On September 17, 2006, Northern Essex Community College celebrated the 239th anniversary of the signing of the United States Constitution. Held outside in the quad of the Haverhill campus, the event hosted by Political Science professor, Seth Ridinger, in collaboration with the Liberal Arts Division, brought together students, faculty, and staff for a commemoration of the historical event that ultimately led to the formal union of the colony states and eventually the United States of America that we know today. Prof. Ridinger’s opening remarks invited us all to contemplate the power of the Constitution and its guarantee of protection of rights to all citizens. This year’s Constitution Day celebration was punctuated with a dramatic reading of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights by NECC business major, Benjamin Swanney, who breathed into life a document most of us have only ever read on paper. He read for over half an hour and kept us all in rapt attention.
Booklet copies of the Constitution were available for all attendees and any passersby to take, and there was a brief quiz for students to take for a chance to win a $25 Amazon gift card. Student Life provided pizza, popcorn, and snacks, which was a welcome addition to the day’s event.
Events like these enhance our college experience and allow us to connect with one another outside of the classroom. This event also provided opportunity to reflect on the Constitution and why it was written as it was -- as well as what it might mean to us today. The goals to form a more perfect union, to establish justice, to ensure tranquility, and to promote the general welfare remain valued pillars of our democracy, and ones each of us can embody or uphold in some way. The Constitution Day event was a great way to be reminded of the importance of coming together and for aspiring to make something better.