All posts by Jocelyn Avila-Frias, Correspondent

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Center for Liberal Arts offfers advising resources

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As the spring semester comes to an end advising season begins, which gives students only a short time to complete their assignments and seek advising assistance so that they can enroll into the classes that are needed for their majors.
Fortunately, the Center for Liberal Arts at Northern Essex Community College provides multiple resources for liberal arts students to be assisted in all their advising needs.
Nisaly Gonzalez a Communication Arts/ Journalism major in Northern Community College said, “I think it’s very important for students to seek advising help from the Center for Liberal Arts because they have the right resources to help liberal arts students to stay on track on their school career.”
These resources are critical to the liberal arts students as they have specific needs that they need to meet for their majors.
Some of the these include diverse classes that cater to their aspirations.
For example, if someone is looking to complete a degree in Journalism/Communications, then they may want to take a combination of communications, journalism, and media classes.
This combination is needed for them to complete their associate’s degree, though it may be difficult for them to enroll into these classes without professional guidance from an adviser.
Shakira Moreta a Liberal Arts adviser at Northern Essex Community College said “I just happen to think that students typically wait to schedule an advising appointment either because they have holds or they want to see their grades from the last semester. But I would say the sooner you make an appointment with an adviser the better so that I can help you make an academic plan or find the classes you need to take, to move forward.”
All liberal arts students have access to these resources via Navigate or through the Center for Liberal Arts website.
Liberal Arts students can also email Shakira Moreta or schedule an appointment with her through Navigate.
The Center for Liberal Arts also sends out weekly emails that inform all Liberal Arts majors o how they can receive advising assistance online now due to COVID-19.
Prior to the pandemic all liberal arts students could have received one-on-one advising assistance in person at the center itself or at the advising center, but the advising center is only open to new NECC students to help them begin their academic career.
Matheus Batista a student at Northern Essex Community College said “Advisers help yo umake the right decisions on classes and without them we’d be lost on what kind of classes we should take. That’s why I made it a mission to find an adviser who cares about my education and will be able to guide me in the right direction.”
In these trying times it is important to tailor to one’s community.
The Center for LiberalArts offers a variety of advising resources to help liberal arts students through this process onlineon their website https://www.necc.mass.edu/current-students/academic-centers/center-for-liberal-arts/.
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Free Farmers Market fills a need

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The free Farmers Market at Northern Essex Community is open to all  students, staff, and faculty at both the Lawrence and Haverhill campuses. The market provides  up to 25 pounds of fresh produce to anyone a part of the Northern Essex community.

It is located  at the Spurk “C” Building Parking Lot in the Haverhill campus and the Dimitry “L” Building Parking Lot in the Lawrence campus. Usually, appointments run from 12:30-2PM at the Haverhill location and 1:30-3PM at the Lawrence location.

Chloe Green a former Communication Arts/ Journalism major at Northern Essex Community  College said “I remember when I first found out about the Farmers Market which was at the Center for Liberal Arts. I was surprised that NECC even had something like that but once I  started going, I never stopped. To be honest, that is one of the things I miss the most about Northern Essex. Just by them implementing the Farmers Market shows that they care about their community.”

In order to attend the market event, you have to register prior to arriving. You can locate the dates of when the Farmers Market will occur through their website or via email that is sent out a few weeks prior to the event.

The goal of the Farmers Market is to help prevent food insecurity and provide healthy options for all students, staff, and faculty. The market was curated by the NECC Community Resources Programs, the Campus Compact AmeriCorps VISTA program, and the Greater Boston Food Bank.

Arismendy Fondeur a Biology major at Northern Essex Community College said that “I am excited to attend the next Farmers Market event. The school that I attended before didn’t have  anything like this. I live alone with my younger brother and it’s hard for us to pay our bills every  month and then worry about our groceries but I can’t wait to go to the next event so I can take  one more thing off my shoulders.”

The Farmers Market is a great resource for the NECC community to rely on to obtain their  produce. Though, when the pandemic began there was a hault on the events due to the mandatory lockdowns. The market has since come up with new and innovative ways to provide produce to  their community.

Now students, staff, and faculty are able to register online through their website for the next coming event and attend their drive-through market. The volunteers at the Farmers Market are following all COVID safety procedures in order to ensure everyone’s safety.

Moassia Bede a Respitory Care major at Northern Essex Community college said “I love how I  can sign up and just drive-through and pick up the food. Everyone is always so friendly, and I  feel safe knowing that everyone is social-distancing and wearing their masks. I also don’t have to  worry about bringing my newborn daughter out of the car to grab the food.”

Fortunately, the Farmers Market is still operating as normal as possible despite the pandemic.

The next Farmers Market event will take place on Wednesday May 26th at both campuses. You can register ahead of time on their website at https://northernessex.wufoo.com/forms/xj660rw1k9vpim/.

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How the Center for Liberal Arts embraces different cultures

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Northern Essex Community College has a diverse group of students attending both the Lawrence and Haverhill campuses, especially in the Lawrence campus where 80 percent of the student population are bilingual and speak predominantly Spanish.

This is why NECC and the Center for Liberal Arts have incorporated different activities and programs that cater to different cultural groups.

The Center for Liberal Arts has hosted many different cultural events within the center ever since they have opened. They also have honored different cultures on their respected months so that they could educate and bring awareness to the student body.

The center has also hosted different student guest speakers for Hispanic Heritage Month,Black History Month, Asian Pacific Heritage Month, and more so that students can hear theirpersonal experiences regarding their respected cultures they are representing.

Nisaly Gonzalez  aLiberal Arts major in Northern Essex Community College said that “I have attended one event the Center for Liberal Arts hosted for Hispanic Heritage Month in person back before the pandemic began and I really enjoyed listening to the student speaker speaking upon her experience as a Hispanic/ Latina bilingual student in the school.”

These events allow the liberal arts students to connect with different peers and step out of their comfort zones as well as expanding their knowledge on a different culture that they would normally never look into.

The center also hosts documentary and movie events that relate to the culture they are educating their participants on and hold an open discussion for students to ask questions and conversate with peers regarding to the film they have observed.

Mariam Saldivar who is a Communication Arts and Journalism major in Northern EssexCommunity College said “I remember attending an event during Black History Month and we learned how to do African dances which was amazing and so out of my element. But I reall yenjoyed it and I would definitely suggest other students to participate in those kinds ofactivities.”

Another student, Katherine Townsend who is also a Communication Arts/ Journalismmajor in Northern Essex Community College said that “I wish I was able to participate more in the cultural events the center has hosted but due to the pandemic it has made it harder for me tomake time for the zoom events they’ve had this past year. But I would love to attend a cultural documentary event that they will host in the future.”

The pandemic has made it significantly more difficult for the liberal arts students and staff to participate in these cultural events the Center for Liberal Arts hosts, though the center ha sbeen able to host these events through zoom.

They announce these events through email andsocial media. Make sure to check out the center’s website at https://www.necc.mass.edu/current-students/academic-centers/center-for-liberal-arts/liberal-arts-center-events/ for event updates.

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Panel highlights careers in journalism/communication

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The Center for Liberal Arts hosts Career Panel events from timeto time to connect students with professionals in the liberal arts community.

The purpose of thisevent is to have the liberal arts students listen in on how these communication professionals were able to achieve their level of success starting off on the same path as the students tuning in.

The event also allows students to ask any questions they are curious about and to give the students insight on the endless job opportunities the Liberal Arts program has to offer.

The past few career panel events had special guests speaking about their careers from all different types of liberal arts professional backgrounds. The guests consisted of Kristen Bell,Eduardo Crespo, Lisa Valela, Tracy Majka, Ted Priestly, Zenova King, Mike Alongi, VeronicaVozzolo, Luftar Von Rama, and more.

All these guests spoke upon their experiences working in the film, marking, and journalism industries which helps give young liberal arts students insight on what possible careers they can look into once they finish completing their degrees.This event is open to all students but more so specifically to liberal arts majors.

Students canc atch these career panel events by keeping their outlook email post notifications on for theCenter for Liberal Arts email so they can get be notified of advertisements of the career panele events once they are planning to host the next one.

Michelle Colbert-Mason who is a Journalism/Communication Arts major in Northern Essex Community College said “I’ve received virtual flyers/invitations for many of the center events. I consider attending them but so far I have only attended one which was a career panel for Journalism/ Communication Arts students.”

Email is the best way for students to be aware of these events but you can also get you updates on the next career panel event through the Center for Liberal Arts social media pages and their website.

All these events at the moment can be accessed through zoom.

When speaking to the students who have attended the career panel events they had nothing bu tpositive things to say about the events.

“The most recent career panel event I attended was great! My favorite speaker was Zenova King since she used to work for Jay-Z and is currently YG’smanager who are two rappers I am familiar with,” said Rachel Anderson a Communication Arts/Journalism major in Northern Essex Community College.

“I just joined a zoom call this past week from the center of liberal arts. It was a Q&Awith some producers and local journalists which was really informative and inspiring,” said Faith Barrett, another Journalism/ Communication Arts major.

The career panel events has brought awareness to the broad selection of careers, liberalarts students can look forward to pursuing in the future. You can get updates on the next event ontheir events website (https://www.necc.mass.edu/current-students/academic-centers/center-for-liberal-arts/liberal-arts-center-events/) and on their social media handles @neccliberalarts.

 

Campus Life
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The academic centers in Northern Essex Community College have been coming up with different ways on how to keep the student body engaged with theschool virtually.

The Center for Liberal Arts particularly has hosted many zoom events for students to participate in if they chose to. Events the center hosts vary fromregistration workshops, cultural awareness conversations, career panels, historical events andmuch more.

The goal of the center is to provide professional and eventful resources for the students to be able to make the most out of their academic life right from the comfort of theirown home.

Although it has been difficult for the center to get most of the liberal arts students to participat eand join the events, they have been grateful for the students who do decide to join and utilize thecenter like they want them to.

The center sends out emails regarding their events to the students almost on a daily basis as well as promoting their events on social media and on the Center for Liberal Arts website. Many students have been able to view the advertisements the center has put out regarding theevents they host.

Unfortunately, the pandemic has made it subsequently difficult for the center and the students to be able to find a set schedule that works for everyone to be able to make it to the events since the students are now busier throughout their day.

Though, students like Isae Grullon, a Journalism and Communication Arts major in Northern Essex Community College suggested that the centers should create a calendar a few months in advance on the events they potentially are going to host so that the students can clear their schedules ahead and have time to participate in such events.

Grullon said that “there was some events that I wish I was able to participate in but unfortunately since I was busy with work it made it hard for me to make it to the events, you know? I know it’s hard to cater to everyone’s schedule but maybe if they were to somehow be able to make a calendar on the events they are going to host in advance then it might be easier for the students who are busy to plan around those events and attend them.”

Though there are a few obstacles students and staff have to overcome that interrupt them from fully attending the events, it is evident that the students believe that the events the center hosts are super helpful and beneficial when they are able to fully participate in them.

Another student, Phineas Sparrow, who is also a Journalism and Communication Arts major in Northern Essex Community College said that “the Center for Liberal Arts is a great place for students to be able to network and meet other students and professionals. Even though students may not be able to participate in every single event, I do think it’s important to at least try attending one.”

Many students like Sparrow attest to the fact that the events the Center hosts are convenient for all liberal arts students to interact and meet with other liberal arts students and staff members to network and help each other out.It may be difficult for students to find the time to participate in all the events the center hosts.

But “my advice would be for students to find one day each month of their choosing, to pick an event they want to attend so that they can make the most out of the center,” said Zachary Cutter another Journalism/ Communication Arts major.

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Center for Liberal Arts offers students academic help, events, advising and more

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The Center for Liberal Arts is a social and academic home for all Northern Essex students who have a liberal arts related major so that they can have access to academic help, events, after school snacks, advising, and more.

The idea of the Cente rcame about from the Business and Accounting center and at the time since there were many other centers already established that catered to those majors it seemed as if the Liberal Arts majors were the only students who were missing out on that experience. which is how the Center for Liberal Arts came about.

Students can find the center in the Northern Essex Haverhill campus, room C209. Though, due to the current pandemic the room for the center is currently closed to the public. Fortunately, the center is still up and running even during the covid-19 pandemic andstudents or faculty can join events now online.

The Center for Liberal Arts has many things to offer the Northern Essex student body and faculty. You do not necessarily need to be a liberal arts major in order to attend the center. But the center specifically caters to those with liberal arts majors just like how the other centers such as the Math center and Business center cater to their majors.

Dermot Luddy the head staff member for the Center for Liberal Arts and an occasional professor for the Ethics Oriental Philosophy World’s Religions course stated what is the meaning behind the center and on its impact on students when we can gather on campus again.   “It means a place where students feel welcomed. Where they can crash, have snacks, meet friends, and hang out. Wherethey meet faculty. The kind of things that are unique to the center is that you have faculty who come from pretty diverse backgrounds and different interests that have them coming in and hanging out in the same room that really sparks conversations that can be interesting; that sometimes students just ease drop into conversations that are taking place and you know that they are getting something out of this. They don’t intrude, that they don’t want to necessarily draw attention to themselves but they’re hanging on to every word that’s going on and you can see that they are having a great experience listening to professionals in their field discussinginteresting topics.”

Liberal arts majors in Northern Essex are considered to be Psychology, Communications,Journalism, History, English, Sociology, and more.

When the center and campus are open to the public, you can visit find events related tot he students or regarding the media and what is important in our society today. You can also graba free snack and at times the center offers free pizza if they’re hosting an event. In the center you can also see faculty members who hang out and engage into conversation with the students who visit the center, which is a great opportunity for the faculty and students to make connections and hold important educational conversations. Also, the center has advising for all liberal arts students who are looking for transfer help, to enroll into classes for the following semester, or just simple advising questions.

Fortunately, for any liberal arts students who are passed their first semester in the school is expected to report to the center for advising help and for those who are just starting their first semester can look to the information center to enroll into their first classes.

The best way to stay updated to any future eventsfor the Center of Liberal Arts has to offer is by email: centerforliberalarts@necc.mass.edu or viasocial media in which you can follow their Instagram page at @neccliberalarts.

Also, if you are looking for virtual advising help you can reach out to Shakira Moreta the academic advisor for liberal arts and business students through email or navigate to set up an appointment for all youradvising needs.

Moreta is currently doing advising for both business and liberal arts majors but eventually is going to be an advisor solely for liberal arts students.

Regarding her virtual appointments she stated that “I think the thing about being virtual is that at least myappointments have gone at least 30 minutes increments so I have that time to share my screenand if you are planning to transfer next fall for example and you’re going through that transferprocess we are able to share screens and look over the process you have in the application.”

There are many ways liberal arts students can be assisted with academic advising as long ast hey take the time to reach out to Moreta and reserve an appointment. Students can also email the Center for Liberal Arts email to get into touch with Moreta.

Unfortunately, many students may not be able to experience all the center has to offer at the moment because of the global covid-19 pandemic the world is facing but there is hope that the center could possibly be re-opening in the Fall of 2021, sources say.

Even though there isn’ ta Center for Liberal Arts in the Lawrence campus there is commotion that there will be something very similar opening up in the future.

Amy Callahan the Dean of the Liberal Artsdivision and previously a professor for Journalism/Communications courses as well as thep rogram coordinator for the Journalism/ Communication program said that “the Lawrence campus, if we hadn’t of had the pandemic then we would already have the center open. But when we re-open we will have an academic center for Lawrence that will actually serve I think all, everything except health because health I think has its own center over in the new building.”

So, for all those who attend the Lawrence campus look forward to possibly seeing a center similar tothe Center for Liberal Arts opening when the pandemic starts to clear up.

Overall, many of my sources all had a similar goal for the center which was for more student engagement.

Luddy had this to say about the student engagement for the center: “Well,it’s kind of difficult right now because we are off campus, I suspect there is a certain number of students who think that the center does not exist because we are not on campus but I think we remedied that quite a bit because we’ve had pretty regular events by zoom and lots of people are well zoomed out at this point but I have been heartened by how many people who are willing to turn up to events that we hold during the day time or the evening. That they can come andparticipate in.”

For more information about the center, visit https://www.necc.mass.edu/current-students/academic-centers/center-for-liberal-arts/liberal-arts-center-events/

Opinion

The pandemic reaches all parts of life

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As we arrive at the peak of the coronavirus pandemic, many people are becoming infected.

Unfortunately, my family and many others have been greatly affected by COVID-19. When I found out that the Northern Essex Campus was closed right before spring break began, I knew this situation could be bigger than any of us could have imagined. Life as we knew it came to a screeching halt.

This began for me personally, when I canceled my flight that I booked to the Midwest to visit my family. Later I also had a second vacation I was looking forward to canceled because of all domestic and international flights being closed. I realized that everything surrounding us was shutting down.

Soon after I canceled my vacations, my job closed due to the pandemic as well. I was told we were going to start working from home, but my employer has yet to reach out to me to give me my tasks or to even check on how I am doing during this tragedy.

Even though, everything was slowly shutting down around me I kept an optimistic outlook on this ongoing situation because our health should be our number one priority above anything else.

Unfortunately, my father who currently lives in Florida was diagnosed with COVID-19. Thankfully he is currently recovering from this virus after being in complete agony for the past two weeks. He explained that this virus was unlike anything he’s ever experienced, and he advises everyone to stay home and to continue protecting themselves from this horrible illness.

Even though I am going through a tough time, I am just grateful for my health and that I have personally not experienced any symptoms. Moving forward I hope everyone continues to follow the lockdown procedures and we soon overcome this nightmare.