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Honors Students Awarded $1,000 Scholarships

Submitted by on January 26, 2023 – 3:27 pm

Haverhill, MA (January 25, 2023)– Northern Essex Community College is proud to recognize the accomplishments of five honors students. Emily Ellis, Scotty Silva, Wildalis Tejada, Elvis Soto, and Soiri Rosario each earned a $1,000 scholarship from the NECC Foundation, Inc. These students completed at least one honors course in the fall semester and maintained an overall GPA of 3.2 or higher.

Scotty Silva, Emily Ellis, Wildalis Tejada, Elvis Soto, and Soiri Rosario (not pictured) were each awarded $1,000 scholarships.

“I’m very thankful for the opportunity to have the help with tuition,” said Haverhill’s Scotty Silva, who took Honors American Literature I in the fall and is currently enrolled in the Honors Seminar: Dinosaurs! “I like that we can have in-depth discussions in a small setting.”

The number of honors classes offered at NECC was doubled for the 2022 Fall Semester. Classes are now available on the Haverhill and Lawrence Campuses, and one meets online. “It is our hope that we can double our honors offerings again in the future,” remarked NECC Provost Paul Beaudin. “We want to ensure that every local student knows we’re the community’s college. We serve all students: those who need support and those who already excel academically.”

Emily Ellis, of Malden, is a psychology major who plans to study neuroscience at a four-year institution after graduating from NECC. She says taking honors courses allowed her to discover new interests. “I took American Literature last semester, and I found myself really enjoying reading 200-year-old texts!”

Any student can register and take honors classes regardless of GPA. However, students who take three honors classes and maintain a GPA of at least 3.2 will be designated as members of the Commonwealth Honors Program. That means if they transfer to a state university, they’re automatically enrolled in the Commonwealth Honors program there, and their honors courses transfer easily. “MA is the only state that has this seamless transition from the community colleges to the state universities,” says Honors Program Coordinator Ginger Hurajt.

Learn more about the honors program and class options here. Anyone with questions should contact Commonwealth Honors Program Coordinator Ginger Hurajt at ghurajt@necc.mass.edu.