Tag Archives: Profile

News

Alzheimer’s Angels

 

NECC student Robert Scarelli and his sister Casey are on a mission to fight Alzheimer’s. He founded a facebook page and twitter dedicated to “Alzheimer’s Angels,” a fundraiser similar to the ALS ice bucket challenge.

“We came up with the idea that differentiates us from the ice bucket challenge where it’s like more of a summer thing,” said Scarelli.

The Alzheimer’s Angels facebook page, located at facebook.com/alzheimersangels, says, “simply get outside take a picture or video of you making a snow angel and nominate five friends. If you do it we ask you donate $10 and if not $100! Have fun.”

“Participants in Alzheimer’s Angels make snow or sand angels when tagged,” said Scarelli. “We started doing the angels in the snow, but we think we can do it all year round because they can do it in the beach, in the sand and stuff. We’ve gotten people from California that we know who are doing the beach.”

“Me and my sister came up with this idea for Alzheimer’s because our grandmother currently has Alzheimer’s,” said Scarelli. We started seeing signs when she was 58 years old. And at the age of 60, when she was diagnosed, and now she’s 64, she needs around-the-clock care, so we started up this facebook page, which has got 336 likes over three weeks … and we started it up as awareness for Alzheimer’s to try to raise money for a cure.”

Links to donate can be found on the facebook page, as well as the twitter @angelsforalz

Features

Faces of the Sport and Fitness Center

 

Nodine Webster, a newcomer to NECC last semester, is a personal fitness major at NECC. She plans to transfer to Framingham State University once her time at NECC is done, and is passionate about both education and fitness. Webster started working at the Sport and Fitness Center last semester. “When I took the tour here, I just felt like it was a welcome environment, and I have always loved fitness even before coming here,” said Webster.
Webster’s job at the Sport and Fitness Center is part of NECC’s Work Study program. These jobs are great for students who want to get hands on experience in whichever field they are pursuing. Some of Webster’s duties while working in the Sport and Fitness Center include helping students who come in to exercise, computer skills, cleaning the machinery and equipment and making sure everything is organized. “It’s kind of like what you would actually do in an actual fitness center outside of school,” said Webster.
“A lot of people had asked me to help them and help them understand how to do a proper work out,” Webster said. “It allowed a lot of people to connect actually, it’s a great environment. Working with the people is my favorite part, the fitness to me is a no judgment zone — so you do what you want, and work out the way you want, and it works without people judging you.”
Webster is also the pitcher on NECC’s softball team, and the Sport and Fitness Center and work study program help her prepare for the upcoming season. “I come to the gym to train harder, and be prepared for this upcoming softball season, because I’ll be pitching. The program has been building, so I’m hoping to get a lot more fans,” said Webster.
The Sport and Fitness Center is open to all students for free. Joe Murach, a Physical Education major goes to the gym “just to get stronger,” he said.
Students of all different majors and with all different goals take advantage of the Sport and Fitness Center too. Ernest Ewusi, a radiology major, said “I’m just working on my soccer and parkour skills.”
The Sport and Fitness Center’s regular hours are Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Friday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. There’s a Boot Camp offered on Wednesdays at 1 p.m., Functional Movement classes on Thursday at 11 a.m., at 11am on Thursdays, and Cardio Boxing on Tuesdays at 4 p.m.

Arts and Entertainment, Features

Dancing with Nina Cabral

 

By Shaina Richards

With big brown eyes and a bright and bubbly personality, NECC dance major Nina Cabral easily grabs and holds her audience’s attention, even when she isn’t dancing. At only nineteen years old, Nina just started getting offers from dance companies in Boston and is going to perform as the lead in Slutcracker, a Burlesque version of the Nutcracker, at the Somerville Theater in early December.

Very petite, energetic, and always onto the next thing, Nina radiates confidence, especially when she dances. Nina is described by fellow dance member Zany Dwight, a freshman at NECC and fellow member of the dance club, as having “a quick wit and extremely talented, and never a show off, but carries herself in the beauty and grace of a good and genuine person.”

Even those who have only worked with Nina for a short amount of time are left with a positive impression as someone who is not only a success with their dancing career, but also with maintaining modesty and a real consideration for others. Zany also said, “she has become a person I look up to. She is totally herself and she is very accepting of others. She encourages me when we dance, even though she is obviously the shining star.”

Nina’s passion for dance started when she was 13 years old, and she has been in love with it ever since. Although she took classes when she was very small, she hardly remembered any of it.

“My older sister, who I looked up to, decided that dance was lame and so neither she nor I would be doing that activity anymore,” Nina said. “After my sister went to high school, I had a large chunk of time to figure out who I was as a person. I might have never started dancing had my older sister not gone to the public high school since I was very much living in her shadow.”

Now, Nina works every day to improve her dancing and intends to pursue a career in it.

From 2012-2013, Nina spend a year living in New York studying ballet at the Gelsey Kirkland Academy of Classical Ballet, which was great preparation for the upcoming roles she was able to land this year.

“It was a blast! I was in New York for a year, starting first with the ABT [American Ballet Theater] summer intensive and then the Bolshoi (a Russian ballet school) summer intensive,” Nina said.

She auditioned for the Gelsey Kirkland School during the summer intensives and got in. “I had to,” she said. “My dad told me that if I didn’t come back with anything that the summer was going to be my ‘last shebang’ with dance.”

After the year, she felt she had improved significantly. “Something I really enjoyed at my dance school, which was at the cross section of Canal and Franklin, was that one of the studios had a big window that overlooked the street. The street happened to be one that a tourist bus would ride on. Whenever the tourist bust would be at a red light people would gawk at us in amazement and take pictures. I really felt like I was doing it, like I was going somewhere with dance, but in reality I was still paying.”

Last year, a ballet company in Burlington put her on as an apprentice, and she performed for them. It was the first time she was considered part of a company. “I was so excited and happy about it that I cried,” she said. Looking back, she realized it wasn’t even a big company, and she wasn’t even assigned much work, but she was so happy that someone had recognized her work and wanted her. As an apprentice she had the advantage of getting to take free classes and improve her dancing.

This year, Nina also got the lead in the performance of Dracula as the character Wilhelmina. John Ling, who played the role of Dracula, described her as a “true treasure.”

“Working with Nina was a wonderful experience for me,” John said. “I have had numerous partners in the past, most good and some bad. I am happy to report that my experience with Nina was excellent. She is a talented dancer with much to offer anyone. She is considerate, sweet, strong and, most importantly, very humble.”

She was also invited to join two dance companies in Boston after attending the Boston Dance Alliance audition for Slutcracker. A friend of hers, who used to go to NECC, offered that Nina go with her to the audition. Although Nina initially questioned it because of its scandalous nature, she decided that she needed to put herself out there and give her dancing some exposure. “I can’t go anywhere if no one has seen me!” she said.

The BDA audition had different auditions for four different types of dance: ballet, modern/improv, hip hop and jazz. For the modern/improv audition, Nina decided to try something new and pulled her shirt over her head while walking on all fours. Although worried it might come across as silly, the judges apparently appreciated her spontaneity; she was just recently invited to join the Jo-Mé Dance Company and Rainbow Tribe.

“A really close friend of mine told me that everyone has special talents and they were given to us by a higher power for us to use, and if we don’t use what we are given we are pretty much letting the universe down,” said Nina.

Nina’s passion for dance has already taken her further than she ever would have believed, and she is excited to progress in her dancing career as she continues to study at NECC.

Features

Meet Phonnara Dy

 

By Eduardo Souza

Phonnara Dy sits with his laptop open and attentively listens to Professor Diann Cahaly’s biology lecture on cell structure. Dy’s laptop displays the day’s powerpoint presentation, his notebook is open, and he’s ready to take the day’s notes.

Dy is a 32-year-old resident of Lowell who moved from Cambodia in the winter of 2011. Soon after getting a job to support himself in this foreign place, he knew that if he wanted his life to get better he needed a degree. He then enrolled in Northern Essex with the goal of getting an Associate of Nursing degree.

“I really want to be a nurse,” Dy says.

Since Cambodian is vastly different from English, which isn’t his first language, Dy says he needs complete focus in class in order to learn the material.

“The language is really hard for me,” says Dy. “Sometimes I don’t understand what people are saying.”

Dy’s perseverance is evident to anyone who meets him. He not only works full-time, seven days a week, but is still taking fifteen credits this semester. He holds two jobs: one as a machine operator for Vicor Corporation; the other as a CNA for Atria Marland Place in Andover.

Dy has a passion for helping people and hopes to continue helping people as a nurse.

“As a CNA,” Dy said, “I help elderly people. I assist them. I give them medication.”

As a machine operator, he runs many different types of mechanisms.

As taxing as working and going to school in a foreign country is for Dy, his indomitable spirit perseveres and faces challenges head on.

“I work seven days a week,” said Dy. “But I also have to study, because only school can make my life better in the U.S.”

Dy said school is difficult sometimes because he works seven days a week and struggles to find the time to study. But somehow he makes it work.

Dy is trilingual. He not only speaks Cambodian and English fluently, but also French.

“In Cambodia, they teach us French and English,” said Dy. But the English they teach is British and different from the U.S.’s. “The English they teach sounds different from here. When I moved here, I had a hard time understanding people.”

Aaron Labrecque, a classmate of his majoring in physical education, is impressed by Dy’s dedication to school. “Phonnara is friendly and eager to learn,” said Labrecque. Labrecque said it’s amazing that Dy speaks three different languages.

Dy is currently in his fourth semester at NECC and close to getting his degree in nursing. But he also has another degree from Cambodia.

“I have a degree in finance and banking,” said Dy. “But it’s hard to get a job with my degree from Cambodia.”

With his finance degree in his native country, Dy worked as a project manager for Unicef where he wrote proposals and requested money from different organizations to fund Unicef’s projects. He hopes to use his experience as a project manager in this next step of his life.

When Dy came to the U.S. in 2011, he left all of his family back in Cambodia. His two parents and six siblings, five sisters and one brother, all live in Cambodia.

“My parents have their own business and they sell clothes materials,” said Dy. “One of my sisters has her own business. Two of my sisters are at the university for nursing back in Cambodia.”

Many of Dy’s siblings have their own businesses. But he still helps them whenever he can. Dy not only supports himself here, but also sends money to his family in Cambodia and helps support them as well.

According to Dy, there are vast differences between his home country and the U.S.

“To me, the biggest differences are language, weather, cultures, living styles and food,” he said.

Despite all the differences in culture, working two jobs and going to school full-time, living in a foreign place with no family nearby and all the hardships that this 32-year-old encounters daily, Dy still comes to every single class, asks questions when he doesn’t understand something, and gives his all in work and school every day.

Features

Mike Prescott, the Renaissance man

 

By Duane Sherman

Over the decades, NECC has seen many gifted athletes on it’s campus. To find one that also has the ability to sing and enjoys working with the homeless would be rare. It would make that individual a bit of a renaissance man. Meet 28-year-old Mike Prescott, who is from from North Andover.

Prescott is a man of many talents, and he shares them with all that come into contact with him.

When students pass Prescott in the halls, they have no idea that he is a gifted athlete with a shining past. He started participating in the Special Olympics at the young age of 5 years old. Since that time, he has taken home over 50 medals from the ceremonies. Prescott’s infectious smile shows his pride in winning all of them. He excels at relay races and track and field.

Prescott can also nail the 3-point basketball shots. It’s a specialty of his, and he has the gold, silver and bronze medallions to prove it. You can be certain that he keeps them all shined up.

“My participation in the games has made me happy and proud,” said Prescott. He found a girlfriend at the games as well.

Prescott is not a student of NECC, but rather a participant of a program called ‘Opportunity Works,’ that has a relationship with the college. The program helps to ready it’s participants for the real world, preparing them to understand it with real work experience.

The program allows the individual to assimilate easier into the daily tasks of life. Prescott is one of the standouts of ‘Opportunity Works.’

“This is a great fit for all of Mike’s potential,” said Jamie Nadeau, who serves as Project Search coordinator for the program. “This also helps to keep him in his peer group,” said Nadeau.

The program lasts 30 weeks, breaking individual assignments into three 10 week positions around the Haverhill and Lawrence campuses. Prescott’s first assignment was with campus security. There, he manned the security desk in the Spurk building and walked the beat of the parking lots, looking for offenders that had parked illegally, or were in a handicapped spot without a placard or proper license plate.

“Mike did an excellent job with us. He was very motivated. He just jumped right into it,” said Dan Tirone, Operations Commander for Public Safety on the NECC campus. “I wish all of my guys were as motivated as Mike.”

Prescott felt right at home in the ranks of security. He loves the law. In fact, two of his favorite shows are ‘Judge Judy’ and ‘Cops.’

When his time with security was up and he was ready for the next position, Prescott, a known prankster with a sense of humor, was given a special pizza party. The members of NECC security turned the tables and served him up a still wrapped, frozen pizza.

In all actuality, there was a stack of fresh hot ones in the next room for everyone to enjoy. Prescott felt like one of the guys and knew that they all appreciated what he had done for them.

The second assignment put Prescott in the middle of the food world, landing him a spot in Jitters Campus Cafe in the Spurk Building. This pleased him. If there is one thing that he knows, it’s his way around a kitchen.

“I’m into the culinary arts. It comes from watching Emeril Lagasse on the Food Network,” said Prescott. The TV chef brought some ‘BAM!’ into his life.

The previous program that Prescott was involved with allowed him to shop and cook for himself. Lobster, clams and scallops wrapped in bacon are on his list of seafood delights. He dreams of his own restaurant one day. Prescott has a strong enough work ethic to run one.

“I don’t sit around. I go to the cafe to work and I do whatever is asked of me,” said Prescott.

Chef Barry Towle, who is also the manager at Jitters, said, “Mike is a hard worker and he has a good head on his shoulders. He really tries at everything that comes his way.”

Previously, through the Opportunity Works program, Prescott has been able to serve meals to the homeless at an area Salvation Army shelter. This meant a lot to him. He takes great pride in his ability to serve his community in that manner.

“Mike is gracious and grateful for all that he has,” said Jamie Nadeau. “He is generous and was overjoyed to serve lunch to the homeless.”

Of course, it’s not all work for Prescott. He’s been to Fenway Park to see the Sox take on the Baltimore Orioles. That was a reward for setting a weight loss goal and achieving it. Prescott earns his way through life.

“It was incredible the first time that I walked into Fenway Park. I came up the cement stairs and there it was. It’s so big and green. I was happy that I got to see Big Papi play,” said Prescott.

A true sports fan, Prescott gets excited when he thinks about the giant confetti cannons at Gillette Stadium, where he saw his favorite player, Tom Brady play. He remembers the multicolored confetti raining down on him when Brady made a touchdown pass.

Prescott’s other hobby is something that he is equally as passionate about, music. A few years back, his mother and stepfather gave him one of his most cherished Christmas gifts. It was tickets to see the Backstreet Boys reunion show at Boston Garden. It even included a limousine ride to and from the show. He still glows when he discusses the evening out. It’s that infectious smile of his that sets you at ease.

“That was a once in a lifetime opportunity,” said Prescott.

Mike Prescott is not just an avid music listener, he is also a performer with a choral group called ‘Playing Among the Stars’.

“Mike thrives in the limelight,” said Nadeau. “He has no fear. He recruits others to learn about projects. He doesn’t mind speaking in public. Still, he is a sensitive individual.”

The group does performances on a regular basis. Prescott has been a member for the past 3 years and has taken part in many of the shows. The music ranges from Broadway hits to holiday music. They usually do the concerts with pre-recorded music, but have played with live musicians.

Nadeau said that Prescott will take away experience and a new found confidence when he completes the program.

“He will have made connections that could only be made here,” said Nadeau. She is uncertain where he will finish out his third 10 week assignment. He may serve it at the Lawrence campus. One thing is for certain, wherever and whatever that may be, Mike Prescott will do his best with a smile on his face.

Features, Lawrence

Meet the new library director

 

By Jessica Freeman

“There’s more paperwork now” jokes, Mike Hearn, the recently appointed Director of Library Services. Hearn said his job is now more administrative, and that he misses being able to work with students directly.

Hearn hopes to “rebrand” the library to be a more focus based experience. Hearn wants the school to have libraries that can help to meet the needs of students of NECC, whether they can spend lots of time on campus, or are more distant learners that need help even when they are off campus.

Hearn started as NECC’s Director of library Services over the summer on July 1. Before this, he worked as a librarian on the Lawrence campus for eight and a half years. When the Lawrence library staff was asked about their former colleague, they spoke fondly of working with Hearn and all agreed it was great that he was the director of library services now. The Haverhill Library staff was also enthusiastic about having a new director in charge of the library.

Hearn has a Bachelor of Arts in American/United States Studies from Washington College in Maryland and a Masters of Library and Information Sciences from the University of South Carolina.

Prior to working at NECC, Hearn also worked in college libraries at Daniel Webster College and University of South Carolina.

In his new role, Hearn recognizes the challenges of working at a community college in terms of being able to reach students, and said he “encourages students to stop in and find out everything [the library] has to offer.”

These services include access to books and DVD’s, online resources, access to research assistances to help students and being able to call or text for help, among other services.

Hearn has also helped staff that teach information literacy courses. Information literacy courses are now a requirement for all NECC students. Hearn and the other librarians have done their part to help by creating the Lib Guides that can be found on the library’s website and can help students research and evaluate sources.

As for new technology being introduced to the campus, Hearn said that students “may know that they can borrow books and DVD, but they might not know that they have access to over 3 million items” from other colleges through the NOBLE group, and that the library, “also provides many electronic sources of information, including almost 40,000 eBooks, hundreds of audiobooks, and streaming videos.”

Although, Hearn is proud of the many eBooks the library has collected, he knows there are still students who will always want a tangible, real book they can use.

Hearn is working with the Lawrence Campus to transform the library from a smaller space located in the basement to a library more accessible to students. Hearn says the college hopes to change the Lawrence library by “opening a new Information Literacy Lab on the Lawrence campus this fall, which includes a library instruction classroom and media viewing center for students.”

Hearn hopes this will help students to be able to get more directed, accessible, one on one services from the library. Hearn also said that, the library would offer the same academic technology assistance to students as in the other library.

In Hearn’s work with the library, he sees that his responsibilities are not only to his typical patrons of both students and teachers, but also that of the greater community. Hearn recognizes that the NECC libraries, play a unique role in the area by being somewhat of a public library to some residents in the communities in which the campuses are located.

It is clear that Hearn is passionate about his job of being the Director of Library Services at NECC, and despite his new projects and paperwork, Hearn is still all about wanting to help students learn and access information in the easiest way possible for them.

Interviews were conducted with Mike Hearn over email, and during an in person interview.

Features, Sports

Taylor Robin has her eyes on the prize

 

By Nicholas Mazzone

People hate working out, and can never keep up with it. They start working out and then quit a week after. What if the key to working out was social media? One fitness fanatic who uses social media to push her to keep working out and keep her eyes on the prize is Taylor Robin, a student at NECC. Taylor is fitness fanatic. She loves to working out and helping inspire people to do the same.

Robin grew up in Massachusetts her whole life. She was born on June 23, 1994 in Lawrence General with her two parents, Charlene and Tim Traynor from Methuen, Mass. She attended Timony Grammar School in Methuen, Mass.

While she was in middle school, she played softball, basketball, cross country, and she was also a cheerleader. She also did many other activities in middle school such as chorus and theater.

Robin graduated from middle school in 2008 and then attended Central Catholic High School in Lawrence, Mass. While she was there, she enjoyed making new friends and also played multiple sports. She was a three year varsity cheerleader for the Raiders. She then graduated from there in 2012 and started her transition from high school to college.

After high school, Robin decided to attend NECC to help her figure out what she wanted to do in life. She is currently a student studying multimedia and hoping one day to become a big time movie producer.

While attending NECC, Robin became a fitness fanatic and has fallen in love with working out. Working out makes her feel good and helps her motivate herself to become a better person.

“I work out to become a better person, and make myself grow and become a better individual,” said Robin.

Robin looks to friends and social media for motivation. The biggest part that helps her go to the gym every day is social media. Social media plays in a big role for Robin. She has been following fitness blogs for pretty much her whole life and has always thought it would be cool to have one of her own. So one day she decided to create one, to help her achieve her workout goals.

Robin started her blog to help her motivate herself and push her to workout. She posts pictures of her daily workout, the calories she burned and her time. She does this every day to help her motivate herself and show that people can do it if they put the work into it.

Chelsea Flanagan, a student at NECC, is Taylor’s best friend and always pushes Robin to go the gym. Robin works out every day with her friends Flanagan and Nodine Webster, another student at NECC. They run and do all their workouts together.

Flanagan loves how Robin posts her workouts to social media all the time. She feels inspired by her. Flanagan said, “by posting pictures on social media it helps inspire others and also helps you stay on track and finish your workout every day, social media is great for the fitness world.”

Social media has been benefiting fitness world for many years now. Many people now have blogs to help motivate people and push them to work out. Many people struggle with trying to work out every day, but if you log onto a social media site, there is plenty of inspiration all around.

“Seeing others post pictures helped me motivate myself to do the same,” said Robin.

Robin saw all her social media friends posting work out videos and pictures of all of them getting into shape and she thought, that can be her one day. She then decided to create an account on Instagram, in which people can follow her progress, and watch her workout.

Students can follow her progress on Instagram at @trobinfitness.

NECC student Connor Emo is impressed with Robin’s progress. He sees her in the gym an said, “she’s a hard worker, and she’s in the gym all the time.”

Social media is key to working out, according to Robin.