NECC Liberal Arts: Theater student Kiara Pichardo

Kiara Pichardo says, for her, the two most significant locations on the Northern Essex campus are the 75-seat theater and the tutoring center. One has given her direction, and the other has helped her maintain that direction.

The 20-year-old Lawrence woman came to Northern Essex after graduating from Lawrence High School’s Performing & Fine Arts Academy in 2012. She was intent on majoring in photography.
That all changed the day her cousin convinced her to audition for a role in NECC’s production of The Beaux’ Stratagem. She walked away with the role of Cherry as well as the new-found knowledge that acting was her future. “I knew this was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.”

Finding her direction was one thing, following that direction another. The Queens, NY, native credits the tutoring center and the Pathways for Academic and Career Excellence (PACE) Program with helping her navigate her academics and manage her school life.
“I love this school,” she says. “It offers a lot of opportunities. If it wasn’t for the math center I never would have passed math,” she admits.

PACE was instrumental in providing workshops on time management, scholarship opportunities, and scheduling.
“They helped organize my class schedule so I would be on track to graduate in May,” she said.

Kiara says she speaks about the virtues of NECC to her friends, many of whom started at expensive private colleges and universities only to follow her to NECC.

“I tell them to come here and I am always sure to mention the writing and math centers and all the help that Nothern Essex offers its students,” she says.

She hopes to transfer to Fitchburg State University in the fall of 2015 to study communications media with a theater concentration.