Northern Essex Community college is known for how proactive and engaging they are with their students and community.

Today I walked around campus to ask students about the extracurricular activities they take part in and are interested in.

When asking students if they’ve gone to any of the after class campus events for example the Stuff-A-Bear event that had taken place in the Haverhill Campus earlier this semester.

When interviewing students many had replied that they hadn’t gone to a campus event ever.

Brianna, a Human Services major at Northern Essex said “I would go to an event if it was something I was interested in. I just work a lot.”

I had asked about 10 students if they had gone to any of the campus events at all and they mostly replied “No. I just don’t really have the time.”

All but one. Balin, 19, a first year Psychology major at Northern Essex said

“I’ve only gone to one event and it was a seminar on growing cannabis,” Balin said He said he had only really gone to the event for an English paper he had to write on how Northern Essex had starting offering training courses for careers in the cannabis industry.

Sisters Gabby and Mikayla, fist year Liberal arts majors said they both hadn’t gone to a campus event before.

“We just don’t have the time and haven’t found anything interesting enough to take time away from my life or homework.”

From what I gathered one in 10 students attend campus events.

In a class body size of 3,822 that’s less than 400 students or in other words 9.9% of students participate in extracurriculars that the college offers.

This shouldn’t be the case! There are events happening every day that can peak just about anybody’s interest. Something I also found was that many students don’t particularly seek out events. They are reminded via email or text but otherwise it is word of mouth. Many students also really find events in the bathroom, with the Toilet Telegram that shows you the monthly schedule of campus events.

NECC works hard to engage with its students but I find that it should begin to be the other way around.

The opportunities these clubs can provide for students to meet others with similar interests and also jump out of their comfort zone.

Or even learn something new like the science behind music or growing cannabis. If you’re a student be sure to check the NECC events page or take a couple seconds to look at the bulletin boards in the halls before class to see events,

Maybe you’ll be pleasantly surprised.