Grace Young doesn’t just want you to be successful at Northern Essex Community College. She wants you to successfully transfer into a bachelor’s program, perhaps a master’s program, and finally a rewarding career.

As dean of academic support services, articulation, and transfer, Young is tasked with helping you plan your future. She sees to it that potential and current students continue to uncover the very best version of themselves through higher education.

She guides students through the process of transferring to one of the dozens of public and private colleges and universities that have transfer agreements with Northern Essex.

“My favorite things to do are advocate for students and forge pathways for them to reach higher by transferring after they have attended Northern Essex,” she says. “The more education one has, the more opportunities one has for moving up the socioeconomic ladder.”

Young isn’t shy about using herself as an example and inspiration when engaging the students. A former police officer, deputy sheriff, and U.S. Marshall, Young is no nonsense when it comes to a student’s future. She has, as they say, walked the walk. A native of St. Ann, Jamaica, West Indies, she attended Delmar Community College in Texas, transferred to Texas A & M University in Texas where she earned her bachelor’s in psychology. She completed her master’s in occupational social work at Syracuse University.

While her accomplishments have been many, Young shares with students that she was once placed on “academic suspension” and had a “journey back to grace”.

“They then understand why I do what I do and why education is so important,” she says. “In my role, engaging students is easy for me. I treat them like family and identify with them, check in on them all the time…I assign them tasks to do that involve their future.”

Young warns them to never under estimate the integrity of the education they will receive at a community college.

“My foundation was at a community college…that foundation carried me through Syracuse University,” she says.

For more information on transferring visit the transfer student guide page or contact the NECC academic advising office at 978-556-3440.