Observer Department: Features


Opportunity Works’ Justin Sanchez

Walking into Opportunity Works, you hear classical music playing from the welcome desk. The staff instantly greet you, and quickly help you get to where you need to go. The building may be new, but the bonds between the staff and students there are richly rooted. Each person has a…


“Haverhill’s Archie” – Fact or Legend?

Local legend holds that artist Bob Montana created the Archie comic strip and based the characters, at least in part, on his Haverhill High School peers. The truth of this claim has always been somewhat of a mystery; it seems to be contradicted in a few places, including by the…


Campus Accessibility

Accessibility at Northern Essex has long been a hot-button issue. The outdated elevators, the cracks in the ramps, the ice and snow in the winter — it all falls under the umbrella of accessibility concerns. With the Spurk Building being renovated this upcoming year, some may wonder what upgrades are…


NECC Students Make Road Trip out of College Visit

NECC students Christian Doyle, Tarah MacGregor and Geehae Moon went on a road trip this summer to visit two colleges in Florida. The road trip was initially the idea of MacGregor, a Liberal Arts major in her fifth year at NECC. She wanted to visit her to top choice schools:…


ArtSpace Dedication

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  Over the summer, the ArtSpace located in a remote corner of the Bentley Library received a new name and some well deserved attention during a dedication ceremony on May 15.  So did Linda Hummel-Shea, for whom the space was renamed.  Hummel-Shea started at NECC as a part-time librarian 35…


LGBTQ+ Milestones

The LGBT community reached some historic milestones this summer. On June 26, the United States Supreme Court ruled same-sex marriage a constitutional right with a 5-to-4 vote. In his decision, Justice Anthony M. Kennedy stated, “No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love,…


Tarah MacGregor: A Face of NECC

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23-year-old Tarah MacGregor has been a student at Northern Essex for five years. Her ready smile has made her popular among the students and faculty, and you can often hear her laughing in the hallways as she goes about her many projects. McGregor has taken her college experience to a…


Professor Dave Fagerstrom

Professor Dave Fagerstrom, who served as an instructor of economics and college success for nearly six years at NECC, passed away on Friday, April 24, 2015 at the age of 68. Fagerstrom was born in Stamford, CT and later moved to Massachusetts with his family, where he graduated from Watertown…


Students Prepare for a Bright Future at NECC

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As the spring semester of 2015 draws to a close, it is also the end of many students’ time at NECC, and the beginning of new exciting adventures for those graduating and moving onward with their academic careers. One of those students is Molly Fitzgerald, a communications major. Fitzgerald plans…


Commemorating Abraham Lincoln

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A commemoration lecture in honor of Abraham Lincoln’s death was held on April 14 in the Hartleb Technology Center. The lecture was organized by Richard Padova as a part of the third installment of the 2014-2015 Speaker’s Series “Movers, Shakes and Opinion makers,” funded by NECC and the generous contributions…