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Campus Life, Features

Andy Vargas Visits NECC

 
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Andy Vargas, 22-year-old candidate for Haverhill City Council, came to NECC on Friday, Oct. 23, to speak to a classroom filled with faculty and students.  Vargas ran against 14 other people in the election.  He spoke about the changes he plans on bringing to Haverhill if he is elected to City Council.  

“The City Council,” Vargas said, “is like Congress.”  Two things the Council does is make decisions involving budgeting and also on “zoning,” or what is going to be built where. The Council focuses on the goals for the city and improving the community growth.

“I’m a newcomer, a young guy, and I need to prove that I can do something for the city,” he said.

Vargas was raised with the mentality that after graduation, he wanted to go away to a big, exciting city.  One of the reasons he’s running for city council is because he doesn’t want kids in Haverhill to grow up wanting to leave the city.   A way of getting students more involved with their community would be through civic engagement.

“I want civic engagement to be a high school education requirement,” he said.  Since government affects almost every aspect of your life, Vargas is “trying to get people to understand that politics is for everybody.”

His goal is to try to get students involved in campaigns they care about and get hands on experience.  

Another plan he hopes to implement would be to change the way we are handling the heroin crisis in our city.  

“We’re just jailing people and expecting it to work,” he said.  “We need to confront this as a mental health issue.”

He used Gloucester as an example for how he thinks Haverhill should be treating the situation.  Gloucester is going to one of the roots of the problem, which is addiction.  Instead of treating people with heroin addictions as criminals, the police are treating it as a disease.  If people come to the police and say they need help, they will get help with a treatment program and will not get a criminal record.  Even if they walk in with the drugs on them, they will not be charged.  Last year, 72 people enrolled in it and more than half completed the treatment.  

Vargas also recognized how small the voter turnout has been in comparison to the number of people registered to vote.  To tackle this issue, he thinks we should make it easier for people to access information about the candidates and also market what the city does and can do for them.  Currently, the public has access to the minutes from the City Council meetings at http://www.cityofhaverhill.org/government/city_council/index and can actually watch the meetings at haverhillcommunitytv.org.  While it’s easy to find the names for the candidates online, it takes a bit more research to actually find out what each one represents and supports.

“We need to do a better job at marketing and informing people,” he said.

A practical way of providing the public with additional information on candidates, according to Vargas, would be to create a graph and put it on Facebook, because there is such a large number of people active on social media.  

Features

Adjunct Professors Receive Little Benefits

 

In Massachusetts, the number of full time employees is 1,400 statewide. Part-timers? 5,200 statewide. Adjunct professors teach about two-thirds of the classes taught at the state’s 15 community colleges. They are part-time employees, paid per class. They receive none of the same benefits as full-time employees, such as healthcare and retirement plans, for example.

 

Joe LeBlanc is a full-time professor at NECC and president of the Massachusetts Community College Council (MCCC). This union represents both the full time and adjunct professors, as well as other professional staff and faculty, at all 15 community colleges in the state.

 

LeBlanc said, “We have sued the state for that issue (medical coverage) and we did not win that suit. I think all health care ought to be free. A lot of it is driven by profit.” State law classifies the adjuncts as contract employees; therefore, the state is not required to provide them with health insurance. “I don’t agree with the law, but we have been working to change that law and the universal health care law we have now helped to an extent. They should have the same pension that I have. There could be some friction there between those that are purely part time, and they teach at two, three, four institutions just to pay the rent…”

 

“The percentage of adjuncts is pretty high. Twenty adjuncts could be four full time instructors. I would like to see more hope for those who want/need a permanent full time job with benefits,” Developmental Studies Adjunct Professor, Christopher Corcoran, said.

 

The practice of using adjuncts began as a way to allow working professionals to apply their knowledge in the classroom, but as the number of students increased, the number of full time teachers remained stagnant. The additional caseload was passed on to these part time employees.

 

“Right now it’s shrinking a bit, because our enrollments are dropping,” said LeBlanc. “Historically, during great times, everybody has work.”

 

Academic Preparation Adjunct, Kelly Boylan, adds that job security is often difficult because an adjunct’s course load is determined by student enrollment. “I strive to have a strong relationship with my students and put their needs first. As an adjunct, I don’t have an office, but I make myself available to my students.”

 

The result of this trend is that many adjunct professors are teaching a full caseload, sometimes even teaching multiple classes at multiple campuses.

 

“What’s even worse is the fact that ‘Jane Smith’ can work an entire career adjuncting and she will not have a pension and she does not have any way to retire unless she has a source of outside income or she inherits cash. If you choose to toil away in the trenches as an adjunct for your entire career (you) cannot afford to retire,” said LeBlanc.  

 

Corcoran explains the give-and-take of being an adjunct by showing what happens when classes get cancelled: “If we don’t continually teach, in time we lose certain benefits and our pay-scale is reduced. But we don’t get offered courses continually and consistently. So most of us need to have other jobs and often, when we do get offered courses, those courses conflict with those other jobs. Also, I am not sure of how it works with the seniority of adjuncts and who gets offered courses first. One colleague has taught eight adjunct courses!”

 

An Inside Higher Ed article by Colleen Flaherty earlier this year said “A common refrain from adjunct professors who get relatively low pay and little institutional support is that their working conditions are students’ learning conditions. But many colleges and universities continue to ignore that message and rely on part-time faculty to deliver the majority of instruction. A new paper is calling out those institutions for their lack of attention to faculty career designs and is demanding meaningful, collaborative discussions to address what it calls an existential threat to American higher education.”

 

“Part-time adjuncts who want full-time jobs should have more full-time opportunities available to them. Non-academic work could be combined with our  teaching duties to create full-time positions with contracts and healthcare. We don’t always have to be tenure-track professors with a private office. Just a full-time job would be nice. Yes, maybe we would be considered over-qualified to do clerical work, but I doubt we would turn it down in order to get a full-time, permanent, benefitted position. We have paid our dues!” said Corcoran.

 

Fairness for adjunct professors has become a hot-button issue between state lawmakers and advocates for change; specifically, The Massachusetts Teachers Association (MTA) and the Massachusetts Community College Council (MCCC).

 

Jerome Fallon, Adjunct in Global Studies, said, “You only convene for 16 classes maximum so it is vital to get to know your students quickly. Reach people immediately on a personal and respectful level from the beginning. For me, it is not about me instructing the student  it is about us finding a way to succeed as a two person team. With 30 or so students, that’s 30 teams you need to try to create. It’s time consuming and requires effort but it also portrays to the student that you are committed.”

 

“The disadvantage is not getting classes that work with your other jobs, inconsistency with course availability, never getting to teach those courses that you love and are actually better suited for, losing the money we rely on, and the constant wonder if you will always be adjunct. But a big disadvantage to me is when students ask me at the end of the semester and even years later ‘What courses are you teaching next semester? What else can I take with you?’ It is sad that I can never answer them, and it breaks my heart,” said Corcoran.

 

“I think there are varied types of adjuncts so they cannot be stereotyped as one group. There are those who want to be involved in the school and students and those who just want to teach a course without further interaction. Each person has their own schedule and style of interaction,” said Mark Beaudry, an adjunct for the Department of Behavioral Sciences.

 

Fallon said, “I love being around the academic atmosphere. I enjoy the fact that people are trying to improve themselves through education and am genuinely grateful to be part of that process. A disadvantage is that I do not get to do it enough. I have decades of industry experience to share and would love to find other avenues besides the classroom to make that happen. With the help of the department staff, I’m starting to make some progress.”

 

Another glaring difference for an adjunct professor is their lack of accessibility for students who may be seeking extra help. Full time professors also serve as advisers and they have the opportunity to develop a bond with students. The MTA website states that, “Higher ed faculty members see this as a significant issue because establishing such connections can contribute to long-term success — and at times may determine whether a student remains in school.”

 

Angel Baez, a 20 year old Liberal Arts Major, said,  “Limited office hours hurt students ability to flourish and get the help they need to do so. A lot of adjunct professors have a lengthy commute, and therefore limits their time on campus. Which in turn reduces or eliminates their office hours due to the excessive inconvenience.”

 

Technology is a definite aid to adjuncts with little office time. Corcoran said, “I do believe adjuncts are able to give a more personal level of detail because we simply have less students. I feel I can get closer to them because I can spend more time with each one in and out of the classroom, can get to know them, their purpose, goals and reason for being there and how that relates to the course I am teaching. I can answer emails with more detail, and discuss with them in person before and after class with a little more ease. As a core subject instructor, I simply have more time to explain where my course falls in the real world, their formal education, and why it is so important to finish it. Even if they hate every minute of it.”

 

“Holding office hours is a little difficult when I have to travel between the two campuses with only a short amount of time between classes. I often will arrive before class when possible or stay later when necessary.” said Boylan.

 

“I feel that adjuncts have much passion about their discipline and share their entire life experience with students, which provides a true global perspective. So, they should be compensated based on the education, experience and creative development skills that they bring to the classroom. Because I bring international experience and a theoretical perspective to the classroom, students have an appreciation for the real concepts being taught,” said Beaudry.

 

“I am just as much a student in my classroom as the students are (but) in different ways. It’s a cliche, but I do learn a lot from them,” said Corcoran. “My role is to facilitate the interchange of ideas, and make them comfortable in doing so and to make them understand the value in those ideas and how to apply them in the outside world.

 

All of this is not to say that college campuses are the only place where employees are exploited. On the contrary, there are quite a few industries that rely on sub-contractors to do much of the work, but the inequality between the adjunct professors and the full-time, union protected faculty is undeniable and is likely to remain that status quo for the foreseeable future.

 

In 2009, the MTA, the MCCC and five professors, including NECC professor Patrick Lochelt, filed suit against the state seeking health insurance coverage for adjunct professors, but they were unsuccessful. Health insurance costs are soaring throughout the country but it is particularly noteworthy in Massachusetts, where health insurance is mandatory. This forces the adjunct professors to make hard budgeting decisions that can negatively impact their quality of life.

 

Fallon said, “Having access to healthcare would be great, but it does not look like it is going to happen.  I know the union is working diligently on behalf of all faculty and I confess to not knowing as much as I should about the negotiations. It’s probably best that I do not comment on things I do not know anything about, unlike some presidential candidates.”

 

“Healthcare is a nightmare. But adjuncts do have an office! I call it the ‘Dorm-Office,’ as it is like a quad in that it has many desks. No parties though. Or none that I have been invited to,” Corcoran said. “I have often said that if we really figured out our true hourly wage, we would be better off at Walmart with healthcare and a set schedule. I think the hardest part is coming to the realization that it is what it is, and will probably always be so.”

 

According to Fallon, one improvement might be to have additional training options available for IT topics for adjuncts. “I get great support when I call in to the tech groups, but it would be ideal if there was someone there at night who I could visit to learn the nuances.” said Fallon.

 

“They (the part-time instructors) are going to get a 4 percent raise in January. It’s up to the college to pay that 4 percent raise, but I’ll also say that the part-time instructors here are largely a cash cow in that you only have to have eight or nine in a class to pay the paycheck of that instructor,” LeBlanc said.

 

He said that he would like to think that there isn’t any friction between the full and part timers, but that they live a precarious life where they can never really guarantee what their income will be, because when budgets are cut, the adjunct contracts are the first to go.

 

“These are a couple of points of great shame, I think. This state, with its reputation of having great higher ed, has this underclass of workers that they choose to exploit and it needs to end,” said LeBlanc.

Campus Life, Features

NECC Haverhill Transfer Day

 

Northern Essex hosted its annual transfer fair on Wednesday, Oct. 14.

Rosalie Catalano, transfer and academic advisor at NECC, says that the event was held in hopes of drawing in a crowd of at least 100 students for the 58 colleges in attendance. This year they exceeded 100 attendees and it drew a crowd twice the size of last year’s.   NECC holds the fair to bring representatives from four-year schools all over New England to campus to answer students’ questions and concerns.  Justin Anderson, academic advisor for University of Massachusetts Boston in Allston, Mass., said he fielded questions about online courses, tuition and housing.  Alexandra Parker, assistant admissions director at Emerson College in Boston, said that most students came to her table seeking information on programs. She said she picked and champions Emerson because of the “opportunities” on and off campus and the scholarships they offer.  Emily Buckow, academic advisor from Curry College in Milton, Mass., said that students who came over to her table asking about the programs they offer. There are 21 total programs to choose from at Curry. They handle anywhere from 350 to 400 transfers every year.

“It’s great to have a conversation with the students,” said Buckow of her fondness of college fairs. Buckow noted that she could not speak for the other representatives, but said that she is a “direct connection” for students in the transfer process.

Kristopher Schooner, second-year Theater major, is looking at “so many places.” Among his picks are New York University-Tisch, Boston Conservatory, University of New Hampshire, Plymouth and Emerson.

“It is definitely difficult,” said Schooner about transferring as a Performing Arts major. Schooner explained that not all conservatories accept all transfer credits. He never thought he would have started out at a community college but after being declined from 14 colleges out of high school, his high school management teacher gave him college vouchers. Schooner spent a semester at Manchester Community College but was unhappy and unfulfilled with the lack of a performing arts program. Last January, Schooner said he had an “a-ha!” moment that led him to NECC.

“The performing arts classes here help me build on my skills,” said Schooner, who hopes to get all of his general education classes out the way before transferring. His only worry: “Is this program going to adequately prepare me for moving to New York to be a performer?”

“I feel like I’ve been redoing senior year of high school,” said Schooner, “with a college course load.”

Nina Cabral, third-year Dance major, was a little disappointed when she attended the college fair.

“None of the schools have dance programs,” said Cabral, who spoke to representatives at UNH, Dean College and Salem State but wasn’t floored by any of their propositions. Her eye is set on University of North Carolina School of Arts. She said she’s auditioned there before and gotten in twice. When she goes out on her auditions, she makes sure to check all the boxes including “school opportunities” because she doesn’t want to miss out on anything.

Cabral said, “I have to stop limiting myself to my zipcode,” and decided she will be applying to Juilliard and Boston Conservatory along with UNCSA.  Cabral, who was homeschooled until college, has never applied to a four-year school before. She worries about her credits transferring and having to be in school for too much longer.

“I’m doing something, but I’m wearing a blindfold,” she said of the application process and the accompanying uncertainty.

Rami Saleh, second-year computer engineering major, is a student taking advantage of MassTransfer to UMass Lowell.  Saleh moved to America in November of 2013 from Lebanon. After transferring his life from one country to another, Saleh thinks transferring schools should be “so easy.”

“I went to one school in Lebanon,” said Saleh who was new to the concept of different grade level schools when he moved to America. He chose UMass Lowell for its convenience. For all other students, like Schooner and Cabral, concerned with transfers, Catalano said, “We are constantly tweaking to make sure that things transfer.”

Features

Curly Hair is Back

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After years of grueling hair-straightening regimens, NECC students are saving precious time by unplugging their flat-irons and embracing their natural curls.

“I save at least an hour when I wear my hair curly,” said NECC student Ana Guerra. “I would have to straighten it the night before and then re-straighten some of it in the morning.”

NECC student Constantine Photis fully supports his classmates to go natural. “If you were born with curly hair that conforms to the rest of your head and body, let it be curly. Just let it be,” he said.

Hairstyle trends seem to have a major shift every decade or so, making it difficult for some to give up their beloved mullets, poufy bangs or faux-hawks. However, today’s college students are on the cusp of an “anything goes” time for hair.  The ’70s gave us the feathered look of teen idol David Cassidy and Cher’s iconic, pin-straight look which was almost impossible to achieve at home — unless you trusted a family member to literally iron your hair on the ironing board in the kitchen. Keep in mind that the styling tools we use today were not stocked at the corner store.  By the end of the ’70s, the unisex Afro became a popular and highly sought after style. However, unless you were born with natural curls, the methods used to create the look were a lot more dangerous than a hot metal plate and involved strong chemicals.

Ah, yes. The perm. Although the wife of inventor Charles Nessler often had her hair accidentally burned off by his early, failed attempts, his cold-wave method for permanently altering the hair was a major trend throughout the ’80s (especially for “hair bands” like Bon Jovi) and is still used today.  Although Jon Bon Jovi’s music career survived the ’90s and beyond, perms started to fizzle out and with the release of 1995’s movie Clueless. Actress Alicia Silverstone had young women chasing after smooth, straightened locks. This trend that lasted 20 years and is finally on its way out.

Unfortunately, the media has had a tremendous influence on how people style their hair. NECC student Bianca Mercado is proud to wear her naturally curly on campus but has experienced emotional distress in the past over having curly hair due to constant images of smooth-haired “beauty” flooding TV and movie screens. “I was always so concerned with fitting in,” said Mercado.

Whether you feel that you need an invitation or not, with trendsetting celebrities like Beyoncé and Bradley Cooper showing us their au natural selves, some may find it easier to try to new things.  Professional hairstylist Jess Hamilton of Haverhill offered some helpful tips for students who want to sport their naturally curly hair on campus.

“Moisturizing products are essential for eliminating frizz and you’ve got to trim those ends at least every six weeks,” she said.

 

Features

Student Leader Conference

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Student Leaders from across Mass. and N.H. gathered at the Four Point Sheraton in Wakefield on Oct. 15 and 16 for the Community College Student Leaders Association

Conference. The theme of the conference was “Recipe for Success,” with Johnny “Cupcakes” Earle as the keynote speaker. Earle is the owner of a popular Johnny Cupcakes brand T‐shirt line. Earle spoke about how he started his business sense when he was a young child, all the way up to the success of his T‐shirt line that is popular worldwide.

Cupcakes said, “The best advice I can give you is to be original and give out gifts at your events.” He also suggested that students hit up local business because they love to advertise without having to pay for it.

Jasmine Polanco, a Criminal Justice major, introduced Earle and was shocked by how funny he was. Polanco said, “He has a great sense of humor. As soon as I met him, he played a trick on me.”

As the conference progressed, the students were given the options of two seminars to attend. They could choose from “Financial Advising,” “Ice Breakers” and “Am I Listening?,” among others. In the “Financial Advising” seminar, students listened and spoke about ways of managing their money as they get older. In the “Am I Listening?” seminar students learned about what it is to actively listen.

Nate Miller, a Theatre major, said, “The ‘Ice Breakers’ seminar really helped me to come out of my shell for the rest of the conference. I started to talk to everyone and made so many new people from across the area.” Miller was spotted talking to many people. Students were heard saying, “He is so nice, what a friendly guy.” Miller said, “I really enjoyed the conference. It boosted my confidence.”

After the seminars ended, the student leaders were treated to a dinner. They had a short awards ceremony to honor some of the student leaders who have went above and beyond their call of duty. One of the recipients started a laptop fund for students who could not afford a laptop.  The student leaders were then entertained all night with many different activities.  Karaoke and dancing were the most popular.  Polanco and Miller did a “Frozen” duet together. They had the entire crowd watching. Victoria Gonzalez, a Business Management student, said, “I could not help but smile when they were singing their song. Everyone started to sing right along with them.”

The next day encompassed the closing ceremonies, where Earle arrived to speak again. He reinforced his early message about making events exciting and how, according to his experience, a “recipe for success works.” Earle let students know that anything is possible, and that anything can be successful just by having fun.  Students got together to do a civic engagement project. They created blankets for cancer patients at a local hospital. The blankets were created with only two large pieces of fabric and a pair of scissors. They made a few cuts, tied some knots and the blankets were done. They created 54 blankets in total as a group.

Campus Life, Features

NECC Students Make Road Trip out of College Visit

 

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| NECC Observer
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: New College of Florida in Sarasota and Eckerd College in St. Petersburg. “I was inspired to go on the trip for a couple of reasons, most important being that I watched my sister visit her number one choice for transfer and hate it earlier this year,” she said.

The three friends decided to make stops at several different places on the way to Florida, including Washington D.C. “Tarah figured she had to make the trip down to the schools anyways, so why not make it into something fun, like a bonding experience for a couple of her close friends?” said Doyle, a sophomore studying theater at NECC. It took them six days to get to the first college, and they slept in MacGregor’s car at night.

A lot of the highlights of their trip occurred on the way down. They visited the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, Freer Museum, and Edgar Allan Poe Museum. They also stopped in Savannah, Georgia, and went to the Coastal Georgia Botanical Gardens. Moon, a theater major in her seventh full time term at NECC, described them as “breathtaking.”

The three students had one last adventure in Florida, at St. Petersburg Beach, which Doyle described as “really spectacular.”

“There were actually four dolphins that were about 10 feet away from us. I initially thought it was a shark. . . I was like ‘Honestly, I’m not going to be a special on Shark Week,’ so I ran out of the water. Then as soon as I realized they were dolphins, I went back,” he said.

Their first college visit was at New College in Sarasota.

“I’ve been looking at New College for years now; it’s been my dream school,” said MacGregor. The college’s campus is actually the former estate of the Ringling brothers. “New College was very impressive. The campus is gorgeous. The admissions building is made of pink marble, set right on the bay. It was like a dream,” said Moon.

Despite New College’s charm, and MacGregor’s high expectations for the college, the students found themselves feeling much more enamored after leaving Eckerd College. “Honestly, I ended up hating New College. The campus was beautiful, but I couldn’t see myself there,” she said. “I was freaking out. I didn’t know a world where New College wasn’t my next step and I was terrified of letting that go. I didn’t even want to visit Eckerd the next day,” she said. Before visiting Eckerd, she didn’t know as much about what they offered and wasn’t nearly as excited about it as she was about New College. She decided to go because her mentors strongly encouraged her to and she trusted their advice. To her surprise, she ended up falling in love with Eckerd after only 5 minutes on the campus. “It felt like fate,” she said.

“Visiting Eckerd made me realize that one thing I really like about NECC is that it has a very holistic view of its students. They aren’t as rigid as other universities. Eckerd and Northern Essex kind of share that,” said Doyle. Eckerd appealed to Doyle because they don’t rule out students who may have a nontraditional path. Eckerd offers a program that, in a way, lets you build your own major. Basically, you work under an umbrella of a major and then work with an advisor to create a course load that’s more specifically aligned with what you are interested in. While Doyle is pursuing a theater degree, he also has many other interests, and wasn’t sure how he could incorporate them into one degree. “I realized that’s the kind of program I would like to go into, and had I not visited Eckerd, I don’t think I would have realized that’s what I needed,” he said.

Moon was also impressed with Eckerd. “I loved the community feel of the campus. I realized that the sense of close knit community feeling I have at NECC could be something I could find at Eckerd,” she said.

Reflecting on the experience, MacGregor realized that what a school’s website looks like is not indicative of how it will make you feel. “Nothing can measure comfort or community other than how you actually feel there, and that cannot be taken for granted,” she said.

Features

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 higher level by getting involved in activities that she is passionate about. Home-schooled until age 13, MacGregor loves science and travel. The latter passion drew her to Italy, Belize and Ecuador with the study abroad program, which is directed by professor Marcy Yeager.

“I’ve been on more trips with Marcy than any other student,” MacGregor laughed.

Besides annual international trips, MacGregor supplements her NECC education as the student ambassador for the honors experience. As such, she works closely with Honors Coordinator Ginger Hurajt, as well as all the other honors students, to help facilitate the most rewarding experience for everyone involved. McGregor has the outgoing personality needed to fill this role as the honors committee representative, and she infects those around her with positive energy.

The Honors Experience is designed to boost a student’s academic standing by allowing any class to be designated as an honors class with the completion of an additional project related to that subject. The project is self-directed, but must be approved by Hurajt and the class professor.

MacGregor stressed that while the project has to relate to the subject, there is a lot of freedom for a student to choose whatever might be interesting to them and relate it to the class material. The student works closely with the professor throughout the semester to develop a research paper and project that will be presented at the end of the semester to both the class and the honors board. The class then appears on the student’s transcript as an honors class. Along with two honors classes, the honor student will participate in a poster session, an honors colloquium and a service learning project.

MacGregor is very familiar with what it takes to successfully complete the program. She said that the requirements are not really overwhelming, but she recommends that people fulfill only one requirement per semester and spread it out over three semesters. She said, “I always tell people to work a couple of hours a week writing or researching, since they have the whole semester, and they will be fine.”

As an honors experience student herself, MacGregor has taken some of the honors colloquium classes. These are mixed-discipline classes, some of which repeat and others that are offered for only one semester, depending on student interest. MacGregor said that the classes that focus on composition and the sciences tend to be well attended, including Women and Mythical Literature, taught by Hurajt. Other classes which heavily examine issues of philosophy and psychology — such as The Pursuit of Happiness and Searching for Euphoria — may only draw a handful of students and run for one semester only.

“It’s important for new students to find out about (the Honors Experience) right away,” said MacGregor. “Some will only be here for four semesters, and they need three of them to complete this.” The completion rate for students taking two or more honors requirements in the same semester are significantly lower. “Maybe only about 40 percent,” MacGregor said.

Scholarships are among the benefits of completing the program, as is guaranteed acceptance into the honors program at any Massachusetts university when transferring. Honor scholars have their own lounge on campus with a computer and printer and they receive special recognition at graduation.

More information about the Honors Experience can be found at www.necc.mass.edu/academics/enrichment/honors/, or you can visit their Facebook page at Northern Essex Community College: Honors Experience. Messages left on that page will be directed to Hurajt or MacGregor. For more information about the study abroad program, go to www.necc.mass.edu/academics/enrichment/study-abroad/ or contact Marcy Yeager, myeager@necc.mass.edu.