MWCC News & Events: What's Up at the Mount

MWCC's weekly e-newsletter

Friday, Aug. 18, 2006

MWCC TO DEDICATE LIBRARY TO LEO AND THERESA LaCHANCE

By Kimberly B. Caisse

Leo and Theresa LaChance

The college will dedicate the Library to Leo and Theresa LaChance at a ceremony in the Library Tuesday, Aug. 22 at 3 p.m.

Leo LaChance, also the recipient of an honorary doctorate degree from the college in 2005, was the chair of MWCC Foundation’s “Where Learning Never Ends” capital campaign. The campaign raised nearly $4 million in two years. In addition, LaChance was one of the campaign’s four leadership donors.

“Leo and Theresa’s support of our work here is helping us prepare students to be successful in the 21st century,” said President Daniel M. Asquino. “I’m so proud we can honor them by making this important place—the library—theirs.”

The Garrison Center for Early Childhood Education, which will open in the fall, was the first project funded in part by the capital campaign. The campaign also will fund renovation of the library, the Center for Democracy and Humanity and student scholarships and childcare stipends.

For more information on the “Where Learning Never Ends” capital campaign, contact Darlene Morrilly, executive director of the MWCC Foundation, at (978) 630-9276 or dmorrilly@mwcc.mass.edu.

INCOMING MWCC STUDENTS HELP BUILD
HABITAT FOR HUMANITY HOME IN FITCHBURG

By Kimberly B. Caisse

About two dozen incoming students spent today helping to build the Habitat for Humanity home at 192 Leighton St. in Fitchburg as part of the college’s second Summer Leadership Camp.

Interim Vice President of Academic Affairs Pete Trainor (left) and Vice President of Student Services and Enrollment Management Ann McDonald help new student Jared Wilson move rocks.

The goal of this two-day camp was to offer new students an opportunity to get the most out of their college experience, develop leadership skills and learn the benefits of being involved in their college community. Helping with the Fitchburg home introduced the students—who live as close as Fitchburg and as far as Sturbridge—to the college’s civic engagement initiative. MWCC students have given more than 7,000 hours of community service in the North Central Massachusetts region.

Research shows that the more students are actively engaged in college co-curricular activities the more likely they are to reach their academic goals.

On the first day, Thursday, Aug. 17, students met MWCC alumni, learned about each other, time management skills, college student clubs, service-learning projects, the college’s academic and student services, and much more. On the second day at the Habitat home, students cleaned the cellar to prepare it for insulation installers, moved deck supplies closer to the house, moved soil on part of the yard to prepare it for landscaping, moved numerous rocks and dug in part of the yard to find the end of a drainage pipe.

Habitat for Humanity construction manager Frank Woods led their efforts. “I want you all to sweep this,” he said, pointing to soil piled along curbing across from the house. “Then when it rains Sunday, we won’t have to dig it out of the catch basin.”

New student Sara Brisbois puts a rock on a hill outside the Habitat for Humanity home.

Pete Capone, who is majoring in criminal justice, said he signed up for the camp because he thought it would be fun. “I also want to be a leader at the college,” he said.

Miranda Monahan, a general studies major, said her mother signed her up for the camp while she was in Canada recently. “I learned a lot, like about how there are different personality types and how you have to learn to work with different types of people,” she said about the camp’s first day.

As she took a break from throwing rocks on a hill outside the Habitat home, Monahan said, “It’s nice to be helping and involved in things.”

The Leighton Street home is being built for a mother with two children.

To learn more about MWCC student programs, contact Director of Student Life Greg Clement at (978) 630-9547 or gclement@mwcc.mass.edu.

To learn more about this project, visit www.ncmhabitat.org.

MWCC FOUNDATION NAMES KIMBERLY BLANCHARD
2006 CITIZEN OF THE YEAR

By Kimberly B. Caisse

MWCC Foundation, Inc. will honor Kimberly Blanchard of Ashburnham, an active volunteer in North Central Massachusetts, as the 2006 Harold E. Drake Jr. Citizen of the Year Award recipient at the Annual Foundation Dinner Thursday, Sept. 28 at the Colonial Hotel in Gardner. Outstanding MWCC students who receive Foundation scholarships will also be honored.

“I’m delighted that we are honoring Kimberly Blanchard as this year’s Citizen of the Year,” said President Asquino. “Her work in our communities serves as a great example for our students to find ways to volunteer their skills to benefit others.”

Raised to embrace volunteerism, Blanchard currently serves as a volunteer photographer for the Multi Service Center in Leominster and on its board. She also volunteers to create and give multimedia presentations for ARC Community Services in Fitchburg.

Blanchard, a graduate of Applewild School in Fitchburg, is chair of Applewild’s Alumni Council, a member of the Applewild Board of Directors, a member of its Development Committee, a member of its Board of Visitors and a library volunteer. She participated in the school’s Head of School Search Committee last year. She also lends the school her photography and slideshow presentation skills.

Blanchard helped to facilitate a partnership between Applewild and ARC in which ARC clients visit Applewild to spend time with their Applewild third-grade buddies, and while there, collect paper for recycling. In addition, she has enjoyed many hours helping out with the school’s second-grade community service program at The Highlands in Fitchburg.

She also serves on the board of Oakmont Pop Warner Football and Lawrence Academy’s Board of Visitors.

In addition, Blanchard has served on the boards of ARC and the United Way of North Central Massachusetts, as well as on the Fitchburg Art Museum’s Education Committee. She was the chair of the Multi Service Center’s 2005 annual fund. Blanchard has given her time to the United Way’s Tocqueville Events Committee, Leadership Committee as vice chair, Day of Caring Committee and Day of Caring Committee as co-chair.

Blanchard is a graduate of Amherst College and the University of Florida, College of Law. While living in Florida, she volunteered for AIDSHelp, which provided assistance to AIDS victims in Key West, Fla., Greyhound Rescue, KidsFest and Reef Relief.

To attend the dinner, contact Diane Hamilton at dhamilton@mwcc.mass.edu or (978) 630-9387. Tickets are $75 per person. The event begins at 5:30 p.m.

BILL SHORE TO BE KEYNOTE SPEAKER AT COMMUNITY BUILDERS CONFERENCE ON CREATING CHANGE

Community Builders, a partnership between the college, the United Way of North Central Massachusetts and Ashoka: Innovators for the Public, will host a conference on creating positive social change Thursday, Sept. 27 from 7:15 a.m. to noon at the Four Points Sheraton in Leominster.

Bill Shore

The half-day program, “Together, We’re Better: Creating Change 2006,” is designed for nonprofit, civic and business leaders, or anyone who is interested in driving positive social changes in their community, according to Karin Oliveira, coordinator of Community Builders.

Bill Shore, who founded Share Our Strength in response to the Ethiopian famine, will be the featured presenter. His organization has raised more than $190 million to support more than 1,000 anti-hunger, antipoverty groups worldwide. Two of Shore’s books, “The Light of Conscience” and “The Cathedral Within,” detail how individuals can make the most of their life and create something that endures.

In addition, four workshops will be held: Effective Practices in Neighboring, Best Practices/Trends in Workplace Volunteer Programs, Successful Business- Nonprofit Partnerships: Delivering ROI and Change and Youth Service Models in Education. Participants will learn new techniques and methods to be more effective in collaborating to drive positive social change.

The cost of early registration is only $25 per person. After Wednesday, Sept. 13, registration will be $30. Scholarships are available. The registration fee includes breakfast, program materials and a copy of Bill Shore’s book “The Light of Conscience.”

Individuals can find more information or register for the conference by visiting www.community-builders.net or by contacting Karin Oliveira at (978) 840-3221, ext. 201.

The event is being hosted by Community Builders and its corporate sponsors Bemis Associates, Unitil and Workers’ Credit Union.

MWCC AWARDED TRIO TALENT SEARCH GRANT

The college’s Education Talent Search program was awarded $310,454 by the TRIO Talent Search program of the federal Department of Education, the office of Senator Edward M. Kennedy recently announced.

Education Talent Search offers services to 600 area students, primarily in grades six through twelve. At least two-thirds must be income eligible and potential first-generation college students.

The primary goal of the Educational Talent Search grant is to help participants successfully complete middle and high school and enroll in college programs.

Middle and high school students from five local districts continue to receive support from MWCC staff. They are: Academy Middle School, B.F. Brown Middle School, Memorial Middle School and Fitchburg High School in Fitchburg; Gardner Middle School and Gardner High School; Samoset Middle School, Sky View Middle School, Southeast Middle School and Leominster High School in Leominster; and Murdock Middle/High School in Winchendon.

For more information, call (978) 630-9248.

More MWCC News:

 

• Register now for fall semester classes. They begin Tuesday, Sept. 6 at MWCC’s Devens, Gardner, Leominster and Orange campuses, and online. Choose from more than 40 degree and certificate programs. New programs beginning in the fall semester include Clinical Laboratory Science and the communications track of the Liberal Arts and Sciences degree. For more information and to register, contact the admissions office at (978) 630-9110 or admissions@mwcc.mass.edu.

• Pete Townshend’s “Tommy” continues to promise to be an electrifying evening of rock and roll on the Theatre at the Mount stage Friday, Aug. 18, Saturday, Aug. 19 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, Aug. 20 at 2 p.m. The classic ‘60s rock opera by The Who was translated to the stage by theatrical wizard Des McAnuff into a high-energy, on-of-a-kind theatrical event. “Tommy” is directed by Tara McRae with music direction by David Twiss and choreography by Chris Casello. Evening tickets are $18; matinee tickets are $15. For tickets and information, call the Theatre at the Mount box office at (978) 632-2403 or purchase tickets online at http://theatre.mwcc.edu. (Tommy contains adult themes and may not be appropriate for children.)

• The first reading and discussion in the “Let’s Talk About It: Jewish Literature, Your Hearts Desire” series, “Portnoy’s Complaint” by Philip Roth, will take place Wednesday, Sept. 13 from 6 to 8 p.m. in the MWCC Library. The other books that will be discussed in this series are: “The Little Disturbances of Man,” by Grace Paley, on Oct. 4; “A Simple Story,” by S. Y. Agnon, on Oct. 25; “The Lover,” by A. B. Yehoshua, on Nov. 15; and “The Mind-Body Problem,” by Rebecca Goldstein, on Dec. 6. The readings and discussions throughout the fall 2006 semester will be free and open to public. For more information, contact Reference and Instructional Services Librarian Heidi McCann, the project director, at (978) 630-9125 or hmccann@mwcc.mass.edu.

• Do you have an idea for a new business or nonprofit organization? Do you want to start it in North Central Massachusetts? If you answered yes to these questions, now is your chance to turn that idea into a business plan for cash and other prizes. It’s all part of MWCC’s second annual Business Plan Competition. You’ll be among the group of innovators seeking to win up to $18,000 in cash and up to $10,000 in services to help you start a business or nonprofit in the region. Applications and final business plans are due Monday, Sept. 18. Semi-finalists, finalists and the grand-prize winner will be announced in November. Learn all the competition details and get an application at http://erc.mwcc.edu or call Lisa Derby Oden at (978) 840-3221 ext. 206.

• Theatre at the Mount will hold the new Young Actor’s Workshop for teenagers in grades 9 through 12 this fall. This program takes teens on their first steps toward stage stardom as they learn how actors begin with a script and end with the creation of the stage’s most memorable characters. Participants will explore acting methods, script and song analysis, audition techniques and scene work. Taught by Emily Ragusa, the workshop will meet on Wednesdays from 6 to 8 p.m. from Sept. 27 to Dec. 6. Registration is available at the MWCC Enrollment Services office, or contact Professor Gail Steele at (978) 630-9162 for additional information.