Klinbert Garcia was recently elected the student representative to the NECC Board of Trustees.

Klinbert Garcia of Methuen has been elected the student representative to the Northern Essex Community College Board of Trustees.

Born in the Dominican Republic, and raised first in New York and later Lawrence, where he learned and perfected his English by watching cartoons, Garcia is a 2014 graduate of Methuen High School. Following high school graduation, he enrolled in Northern Essex’s certificate in web design program. Garcia did so well, he decided to pursue an associate degree in communications. After watching his friend successfully launch a business, he too got the entrepreneurial bug and enrolled in NECC’s business transfer program, where he has consistently made the dean’s list and currently holds a 3.6 GPA.

The 19-year-old is scheduled to graduate from NECC in May 2017 and hopes to transfer to UMass Boston where he will study business management.

Garcia has been an active member of NECC’s campus life, participating in the Pathways to Academic and Career Excellence (PACE) Program, the internship program, the President’s Running Club, the executive committee, the student leadership development program as well as the “Invest in College Success,” a financial literacy pilot program, and NECC’s Speechapalooza, an NECC podcast that celebrates and explores public speaking and free speech. He is also a member of the Guerrilla Society of Lawrence, a slam poetry group. In addition, Garcia has worked as an embedded math tutor and a supplemental instructor (SI) in statistics.

“Northern Essex’s resources made a difference to me. I want to make a difference in someone else’s life,” Garcia said. “As a student trustee I will be giving back. I want to leave a positive footprint at NECC.”

The NECC Board of Trustees includes nine members who are appointed by the governor of the state to a maximum of two five-year terms as well as an alumni-elected member, who also serves a maximum of ten years, and a student trustee who serves for two semesters. Garcia will serve for 2016-2017.