Community Scholars Class of 2009

Pictured from Left to Right:

Top Row: Trisha Cote, Jeremy Parker, Zack Grimes, Julia Stillman, Jessica Soto, MWCC President Daniel M. Asquino, Julie Edwards,

Fagan Forhan Coordinator of Civic Engagement

Second Row: Samantha Cesario Community Scholars MACC AmeriCorps*VISTA, Kaitlyn Therrien, Carolina Moreno, Sacha Gomez, Jessica Putney,

Nick Strout - Not Pictured: Kristina Smith

COMMUNITY SCHOLARS NEWS:

MWCC STUDENT NETS 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, MACC 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 on October 27-30, 2007 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 MACC 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 interesting people and was selected as the state representative for Massachusetts community colleges. I am their voice in the national organization." As a representative, Jake 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, Director 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.