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Inspiring Student Success Through Aspirational Grant Awards

NSCC excels at providing a wide variety of support services students need to succeed: advising, financial aid, tutoring, counseling and emergency supports through its “Here to Help” program.

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I wanted to get ahead, so I enrolled in NSCC’s Early College program during my junior year at Lynn Technical Vocational Institute. The Early College program showed me that I could succeed as the first in my family to go to college. NSCC was the most affordable option after high school, and I always knew it was the smart choice to come here first and then transfer. Since graduating with my associate degree in 2019, I’ve been pursuing my bachelor’s degree in psychology at Salem State University, and plan to pursue a Ph.D. in clinical psychology.”

Belinda Miranda

EARLY COLLEGE STUDENT

Belinda is one of hundreds of North Shore area students whose college aspiration became a reality through NSCC’s Early College program. Partnering with underserved public school districts like Lynn, Revere, Peabody and Salem, the Early College program combines a traditional high school experience with the opportunity to earn significant college credit on an intentional academic and career pathway, in a rigorous and highly supportive environment, at no cost to the students. Early College boosts college completion rates for low-income students, minority students, and first-generation college-goers by exposing students to college-level work and different career pathways before they graduate high school. The Early College courses are designed to fulfill high school graduation requirements and award college credit. In 2019, the seven-year Early College partnership between NSCC and the Lynn Public Schools was approved as a Designated MA Early College Program by the MA Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. The prestigious designation includes a $140,000 implementation grant. In addition, a $600,000 grant award from the Richard and Susan Smith Family Foundation affirms the potential for the NSCC/LPS Early College partnership to move the needle on increasing college access for high school students and will provide the resources to allow the partners to move from theory to practice.

Mbuaya Kalemba

GRADUATION MAY 2018

An outstanding class of TRIO grads celebrate after Commencement. “ It’s been extremely hard. Sometimes I wanted to give up, but my parents NSCC AWARDED $2,843,430 TO HELP LOW-INCOME, told us education is very important. I am determined to go to school against FIRST-GENERATION, AND all odds, because I’ve been given a STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES chance and an opportunity to carry on. SUCCEED IN COLLEGE Actively participating in the TRIO proNSCC students who are low income, first genergram was key to my success.” ation (those whose parents do not have a fouryear college degree) or students with disabilities will benefit from a federal Student Support Services (SSS) grant award of $2,843,430 over five years, or $568,686 per year, from the U.S. Department of Education. NSCC has received federal funding for its SSS program since 1971, which has allowed the college to serve tens of thousands of students.

“Research on SSS programs shows that students participating in the program are retained at a significantly higher rate than non-SSS students. In other words, TRIO Works! Annually we see what the program does in terms of creating student success, building student leaders and transforming student’s lives. At NSCC, TRIO students are frequently Commencement speakers, heads of student government, clubs and honor societies,” said Dr. Nate Bryant, NSCC Interim President.

NSCC PROMOTING COLLEGE COMPLETION THROUGH PRIOR LEARNING ASSESSMENT

Statistics show that, regionally, 90,000 adult residents have some college but no degree, including incumbent and underprepared and underserved workers. Through funding from the Essex County Community Foundation, NSCC is leading a new consortium to create pathways for local residents and students to earn college credit based on knowledge and skills they’ve learned on the job or in life, saving them time and money.

The Northeast Regional Prior Learning Assessment Consortium (NERPLAC) is a partnership between Endicott College, Gordon College, Middlesex Community College, North Shore Community College, Northern Essex Community College, Salem State University, UMASS Lowell, Merrimack College, NSWIB/CC, Merrimack Valley WIB/Valley Works CC, Greater Lowell WDB/CC, Advances Learning Center, Wellspring, Inc., LEO, Inc., and Action, Inc.

NERPLAC promotes and increases the use of Prior Learning Assessment (PLA) as a strategy to boost college completion, strengthen professional skills for higher paying jobs in regional growth industries, and engender engagement in lifelong learning.

NSCC RECEIVES $2.248M TITLE III GRANT

A $2.248 million Title III Strengthening Institutions grant from the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) will allow North Shore Community College (NSCC) to address student retention and completion rates. Funding will allow for the creation of a Pathways to Success program, which will significantly integrate technology and academic programming to provide students with the tools they need to achieve their career goals in their chosen academic pathway. The five-year grant is one of only three DOE grants given in Massachusetts, and the only one awarded to a community college.

“Title III is a transformative program which will inject significant resources to enable NSCC to better support student persistence and completion efforts. Students will be empowered to utilize a variety of resources to succeed,” said NSCC Interim President Dr. Nate Bryant.

Jim Skelly had almost 25 years of experience in the IT field when he began looking into a CYBER SECURITY DEGREE PROGRAM. A professor mentioned that he could receive credit for prior learning and experience.

“A lot of the material in the classes covered what I already knew. As long as I showed competency, I was able to get credit for it. PLA opens up more compelling career options and getting the degree will further my career.”

GE FOUNDATION SUPPORTS NORTH SHORE ADVANCED MANUFACTURING TRAINING

Building a diverse, well-trained workforce that will accelerate advanced manufacturing on the North Shore is the goal of a $2.5 million grant from the GE Foundation. Funding will create the Advanced Manufacturing Training Expansion I saw a flyer on the wall with the Tech Hire machining program outlined, and since I’d been a machinist years ago back “ Program (AMTEP) in Lynn and Massachusetts’ North Shore, an initiative to address the region’s in the 80’s I thought, why not give it a try. I was with a group of skills gap by supporting and coordinating wonderful men and women of all ages and ethnicities who technical training for residents while meeting all seemed to want what I wanted, a decent job, with decent the talent needs of manufacturing employers. wages that will put food on our tables, pay our bills and provide AMTEP will prime high school students from a promising future. Some were young kids just starting out in Lynn Vocational Technical Institute, Essex life, others were established professionals, some even engineers, North Shore Agricultural & Technical School, looking for a change. I’m highly doubtful “this guy” will spend and Gloucester High School, as well as support underemployed, unemployed and underrepanother sleepless night not knowing whether or not he’ll be resented adults such as veterans, minorities able to get a decent paying job.” and women, to enable diverse community members to enter the advanced manufacturing Peter McCarty workforce. NSCC will offer foundational literacy 2019 MACHINING TRAINING PROGRAM GRADUATE ACCEPTED and mathematics training to better prepare INTO THE GE APPRENTICE PROGRAM adult learners for the program.

“Tackling the skills gap in industries like advanced manufacturing is key to ensuring that the Commonwealth’s economy continues to grow, our residents continue to find great jobs, and our employers find the workers they need,” said Secretary of Housing and Economic Development Mike Kennealy.

A proud class of graduates celebrate their accomplishment for completing NSCC’s Advanced Manufacturing Machinist Training program with NSCC and community leaders and faculty.

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