Spotlight
Monday afternoon proved fruitful for members of the Student Affairs Committee, as they held an open student forum where members of both campuses shared their experiences, questions, and concerns with the current state of Northern Essex Community College in a town-hall style online meeting. Hosted on the afternoon of April 7 via Zoom by Professor Meredith Gunning and Mary Hopwood, who are the Chair and Student Representative of the NECC Student Affairs Committee, the forum covered topics such as students’ suggestions for the usage of underutilized spaces and struggles with information transparency and financial aid, along with revelations about the future of NECC’s student advising programs that could have an impact on the workload and efficacy of advisors. The forum began at 2:30, with Gunning opening the floor to students to share their complaints and ideas for improvement to NECC as an institution. “We try to act as a conduit for student voices,” said Gunning, referencing her role in the Student Affairs Committee and framing their objective as being the ‘messenger’ between students and the administration. A student member of the Global Politics Club took the opportunity to comment on the lack of student-exclusive spaces on both campuses. “I would…
Shaun Hood Student journalists from the NECC Observer recently won awards from The New England Newspaper and Press Association in the college division of the Better Newspaper competition. Shaun Hood of Groveland and Observer correspondents received a first place award for best arts and entertainment section and former Observer Editor-in-Chief/Opinion Editor Kim Zappala of Haverhill won a third place award for best opinion section. The awards were announced at NENPA’s annual convention March 29 in…
Featured Articles
By Daniela Valdivia-Terres, Editor-in-Chief
“NECC Music’s Battle of the Bands never disappoints,” said Dean of Liberal Arts Amy Callahan. On April 10, at the TC building in Haverhill cam- pus the Battle of the Bands was held, a music competition that gathers NECC community and the love of music. Second place winner band Krankenwagen Dean Callahan was one of the judges, along with Music Professor Jared Holaday and professional musician in the area, Michael Ruggelo. The judges had a hard time to place the three top bands because all the musicians on stage were so talented, engaged the audience and gave their best. Henry…
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Sports
By Tristan Taylor, Features Editor
From left to right: Evan Bates, Madison Chock, Ilia Malinin, Alysa Liu, Riku Miura, and Ryuichi Kihara. The 2025 World Figure Skating Championships were held at TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts from March 26 through March 30. The event, sanctioned by the International Skating Union (ISU) determined the entry quotas for the 2026 Championships (in which the location has not been announced) and the 2026 Winter Olympics (to be held in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy). The event was held in Boston at a time when the sport needed something to focus on. Just under two months prior, American Airlines…
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Arts & Entertainment
By Shaun Hood, Arts and Entertainment Editor
Q&A with Professor Brianne Beatrice Mirrorajah Metcalfe, Ana Barrera and Theater Professor Brianne Beatrice. Recently, the NECC Observer had a chance to chat with Theater Program Coordinator Brianne Beatrice. We talked a lot about the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival, as well as NECC Theater as a whole. Follow the program on Instagram @necctheater and check out the interview below! Shaun Hood: How was the theater festival this year? Brianne Beatrice: It was incredible. We participated in the Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship competition. We had Mirrorajah Metcalfe, who is a student at the college, partnered with Ana Barrera team…
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Opinion
By Quinlan Cooke, Opinion Editor
As new tariffs are being imposed and re-upped by the Trump administration, many small businesses are taking a hit and having to front hefty costs when it comes to manufacturing their product and having it sent to the U.S. to be distributed. President Donald Trump has recently imposed tariffs on a countless number of countries, with the main target being China. This was done with the goal in mind of having more goods produced in the United States and to create more jobs; but this can take years to come into effect and might not end up working out. Many…
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