academic and professional career in physical education but after needing a change of pace, she re-discovered her love of information technology through NECC – and the job possibilities that came with it.

“NECC was just as focused as I was in finding me a start to my career,” she recalls.

Through the career services team, she found an internship just 15 minutes from her home, and the rest was history.

Today, she works a job she loves consulting with customers on how to best solve technical and business issues.

Embedded within the job is a Generative AI program, which helps her team streamline communications by summarizing all the steps that have been taken within a ticket. This program has proved immensely beneficial, she says, saving the company from redundancy while expediting solutions.

The shift to utilizing more AI-based tools, she feels, is ultimately positive for her work and the tech industry in general.

“Generative AI is the new way to work in my industry, streamlining processes that usually take hours,” she says.

“Now there are fewer hiccups, more work being automated, and a quick turnaround time.”

“Even today, I remember the diverse people and their needs from my time there,” she says. “These are the people I’m building for – all walks of life, all manner of goals, all varieties of preference.”

For O’Neal’s wing of the technology field, success is all about adaptability – best practices for her line of work change rapidly, and the demands of her client base change along with them. To stay up to date, she must remain consistently in tune with the varying needs that different fields, people, and companies require for their unique audiences.

“Don’t play trivia against web developers,” she jokes.

“We’ve seen too much and had to learn and apply it to our work.”

Lucky for O’Neal, she has long had a knack for accepting change. During the pandemic, after years of working as a junior web developer for an IT company, she took a leap of faith by co-founding a web development company with a friend. She now comfortably works full-time under her own direction.

On the topic of AI, O’Neal expresses ambivalence, noting that while it can be a helpful streamlining tool, it does not hold substantial weight in the highly interactive and creative world of web development.

“Until AI has evolved to include human intuition, empathy, and emotional understanding… it won’t succeed in the core roles a web developer plays,” she says.

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One Million Students Impacted Dr. John Santos’ passion for experiential learning, sparked at NECC, led to the creation of a unique wilderness education program Each year, thousands of grade school children throughout New England pack their bags, board big yellow buses, and head off to the wilderness. They’re trading their school classrooms for Nature’s Classroom. When they return, parents say they seem to walk a little taller, with a newfound sense of independence.

Nature’s Classroom is a beloved experiential learning program founded by Northern Essex Community College alumnus, the

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late Dr. John Santos ’68. His idea was simple: give students an opportunity to learn outside of a traditional classroom setting.

By utilizing summer camps in the off-season, he and a team of wilderness educators could host schools for up to five days of learning through nature. Along the way, students would build a sense of community, develop trust in each other, and bring a spirit of cooperation back to their home life.

It’s the kind of program Dr. Santos wished he had growing up. As a self-described late bloomer, he struggled through classes in Billerica Public Schools.

“He joked that he joined the military senior year because he was about to fail out,” remembers son John “Jay” Santos.

“He didn’t do well in high school; it wasn’t the way he learned and thrived.”

Dr. Santos earned his GED while serving in the military during the Vietnam War. Once back home, he decided to give education another try. He enrolled in Northern Essex Community College and discovered there was much more to learning than what happened inside the classroom.

“He started to enjoy more self-directed learning, getting to pick and choose what he studied. It was as much about the classroom-based lessons as it was the conversations in the hallways and the connections with professors,” says Jay Santos.

His mission with Nature’s Classroom was not necessarily environmental based – he thought it was about being open to exploring and open to being outside of the classroom He went on to earn his bachelor’s degree from Amherst College, a master’s degree from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and a Ph.D. in Education from Boston College. Dr. Santos taught elementary school for two years before deciding to pursue his passion for experiential learning. He opened the first Nature’s Classroom location in Potters Place, New Hampshire in 1973. A few years later, he moved his young family to Charlton, Massachusetts, which serves as the base of operations for Nature’s Classroom to this day. The program grew to operate in more than a dozen locations throughout New England and New York and has now served more than a million students.

“I always remember, at the beginning of each school year, they’d bring all the educators from all the sites to Charlton.

Before the official site opened there, it was my house. So, there would be 60 to 70 counselors in the backyard.”

Jay Santos says his father always credited those educators for bringing his idea to life through nature and creating a one-of-a-kind community along the way. Dr. John Santos passed away this summer, not long after celebrating the 50th anniversary of Nature’s Classroom.

“At the funeral, one thing that stood out was the community of educators and how much that community meant to them. People started their careers there; they met their partners. At one point, we counted, and we got up to 15 to 20 Nature’s Classroom babies.”

Continuing the Legacy Jay Santos and his brother Kenneth “Kip” Santos currently serve on the board of directors of Nature’s Classroom. They look forward to continuing to build on their father’s legacy.

That includes helping students at Northern Essex. Their father donated his time and supported many initiatives at the college through the years. In 2010, he established The Dr. John G. Santos Environmental Education Scholarship Fund. Each year, the scholarship is awarded to students enrolled in one of NECC’s Natural Science Associate Degree programs.

“He’s always wanted to support the causes that meant a lot to him,” says Jay of his father’s philanthropy. “Northern Essex gave him that opportunity to do something with his life that I don’t think he ever envisioned growing up.

I’m glad he was able to leave the legacy to Northern Essex students.”

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From the NECC Stage to the Big Screen Kiara Pichardo’s Hollywood career started in the NECC theater department

Kiara Pichardo ’15, one of the stars of the Paramount Plus series “School Spirits,” seems to have lived a life pre-destined for the world of acting.

One opportunity and job has led to another, then another, as naturally as the sun comes up each morning, and it all started at Northern Essex Community College.

“I always felt like God was like putting something new in my path, and I was just going with what he was saying,” says the Lawrence resident.

Yet it wasn’t always that way. If you’d asked Pichardo when she was starting at NECC what she wanted to do with her life, she would have said she wanted a career in photography.

“I did that all throughout high school,” she says. “I was going to do a semester at Northern Essex, and then I was going to go to MassArt and study photography.”

But all of that changed one day when Pichardo’s cousin, who was also an NECC student, “dragged” her to an audition on the Haverhill campus that she didn’t want to go to alone. The audition was for the NECC production of the farcical comedy The Beaux’ Stratagem, and the director told everyone there that they couldn’t just sit in the theater and watch. If they wanted to stay, they had to audition.

“Where am I going to go?” Pichardo remembers thinking with a laugh.

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“This is at the point we’re in all the hallways, all the lights were off, and no one’s really there. And it was like, what should I do? I don’t want to sit outside by myself.”

So, she ended up auditioning. It was better than sitting alone in a dark hallway, and besides, she’d “already missed the bus.”

Pichardo “winged it,” and to her surprise, landed the role of Cherry, “the innkeeper’s daughter, who’s very flirtatious with anyone that came in.”

She was shocked but soon found that being onstage felt fun and natural. She continued to audition for plays, and loved the adrenaline of performing, the sound of the audience’s laughter during comedies, and even the catharsis of making people cry during dramas.

“It was nice to be able to help people feel something,” she recalls.

She was even nominated as an alternate for the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival from her very first play, and it didn’t take long before she switched her major to Liberal Arts: Theater Option with encouragement from her mom, who Pichardo calls her “number one supporter.”

“I think that was probably the biggest risk I ever took,” she says. “Changing my whole plan.”

That change has certainly paid off.

Participating in the theater festival led to meeting someone from the theater department at Fitchburg State University, where she eventually transferred. Going to Fitchburg State led to an internship at Boston Casting and, later, getting small parts in film and television (her IMDb credits include “Nurse with Chocolate” in the movie “I Care A Lot” and an uncredited cashier in the Academy Award-winning movie, “CODA”), as well as a recurring role on the Netflix show, “The Society,” before eventually landing the role of Nicole on “School Spirits.”

The show’s eight-episode first season was well received, with critics calling it “sparky and fun” and “engrossing,” and Pichardo says the

AI’s Role in Hollywood The use of artificial intelligence was one of the key points of contention between writers and studios during the recent strike. The agreement struck between the studios and the Writers Guild of America states that AI cannot be used to write or rewrite scripts, and AI-generated writing cannot be considered source material. This agreement prevents writers from losing out on writing credits due to AI.

on set atmosphere feels like a family.

Although the show has been approved for a second season, it was delayed because of Writers Guild of America (WGA) and Screen Actors GuildAmerican Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) strikes. The SAG strike hadn’t been fully resolved at the time of this writing.

Although it’s been tough for her and other actors to be unable to work, audition, or promote their projects, Pichardo said it’s important to stand in “solidarity” in the call for fairer wages for working actors, who don’t make anything close to movie star salaries.

“We’re just asking for things for it to be fair,” she says.

In the meantime, Pichardo continues to appreciate—and marvel—at the way NECC opened a whole new career path that she had never considered and provided support in other ways, too, from academic help in the math center to the PACE program, which helped her transition to a four-year college.

“Northern Essex had a really big [impact] on how I started my whole career…I never did a play. I never did theater. I took one acting class in high school,” she says. “They’re kind of a big reason why I’m even here.”

This story was written

by Alexandra Pecci ’02

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ON CAMPUS/IN THE COMMUNITY

Embracing AI Tools in Career Services The Northern Essex Career Services Office is embracing artificial intelligence tools to help students and alumni in career exploration.

With input from resident AI expert Professor Devan Walton (see page 3), they created an “AI and Career Exploration” event. Career Services showed how AI tools like Claude 2, ChatGPT, and BingAI can be useful, when using the right prompts, for helping students and alumni discover the types of jobs available with certain degrees and for connecting with local employers that hire for those roles. To participate in upcoming Career Services workshops, contact Director Sandy Rochon at srochon@necc.mass.edu.

NECC Holds Its First Cannabis Career Expo

The Cannabis Career Expo provided an exclusive peek into the thriving cannabis industry. The event, held on the Haverhill Campus at the end of September, featured panels of industry experts, networking opportunities, and career insights.

For those with a keen interest in this field, it was an invaluable opportunity to connect with industry professionals and potential employers. NECC currently offers three certificate courses in the cannabis field: Advanced Manufacturing Agent, Advanced Dispensary Associate Program, and Advanced Cultivation Technician Program.

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Meet NECC’s New Alumni Director The NECC community is pleased to welcome Shana Murrell as the college’s new director of alumni relations and annual giving.

Murrell, who assumed her role in June, comes to NECC with over two decades of experience in higher education.

She most recently served as director of alumni engagement at Florida’s Saint Leo University, where she oversaw alumni association and

advancement efforts, and previously directed the alumni relations office at Bridgewater State University.

Originally from New Jersey, Murrell has also held positions as development director at Becker College, director of alumni affairs at Rhode Island College, and director of engagement and development at Leadership Rhode Island. She holds three degrees

from Johnson & Wales University, including an associate degree in hotel restaurant management, a bachelor’s degree in hospitality sales and meeting management, and a Master of Business Administration (MBA).

In her new role, Murrell oversees all components of NECC’s alumni engagement efforts, manages the NECC Alumni Board, and directs the college’s annual giving program.

Want to connect with Murrell? Reach out to her at smurrell@necc.mass.edu to find out how you can get involved with Alumni Office efforts!

AI Helps Students Connect with Alumni

“What is your advice on transferring? How can I be prepared for a four-year school environment that tends to be hyper-competitive?”

“For someone like me who is not set in stone on a career, which directions could be taken to finding what career best fits me and how can I reach out to professionals for advice?”

“I’m concerned about the costs associated with continuing my education, but also want to be sure I’m setting myself up for the best chances of success. What would you suggest I do?”

Those are just a few of the questions that students have asked on NECC Connect, a new digital service that allows them to connect with alumni for career and professional advice. The system’s algorithm automatically matches each student with individuals in the NECC alumni community who can best answer their questions. It’s free and all questions and responses go right to your inbox.

Get started by visiting connect.necc.edu. No signup or login required!

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ON CAMPUS/IN THE COMMUNITY

Finding a Fresh Start Through Jose Cervantes is no stranger to hard work. Even as a teenager at Greater Lowell Technical High School, he worked 40 hours a week. And when he graduated in 2003, he went right into the masonry field. He’s worked for the same company since.

“I have a busy schedule. I leave the house at 5:45 in the morning. But lately, I’ve been thinking, ‘I can’t be a mason my whole life,’” says Cervantes. Still, he was unsure how to afford the time and the money to pursue another career, especially as a dad to a 12-year-old daughter.

He found his answer through a chance encounter with one of his customers. She told him about the MassReconnect program, which provides free community college for students over 25 who don’t already have a college degree. She connected him with enrollment services at Northern Essex and, suddenly, an idea that seemed out of reach was well within his grasp.

“At first, I was hesitant. I thought, ‘Where am I going to find the time?’

Then I thought, ‘You know what, I can show my kid that you can make time to better yourself no matter what life throws at you. And maybe be an inspiration to someone else.’”

Cervantes is now enrolled at NECC as a computer science major. He’s taking classes in the evenings; he often barely has time to go home between work and school. But Cervantes says he already can see it’s well worth it. He notes that his professors are understanding of students like him,

who are balancing many priorities, and he sees his work ethic inspires some of his younger classmates.

“I’m not just waiting for class; I’m always researching.

When I’m on a job, I put my earbuds in and listen to audiobooks on [operating systems like] Linux,” says Cervantes.

“And when I see a younger person that needs help, I want to provide a guiding light.”

He’s also grateful to be setting an example for his daughter. “It’s never too late.

You set a goal; if not just for yourself but for those around you, you can accomplish it. It’s easy to get into a rut and make excuses. But MassReconnect takes those excuses out of the equation.”

Funding for MassReconnect was included in the state’s fiscal year 2024 budget, which passed in August.

Since then, 144 Northern Essex students have received awards from MassReconnect, totaling $339,000, an average of $2,300 per student.

Those numbers increase daily as more students enroll for fall semester II, winter intersession, and spring semester classes. Northern Essex enrollment services has been holding special open houses and staying open later to accommodate busy adults like Cervantes. To learn more about the program, who qualifies, and how to enroll, visit necc.mass.edu/ massreconnect.

“At first, I was hesitant.

I thought, ‘Where am I going to find the time?’

Then I thought, ‘You know what, I can show my kid that you can make time to better yourself no matter what life throws at you.’”

Introducing: The Seacoast Promise Thanks to generous support from Newburyport Bank and the Institution for Savings Charitable Foundation, students from public schools within the banks’ retail branch market who earn at least 15 credits in NECC’s early college programs could be eligible to continue at NECC at little cost. The creation of the Seacoast Promise Program is off to an auspicious start thanks to these generous pledges.

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WHY I North East Educational &

HIRE Developmental Support Center (NEEDS) “I choose to hire NECC students/grads as I feel that they bring energy and enthusiasm to our organization. As a former NECC student and alum, I understand how important it is to have opportunities in school and when you graduate, and we hope that the NEEDS Center is able to provide both to NECC students. The employees we’ve hired from Northern Essex display dedication, hard work, and perseverance to get the job done. They are greatly valued and bring enormous contributions to our organization.”

Kate Mauro ’00, Senior Recruiter, NEEDS

Interested in partnering with NECC to hire future interns or employees?

Visit www.necc.mass.edu/business-industry to learn how.

NECC Elizabeth Giroux ’18 HELPED ME

GET THERE

New Hampshire State Police For many, the concept of crime scene analysis is the stuff of TV. For Goffstown, NH resident Elizabeth Giroux ’15, ’18, it’s everyday life.

Giroux, a graduate of NECC’s lab sciences program, celebrated a career milestone this summer when she landed her dream job as a forensic scientist and criminalist for the New Hampshire State Police, serving alongside the forensic lab’s drug unit to analyze crime scene substances. It is a position that she has been working toward for nearly a decade, and one that became possible in no small part thanks to her time at NECC. While she was a student, Giroux says, she obtained an internship with MCR Labs of Framingham, which provided her with the hands-on skills needed to gain entry-level work in the field. From there, the opportunities blossomed. “[NECC] helped me to become more confident in myself and gain a strong background in lab science techniques and instrumentation methods,” she says.

Upon graduating from NECC, Giroux earned a bachelor’s degree in forensic science and a master’s degree in criminal justice and criminology from Saint Anselm College.

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ALUMNI NEWS ‘N NOTES

In Memoriam

Alumni News

John F. Lyons ’64

JOHN MICHAEL SEFEL ’04, director of theater at Henry Ford College, was featured in a recent HFC news article, where he discussed a range of his upcoming projects, publications, and performances at the college and beyond.

John G. Santos ’68 Patricia Sussman ’70 Peter D. Quimby ’71 William J. Hamilton ’73 David J. Antonuk ’79 Evelyn E. Deuplisea ’81 Laurie J. Rice ’81 Sean C. Lane ’83 Gene G. Hatem ’83 Glenda E. Pearson ’86 Rose A. Ferrandino ’90 Beverly A. Cote ’93 Christine Levesque ’97 Shay P. Sullivan-Boover ’97 Cynthia J. Viens ’99 Joyce-Ann Hall ’01 Elaine M. Bendeck ’07 Nicholas R. Egan ’15

BRIAN MOHIKA ’06, CEO of CathWear, has received additional patents for the pediatric version of his company’s popular undergarment system for catheters.

CathWear was founded by Mohika and continues to be the only product of its kind covered by Medicare.

CANDICE PECHILIS ’08 has been named to the position of director of stewardship & engagement at Esperanza Academy.

DIANNELY ANTIGUA ’08 served as a keynote speaker at NECC’s fall 2023 convocation ceremony, where she shared excerpts of her poetry and details about her academic and career journey.

KELLY PEREZ ’15 has joined the staff of Massachusetts General Hospital as a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner.

LISETH VELEZ ’15 served as a roundtable speaker for the New England Veterans Small Business Symposium, where she discussed her experience running a Veteran-owned small business.

GRANT BELLINO ’16, a part-time librarian assistant at NECC and professional model, has been included in a national catalogue campaign for JCPenney.

NOAH GREENSTEIN ’18 starred in a production of the play “Rite of Passage” at the Windhover Theater in Rockport this past summer.

TRISTAN CIAMPA ’23 was recently highlighted in the Eagle-Tribune, among other publications. Ciampa, a former Knights baseball player and business transfer graduate, was recruited to pitch at Division 1 school St. Bonaventure University beginning this fall.

The following alumni were newly hired to the staff of NECC this summer and fall: CELENIA AITCHESON ’16, financial aid counselor; EUDANIA AQUINO ’22, SOAR engagement & logistics assistant; VIVIAN CAVAZZI ’81, vice president of human resources; RANDALL CORREA ’17, bilingual food access worker; GISELLE PEGUERO ’21, associate director of Lawrence Campus & community relations; and JINE ROQUE ’09, financial aid counselor.

NON-GRADUATED ALUMNI

Marie Louise Plonowski Christine M. Fowler Kimberly M. Mignanelli

SPOT THE AI! Did you find it? “NECC Holds Its First Cannabis Career Expo” on Page 10 was written with the assistance of ChatGPT.

THE ALUMNI OFFICE IS ALWAYS ON THE LOOKOUT FOR THE NEXT GREAT STORY 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 14

New Alumni Board Members This past summer, the Northern Essex Community College Alumni Board announced the induction of three new members: Sarah Pachano ’23, Raquel Quezada ’23, and Virgilio Velez ’05. All three will serve as leading representatives for the college’s alumni association, spearheading efforts that will contribute to the college’s growth and increase engagement with NECC’s robust network of 40,000-plus alumni.

Sarah Pachano is a recent NECC graduate and a former student representative to the NECC Board of Trustees. A Newman Civic Fellow, she holds a degree in liberal arts: philosophy.

Quezada, also a recent graduate, is the CEO of “Changing the World for Children with Disabilities,” a community nonprofit aimed at helping individuals and families facing disability. She comes to the

Sarah Pachano ’23

Raquel Quezada ’23

Board with experience as a member of the City of Haverhill Disability Commission and as chairperson of the Massachusetts Development Disability Council. She holds an associate degree inLiberal Arts: Psychology.

Velez, a nurse manager and diversity, equity, and inclusion program officer at Lawrence General Hospital, is a long-time proponent of community

Virgilio Velez ’05

service initiatives. He holds an associate degree, bachelor’s degree, and master’s degree in nursing and a certificate in healthcare disparities.

The Alumni Board member nomination process is open each year from February through May. If you or someone you know would like to be considered for the Alumni Board, please contact the Alumni Office at alumni@necc.mass.edu.

You Make a Difference: Giving Societies at NECC Leadership Giving

Loyalty Giving

Planned Giving

The NECC President’s Circle

NECC Loyalty Giving Society

The President’s Circle recognizes generous benefactors who demonstrate a strong commitment to the mission and impact of NECC. Any individual who makes a gift of $1,000 or more each fiscal year automatically qualifies for membership.

The NECC Loyalty Giving Society was established to honor and recognize motivated individuals who have demonstrated a commitment to supporting NECC through consistent annual contributions. Anyone who has donated a gift of any size to the NECC Fund for five consecutive years or more is automatically considered a member of the Loyalty Giving Society.

The William and Rosemary Klueber Planned Giving Society Named after two beloved members of the NECC alumni family, the Klueber Planned Giving Society honors individuals who have chosen to include NECC in their long-term giving plans through a will or trust, life insurance, bequests, real estate, and more. Setting up a gift with NECC is a great way to provide longterm support, helping the college and its students to thrive well into the future.

Interested in learning more about NECC giving societies, or other ways you can get involved? Reach out to us at giving@necc.mass.edu.

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202309-016

‘Tis the season of giving.

There’s no better time to give back to NECC! Every year, NECC’s annual fund proudly supports a wide range of programs, scholarships, and services that contribute directly to student success. This year, the NECC Fund is supporting, among other initiatives, a new stipend program for students pursuing internships and other experiential learning opportunities. And there’s so much more we can do!

Please help us continue to enhance the NECC experience by contributing to the NECC Fund this season.

Scan the QR code or visit www.necc.mass.edu/giving to learn more and contribute.