Sept. '24 News Blog
News briefs from the HCC campus and beyond
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More Headline News
Alum Elizabeth Román ’03, managing editor of daily and digital news for New England Public Media, was featured in a MassLive series about Hispanic leaders for Hispanic Heritage Month. Román, the new president of the HCC Alumni Council, was the focus of a Sept. 29 profile, “Elizabeth Román brings marginalized voices into Western Mass. news coverage.” The profile recounts her rise through the journalism ranks starting at 19 with an internship with The Springfield Republican (undertaken while she was a journalism student at HCC), and her 20 years as a bilingual reporter for the newspaper and editor of its sister publication El Pueblo Latino, before making the leap to radio with NEPM. “As a Puerto Rican woman born and raised in Springfield, I strive to get the voices of often marginalized or forgotten people on the airwaves,” she told MassLive. “Our reporters are able to celebrate and highlight the contributions of people of color in our region and shift the narrative in media that often focuses on only the negative.” Also honored: HCC alum and trustee Nayroby Rosa '10; Jasarah Burgos, a member of the HCC Foundation's board of directors; and HCC staff member Derek Estrella (featured below). PHOTO: Liz Román '03 in her NEPM office
‘Give Yourself a Chance’
In celebration of Adult Education and Family Literacy Week (Sept. 16-20), HCC’s Business and Community Services division hosted a panel discussion featuring four adult learners who have navigated diverse educational pathways: English for Speakers or Other Languages (ESOL), Jump Start, CORE @ HCC, and Transition to College & Careers (TCC). Each student shared their journey, discussing past and present challenges, how they balance the many responsibilities of being an adult learner, their future goals, and what they found beneficial about the college. Abel Halim (ESOL Nurse Aid, TCC) said he appreciated the diversity and inclusivity of HCC and how he feels comfortable being his true self. Celines Nieves Ramos (HiSET, Jump Start – Customer Service) reflected on her positive experience and desire to continue on at HCC for her associate degree. Nakita Jean-Baptiste (ESOL Nurse Aid, TCC) talked about balancing her role as a mother and a student and her goal to become a nurse. Asked to offer a piece of advice to adults who return to school later in life, Rodney Wilson (CORE@ HCC, TCC, Human Services student) said, “give yourself a chance.” “Me, I was fearful. So much fear,” Wilson said, “and then I was told, Rodney, you gotta get comfortable being uncomfortable, and I didn't really know what that meant, but, like, right now, I am very uncomfortable, but my public speaking professor is probably very happy, so give yourself a chance.” PHOTO: Abel Halim, Rodney Wilson, Celines Nieves Ramos, and Nakita Jean-Baptiste, after their panel discussion, which was hosted by HCC’s Marieb Adult Learner Success Center for Adult Education and Family Literacy Week.
Headline News
Derek Estrella, coordinator for HCC’s TRIO STEM Health Science Student Support Services program, was featured on MassLive as a Hispanic/Latino leader for Hispanic Heritage Month. The article, published Sept. 20 under the headline “Derek Estrella-Padilla leads Hispanic college students through challenges,” notes that, as a first-generation college student from a Puerto Rican household, Estrella, 28, experienced firsthand the “turbulence of not understanding how to navigate pursuing a college education.” His position at HCC allows Estrella “to nurture, empower and advocate for these students and their needs to ensure their growth and development, much as his own ‘college mom’ did for him.” “It is a true privilege and pleasure to have started my career as a higher ed practitioner at HCC,” Estella said in a Facebook post. “It’s an amazing place where community is at the center of everything, and our students feel it!”
Still the 1
Holyoke Community College has been selected as the Best College or University in the Pioneer Valley in the Springfield Republican / MassLive 2025 Reader Raves poll. This was the third year in a row that Republican and MassLive readers voted HCC as their number one choice. "We’re honored,” said President George Timmons. “It makes me very proud. HCC is an extraordinary institution. What makes us different is our unapologetic commitment to our mission, vision, and values. Our mission is to Educate, Inspire, and Connect, and we do that in a way that is true to our values of Innovation, Collaboration, Inclusion, and Kindness, which are grounded in Trust.” HCC also received the number one spot as Best Two-Year College for 2024 for the 11th year in a row in the Daily Hampshire Gazette's annual Readers Choice Awards. PHOTO: HCC President George Timmons celebrates HCC's Reader Raves recognition with students outside El Centro.
Butterfly Effect
Carl Todd grew up in a household where raising monarch butterflies came naturally, a family tradition passed down from his grandmother. As a child, he thought, who doesn’t do this? “It’s been a hobby of mine for a long time,” he said. Last fall, Todd, HCC coordinator of Library Services, found a monarch chrysalis attached to the wall outside the HCC Library delivery entrance and documented the butterfly’s emergence in a timelapse video that he shared on YouTube. This year, Todd decided to set up a live monarch exhibit in the display case outside the HCC Library so others could see the lifecycle for themselves in real time. He collected milkweed from fields near his Leeds home after identifying monarch eggs on the underside of the leaves and put the milkweed stems in vases for the display. As of today, Monday, Sept. 16, two caterpillars had successfully cocooned and transformed into monarch butterflies, which Todd released to the outside world, and two were still in the chrysalis stage. Accompanying the monarch exhibit is a poster his grandmother, a photographer, had created in 1991 documenting the lifecycle of monarch butterflies. “She was really into nature and raised monarchs,” Carl said. Deaf Studies Professor Claire Sanders stopped by the exhibit last week as one of the caterpillars was about to start entering its chrysalis stage. “Thanks so much for setting this up and sharing it with all of us,” she said. PHOTOS: (Above) Carl Todd examines a stem of milkweed that holds a chrysalis of a monarch butterfly. (Thumbnail) One of the monarch butterflies raised and released by Carl Todd. Check out Carl's time lapse video of a monarch caterpillar transforming into a chrysalis...
