Students in NECC's 2012 Bridge Program with NECC Alum Francisco Urena, veterans service agent for Boston.

Running Monday, August 12 through Friday, August 23, the free program is designed to help ease students’ adjustment to college life and build a foundation for academic success. Participants will work on improving math and English language skills and be introduced to the resources available at Northern Essex.

“We want to provide incoming Latino students with a student success toolbox,” says Gisela Nash, NECC’s Title V director. “In addition to enhancing basic skills, we’ll cover note taking and study skills, stress and time management, and much more. When they start college in September, these students will be ready to hit the ground running.”

To be eligible for the program, students must be a 2013 Latino high school graduate with a 2.5 GPA or better and enrolled at NECC for the fall. The NECC Bridges Program is funded in part by a grant that NECC received from the United States Department of Education under the Title V Developing Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program and a Massachusetts Performance Incentive Fund grant.

These grants have allowed the college to enhance services currently offered through the One-Stop Career Planning and Advising Center (CPAC) at the college’s Lawrence Campus and to establish a multi-service Student Success Center that is addressing the retention needs of the most-at-risk students.

Applications for the program are being accepted at the NECC Student Success Center, 45 Franklin St., Lawrence.
For more information on the NECC Bridge Program, contact Gisela Nash, gnash@necc.mass.edu, 978 738-7413 or Niurka Aybar, naybar@necc.mass.edu, 978 738-7451.