COMMUNITY SCHOLARS NEWS:

TWO COMMUNITY SCHOLARS ATTEND FORUM ADDRESSING THE INTERSECTION OF CIVIC ENGAGEMENT AND COLLEGE ACCESS

On November 29, Jessica Soto and Kaitlyn Therrien, two of the college’s Community Scholars, attended a Massachusetts Campus Compact forum on the Intersection of Civic Engagement and College Access at Springfield College with program director, Fagan Forhan.

The students had the opportunity to hear many perspectives on the issue, including Dr. Richard Flynn, President of Springfield College; Barbara Canyes, Executive Director of Massachusetts Campus Compact; Molly Mead, Director of the Center for Community Engagement at Amherst College; Mary Walachy, Executive Director of the Irene E. and George A. Davis Foundation; Melisa Jaquez, Former Access Fellow at Springfield College; and, Nathan Cleveland, College Advising Corps Member at the Springfield High School of Science and Technology in partnership with American International College.

The forum brought together higher education, foundation and nonprofit leaders, and college students to discuss their understanding of the connection between college access and civic engagement.  Best practices, models and possibilities for partnerships between higher education and other sectors to promote and increase student access and success in higher education were discussed.  Jessica Soto and Kaitlyn Therrien were able to share their views on barriers to access to higher education and were afforded the opportunity to help shape the vision for Massachusetts Campus Compact’s role in supporting campuses in this important work.

MWCC STUDENT NET STATEWIDE POSITION AT NATIONAL LEADERSHIP AND ADVOCACY CONFERENCE

Meeting legendary journalist and former White House Bureau Chief Helen Thomas was one of the conference highlights.

Front row: Assistant Professor Candace Shivers, Helen Thomas, AmeriCorps*VISTA Samantha Cesario.

Back row: Jake Harrelson, Jessica Soto, Tina Smith and Zack Grimes.

By Janice O'Connor

Student Government Association Treasurer Jake Harrelson took his interest in politics and citizenship to a new level this week when he volunteered to serve as Massachusetts representative for the American Student Association of Community Colleges during a conference on leadership and advocacy in Washington, D.C. Harrelson, who is majoring in liberal arts and science with a concentration in history and political science, was appointed to the post following an interview process during the conference.

The National Student Advocacy, Leadership and Citizenship Conference, held Oct. 27-30 was sponsored by the ASACC, an affiliate of the American Association of Community Colleges that represents the country's 12 million community college students. Conference attendees from MWCC also included three of the college's Community Scholars - Tina Smith, Zack Grimes and Jessica Soto - along with Assistant Professor of Sociology and Human Services Candace Shivers and AmeriCorps*VISTA Samantha Cesario. They participated in workshops and attended forums on the major issues affecting community college students, such as textbook prices, federal work-study funding, Pell grants, Perkins funding, student loan interest rates and student debt relief.

"The conference was wonderful," said Harrelson, 17. "I met a lot of really intersting people and was selected as the state representative for Massachusetts community colleges. I am their voice in the national organization." As a representative, he will converse monthly with other national student leaders about "the issues affecting students in community colleges and work at ways to resolve them, whether that's advocating before Congress or within the Department of Education," he said. Harrelson, who is also president of the college's Marketing Club, enrolled at MWCC through the Gateway to College program, which is enabling him to complete his high school diploma while also working toward his associate's degree. He works as a student assistant in the College Access and Preparation Programs office and plans to continue his academic career by pursuing a bachelor's degree, followed by a law degree, and then enter a career in politics.

Among the highlights of the conference, the students met legendary UPI White House reporter and former White House Bureau Chief Helen Thomas, who delivered the keynote speech.

"This conference was a wonderful opportunity for the students to learn valuable leadership skills and gain insight into ways they can be influential in promoting change in our society,” Cesario said.

"It was very inspiring to see students take such a deep interest in issues that affect them," said Shivers, who serves as the faculty liaison to MWCC's Student Government Association. "I'm very proud of Jake," she added. "He did a lot of networking and he did a lot of fact finding about what he could do to help out the community colleges and how he could advocate for his peers."

For more information, please contact Fagan Forhan, Coordinator of Civic Engagement, at (978) 630-9595 or Samantha Cesario Community Scholars MACC AmeriCorps* VISTA at (978) 630-9201.

Community Scholars is a program of the Center for Democracy and Humanity, and is sponsored by the MWCC Foundation, Inc.