60s Class Notes
Brian Bjurling (’66) and Betty
Moore (’68)
Philip DeCharles (’66)
Senator Edward Kennedy Gives Talk
(’66)
Norma Piermarini Marshall (’66)
Nancy (Hudson) Hawkins (’67)
Kevin P. Neary (Sept. ’66 -
June ’68)
James Moran (’68)
Alveta (Mailllet) Bastarache (’69)
Joanne McIntosh Davidson (’69)
Jack Flanagan (’69)
Constance (Connie) Louise LaRoche (Riley) (’69)
Paul Pierce (’69)
Brian Bjurling (’66) and
Betty Moore (’68)
For Brian, being part of that first class was like being part of a family. It was a small group. That experience helped him move on to Bentley College and on to completing his BS in Accounting. MWCC holds a special place in Brian's heart.
For me, MWCC was a great opportunity to grow and develop more self-confidence. When I became involved with the Alumni Association in 1980, it lead me to meet Brian, who led me down the aisle in May of 1982. An extra bonus I never expected MWCC to give me.
We both feel MWCC is a tremendous resource for our area. It can help fresh high school graduates mature, correct any scholastic inadequacies they may carry from high school and give them the opportunity to define and reach a future goal. MWCC also offers adult learners the opportunity to fill in gaps in their education, change careers, and just keep the old gray matter growing and evolving.
Basically MWCC fills a niche that a four-year college can't quite fulfill.
Philip DeCharles (’66)
Business Technology
I can remember meeting with Dean Hogan at Gardner City Hall during the summer of 1964 for an interview. At that time the building on Elm Street was not ready. The classes at the National Guard Armory were interesting. Some classes were held in smaller rooms. My English class was held in the main auditorium room. Several graduates from my high school also attended MWCC which made the transition easier. I can also remember that our professors were great. I enjoyed the business courses I had. Courses in accounting, taxation, and production were part of my curriculum as well as English composition and literature. I will forever remember William (Bill Coffee) my accounting and taxation professor and Dean Hogan who taught General Psychology. And who could forget Professor Brown with his dry sense of humor. Students in my class were friendly and by the time we were in our sophomore year, friendships (clique groups) had been well established. We were from many different towns, but that did not prohibit us from studying together and socializing. I can still remember a few of these events. We had a project in production class and several students came to my house to work on it. Another time we got together in a few cars and drove to the top of Wachusett Mountain one evening only to have the fog settle in. Another time we got together and had a dance at Coggshall Park and used our car's headlights and radios. After graduating from MWCC I can remember receiving a letter from Dean Hogan. He wanted to start an alumni association. I attended that meeting and renewed old friendships. I believe it is now time to regenerate that enthusiasm and rededicate ourselves to this community college which gave those first graduates in 1966 so much and continues today in its mission to serve the community and this region.
News: I have twin teenage daughters that will be graduating from high school in June 2003. One daughter took a summer Art class at MWCC this summer to prepare her portfolio. She is interested in architecture.
Note: Philip is employed by the City of Leominster at Leominster High School as a business teacher. He is responsible for instruction in Accounting 1 & 2, Business Math, Consumer Education, Keyboarding, and Entrepreneurship.
Philip is also the Tech Prep Coordinator for Leominster High where he is responsible for planning LHS student visits to MWCC. He works closely with the college to maintain articulation agreements and to pursue new articulation opportunities.
Senator Edward Kennedy gives talk ('66)
As captured in INSCAPE 1966
"Mount Wachusett was honored to have the Junior Senator of Massachusetts, Senator Edward Kennedy, give a talk on his recent trip to Viet Nam."
Norma Piermarini Marshall (’66)
There are many, many reasons why high school seniors should consider attending Mount Wachusett Community College. My recommendation comes from personal experience because I was a member of the first graduating class at MWCC, and a proud member of its alumni.
Each and every time I walk through the doors to Theatre at the Mount, it reminds me of what a lovely way this college has grown throughout the years. Ideally situated on the rolling hillside near the hospital, the campus looks as if it existed there from inception. This was not the case, however, since the first graduating class attended classes at a building on Elm Street, a converted elementary school that quickly became home to those of us who were accepted as the Mount's first group of students.
Reflecting on what I learned during my first days at the Mount, I recall how Dr. Haley greeted us warmly and encouraged us to explore all the opportunities we could to enhance our learning experience. Because this group was the first in attendance at the college, we boldly needed to step forward to create a Student Council, a college newspaper, and other key organizations that helped inform, educate and expand the minds of the students in attendance and the professors who graced the classrooms.
And what a group of professors we had! To this day, I am unsure of how Dr. Haley and the Board of Trustees found such illustrious instructors. At that time, I was not the best of students. I enjoyed the social aspect of school and studying was an elusive concept. I studied for the courses I really liked and socialized. My professors had other ideas, however. They made me learn whether I liked it or not.
My English Composition instructor, Professor Douglas
Hebb, quickly affirmed that my thought of becoming
a writer was a good one and he nurtured my choice.
He taught me to look up the word in front of and after
every word I looked up in the dictionary, thereby tripling
my vocabulary every time I opened a dictionary. He
encouraged our class to READ, READ, READ and to reflect
on content and composition. The many tools he taught
have served me well since I now earn my living as a
technical writer.
Another excellent class that prepared me for my future was speech! I took a public speaking class taught by Prof. Karem which ultimately served me in many ways. This particular course paved the way for me to make articulate speeches extemporaneously and to have presence when I stepped on a stage. This class taught me the correct way to give either a very short, deliberate speech or a long, precise missive.
The other classes I chose enhanced my education and served me well as I treaded the path towards journalism. Spanish was fun and I drove to and from the Mount chatting away in Spanish with my cousin, Janet Navaroli Robeson, who attended the college during the first year then transferred to Anna Maria College. Part of the reason I enjoyed my Mount experience so much was that Janet was there to share in many classes and most events. Together we explored, we learned and we enjoyed. The challenges proposed to us by our professors became enchanting puzzles that we enjoyed solving. We were taught to open our minds, to achieve and to accomplish.
Reflecting upon the fact that the Mount had just opened its doors and this class was the first group of alumni, it now seems crystal clear that Dr. Haley, from the beginning, had a noble vision of how to prepare his students for their careers. The doors that were opened for us were many. Dr. Haley brought in local and state politicians to explain about community service and dedication to the community. The various departments invited specialists to meet with members of the class to foster careers in teaching, engineering and so forth.
The English Department invited Archibald McLeish to encourage those of us who wanted to make a career writing. There weren't many of us who braved a bad weather day to have our pieces read by the great Pulitzer Prize winning poet. But for those who attended, it was an incredibly positive experience. He reviewed our poems and imparted confidence in our decision to write. Paul Hallock and I became writers.
The staff fostered careers with job fairs and motivated our group to find part-time jobs that would enhance our career path. Faculty also invited major employers to the college to stimulate students to apply for positions with them. This is done on a much wider, broader basis now and MWCC students have tremendous opportunities to expand their horizons.
Having received an enthusiastic response from Archibald McLeish, I was prompted to attend a seminar presented by the Worcester Telegram and Gazette. I don't remember if any other women were in attendance but I completed an application for a position as a journalist.
Two years of studying at the Mount prepared the first graduating class to achieve, give back to the community, and make a difference. The choices each student has are extraordinary. For a fragment of the price you would pay at a major university or college, you have, at your fingertips, a fountain of knowledge and exploration that allows you to become an involved and educated member of society. No boundaries are too small, no horizons invincible.
Mount Wachusett Community College opened the door for me to become a journalist and motivated me to constantly explore the avenues and opportunities that became available. Even my algebra and math classes (which at the time seemed senseless to me) became invaluable when I made a shift from creative writing to technical writing.
This little gem of an institution offers every high school student in the area a wealth of knowledge; a passionate, experienced and enthusiastic faculty; a campus as beautiful as a small, private college; and an institution dedicated towards making every member of the student community a valued member of society. Indeed, the opportunities are as plentiful as the imagination of the MWCC student.
The Alumni of MWCC have served the community well. Many have served in public office. Many have started their own businesses and thrived. Many have journeyed to further their education and have entered the medical, legal and professional communities, proving the point that a community college can and does lead to bigger and better opportunities.
To paraphrase Archibald McLeish . . .
Some colleges deserve a thank you . . . some don't . . . Mount Wachusett Community College does. Here's mine. Thank you, MWCC.
NOTE:
Norma has appeared in the following productions at MWCC:
Theater at the Mount
Music Man
Sound of Music
Evita
Drama Circle
T*E*C*H*
Nancy (Hudson) Hawkins (’67)
Nancy (Hudson) Hawkins, a 1967 Alumna of MWCC, jokingly refers to herself as “part of the furniture” on campus these days. Nancy has been a Mount Wachusett Community College employee since 1967, except for leaves of absence for cancer treatments and an injury.
Nancy was a student in the Executive Secretarial program at the Mount from 1965 to 1967, after having been interviewed and accepted by former Dean of Students John Hogan. As she explains, those were the days of classes at the National Guard Armory, the old First National grocery store, and the Pearl St. Campus, a former church. She graduated from MWCC on June 10, 1967 and began working full time at the college on June 11, 1967. She recalls having dreamed of being a secretary in a school office and describes her excitement when she was offered a position as secretary to the registrar of the college upon graduation.
In discussing her initial employment at MWCC, several memories were brought to mind. For instance, Ms. Hawkins remembers the days when student class schedules were created manually. With master schedule in hand, she and the registrar would work until midnight night after night during July and August deciding what time periods could be assigned to each student’s classes (based on the number of seats available), all the while being cautious to give each student a reasonable, concise schedule. Several years later, the scheduling process advanced to students being able to stand in line and select their own classes and time periods. College secretaries were armed with boxes of cards for each class on the master schedule, and the registrar and division chairs would call out the student’s course number and section. If a secretary heard a number in her box called out, she pulled out one card and held her arm up, and the caller grabbed it. Once the caller had collected all of a student’s cards, his/her cards were sent to the keypuncher for entry into the data general computer. Nancy recalls going home at night and dreaming of people shouting ECO108A, BUS201C, HUM201D, etc . . . and wondering why she was so tired the next morning when it was time to come back and start all over for another day.
Many other scheduling systems were attempted during Nancy’s 18 years as secretary and supervisor in the registrar’s office, too numerous to mention here. However, she does state, “I am mesmerized at MWCC’s state-of-the-art online registration procedures in progress today.
In 1980, when Registrar Armand Landry was on sabbatical leave from MWCC, Nancy became the acting registrar of the college (1980–1982). She received a Merit Award and Commendation for her excellent performance during that tenure. In 1991, Nancy received an MWCC Employee’s Outstanding Performance Award for her major role in organizing the first annual Women in the Workplace Conference.
Nancy’s career in the registrar’s office ended in 1985 when she made a decision to work part time in order to spend more time with her family. She then served as secretary to the transfer counselor until 1988. She was then asked to join the Division of Planning and Development, now called the Division of Institutional Advancement, and has remained full time in that division since that time.
Nancy has certainly been an asset to MWCC and the college has been a monumental complement in her life through the years as well. Nancy indicates it has been an “awesome experience” to have followed the Mount from the “olden days” at the Elm St. campus to the 1974 move to the “New MWCC” and now into the “21st Century MWCC” where the college has continually maintained its competitive edge.
Kevin P. Neary (Sept. ’66 - June ’68)
Kevin was a Business Accounting Major while he was
at the Mount. He transferred to UMASS and got advanced
placement in their accounting program, due to his background
at MWCC. After spending 25 years with the IRS as a
Special Agent, Kevin retired in 1995.
“I found out about the job of Special Agent from a bulletin board at MWCC.
Since then I've been representing individuals who have had problems with the
IRS and other government agencies, he said. “I've also started a vending
business with machines in Leominster and Shrewsbury.”
Alumni Quotes: Creating the community college system was the very best thing
that Massachusetts has done for education.
Nostalgia:
The Economics Club took a trip to the Black Label Brewery in Natick. After
a tour of the facilities we tested the products for quality.
We also organized a trip to Fenway Park in 1967, the Impossible Dream year
for the Red Sox.
James Moran (’68)
I live in Andover Massachusetts with my wife Mikki and two youngest daughters Erika and Kelly (both students). My wife and I are parents of five children. My oldest daughter Kirsten lives in Washington, D.C. where she is a student at the Corcoran and a graphic artist in a small three women graphic arts organization serving non-profits. My son is a food scientist doing R&D for Josephs Inc. in Haverhill, Mass. He lives in Kittery, Maine. We lost our daughter Johanna in 1986. She would have been 29 this year.
I am retired from AT&T/Lucent Bell Laboratories having retired in July 2001. Currently, I work as:
- A freelance writer
- Network security consultant
- Substitute teaching for OPIS, Inc.
Having turned a love-of-books hobby into a business,
I also sell out-of-print books on the Internet under
the name: Books Recycled. We sell via links off Amazon,
Alibris and Ebay. We take commissions to find rare
books for select customers.
Before retirement, I was the Optical Networking Customer Training and Information Products Development Manager. My development teams were located in Massachusetts, New Jersey, Chicago, North Carolina, Florida and Nuremberg Germany.
I was the chief architect for a number of tools that enable reuse of information and the remote testing (Web-based) of product software tasks (while still under the development). I’ve made numerous presentations at conferences, seminars and forums for industry and professional societies.
Additional responsibilities included serving as Electronic
Publishing Committee Chair at the (then) AT&T Bell
Laboratories, serving as co-chair to Lucent’s
ONG documentation and training development standards
team chartered to establish global standards for the
development, delivery and management of information
integrated directly into software products. (We also
had responsibility for developing localization standards
for traditional information delivery vehicles.)
My professional society associations included membership in the IEEE (Professional
Communications), the IPMF (serving as chairman and moderator), STC, and National
Press Club in Washington, D.C.)
Previous to Bell Laboratories, I was:
- Senior, principal writer for several network communications and software companies that included DEC and TCI.
- A senior editor, managing editor, technical writer, marketing writer, newspaper and broadcast reporter, columnist and correspondent.
- Adjunct faculty member at Fitchburg State College in the department of Communications and Media
- Owner of a small publishing company
I have written numerous technical documents and articles ranging from the obscure special needs of communication antennas designed for square-rigged sailing vesicles (which I designed) - to sophisticated processes for outputting data for controlling space vehicles - to designing a PC-based wide area, distributed processing system.
A Leominster native, I attended Leominster public school and graduated from St. Bernard’s High class of ’66.
I attended Mt. Wachusett Community College until ’68 when I joined the US Navy. I was a member of Naval Security and received training and certification in technical communications and was assigned to the National Security Agency. My specialty was telemetry.
Upon release from active duty, I resumed my education and graduated from the University of Massachusetts in August of 1972. I hold a BA degree in English with a concentration in journalism and the physical sciences. I hold an MS degree in Communications and Media from Fitchburg State College.
Other activities include:
- Member of the board of directors Northeast Family YMCA
- Active member of United Native Americans of Lucent
- Volunteer 9-11 victims intake counseling (I worked out of the Chambers St., NYC office a few block away from ground zero)
- Amateur radio operator - licensed in 1958 and still an active Ham
- Classic automobile restoration - several Porsche and Mercedes Benz autos
- Competitive sailor and wooden boat owner and restorer - 1914 Herrshoff sloop “Mink”, 1945 Rhodes pocket cruiser “Johanna” and several smaller wood sailing craft including a gaff-rigged catboat vintage 1880
- Book collector
Alveta (Maillet) Bastarache
(’69)
Executive Secretarial
Alveta is currently employed as an Auction Manager at a company in Florida where she is responsible for On-Line Negotiations for the company for resale and non-resale items. She writes that she “misses the hall meetings & the cafeteria laughs at the Mount. MWCC definitely paved the way to my successes.”
Joanne McIntosh Davidson (’69)
Joanne was a Liberal Arts major, who transferred to Fitchburg State College. After graduating from FSC, she taught the sixth grade at the Page School in Ayer for 13 years. She later went into the insurance business, working for the Colonial Supplemental Insurance Company for almost 20 years. Today, Joanne is an Independent Sales Director with Mary Kay, Inc.
Joanne has many wonderful memories from her two years spent at the Mount. She describes the hazing as a college freshman when they were instructed “to wear little beanie caps with MWCC on them for many weeks. We were made to eat our lunch on the floor using just our mouths, no hands. Just like a dog. We all survived and we really did have fun.” The girls wore ponytails and skirts. Jeans and slacks were prohibited until 2nd year. Joanne also remembers many wonderful parties. “We rented our apartments and many kids from Chelmsford stayed out in Gardner.” They also hung out at some of the Professors' homes. “I made lots of friends in Mrs. Bent's choir,” she added.
“ My worse memory was during the second week of my sophomore year. I was in class and was called down to the President's office to learn that my Dad had passed away. My whole life came to a screeching halt right then. I decided to move back home with Mom and I commuted 90 miles every day to finish school. It was worth every single mile.”
“ In1990, my daughter, Cristy, needed to enroll at a local college as she had been hurt and could no longer stay at The University of Maryland so she enrolled at the Mount. We walked in and to my amazement a man came up to me and said, ‘Joanne McIntosh, how wonderful it is to see you again after all of these years!’ It was the President of MWCC, Dr. Haley. Cristy had many of the same Professors that I had and loved every moment of the Mount experience as I did.”
Joanne’s daughter, Cristy received her Bachelor of Science Degree in Philosophy from UMASS at Lowell, her Juris Doctor Degree from Mass School of Law and is now finishing her MBA in Finance from Nichols College.
As a self-employed, business-woman, Joanne describes her work as empowering women and men to be successful and to run their own independent Mary Kay business. She also has a “passion” to start The Christian Academy of Merrimack Valley for grades K-12.
As a Mary Kay Sales Director, she also functions as a corporate recruiter on the Mount's campus. “I have several students from the Mount who have decided to join Mary Kay as part of my unit. They are looking forward to owning their own successful business while still attending college. Joanne regards her mission as empowering people to be the best that they can be through education and ministry, setting goals, developing a good work ethic, reaching out to others, and giving of themselves to those less fortunate.
Jack Flanagan (’69)
I remember Mount Wachusett Community College as one
old red brick school building converted to a community
college. At the time I attended, there was only one
building and limited parking space. Some days, especially
during the winter, you would need to park several side
streets away from the school. Classes were usually
small, about 25 students per class. The cafeteria was
in the basement with, I believe, a few classes there
as well. The school was small and friendly; you knew
most of the students by name or by sight.
The war in Vietnam was on at that time and many male
students in good health were trying for good grades
to stay out of the draft. I had completed basic training
and was attached to a reserve unit, so I didn't feel
the pressure that others did. At that time only males were drafted and assigned to combat. I knew of a few classmates who had lost a brother in the war.
Several students commuted from my town so I could usually car pool with them
to cut expenses. I enjoyed my days at the Mount and most of the instructors.
What I was surprised to find is how talented some of my classmates were both
intellectually and musically. We had a few that sang Christmas songs in the
cafeteria one day; this is something I have never forgotten. They were great.
I would suggest this type of environment for anyone who thinks they might want
to go back to school but may not have a strong college background.
Constance (Connie) Louise
LaRoche (Riley)
Class of ‘69
In 1965, Mount Wachusett Community College began offering
evening courses. At age forty-three, I was delighted
to be able to attend the Mount. I enrolled in Psychology
101, taught by Dean John Hogan. I remember that the
students came from a variety of backgrounds: a police
officer, a nurse, my former fourth grade teacher, several
businessmen, homemakers and a sprinkling of typical
college age students. One of the local doctors said, “I
hear there are quite a few retreads at the college.” At
the time, my eight children ranged in age from three
to nineteen years.
Because of my busy life, it took me four years to complete the course work for my associate degree. I graduated in 1969. It was a mind expanding, socially exhilarating experience that I thoroughly enjoyed.
When I went on to Fitchburg State College, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and the Graduate School of Education at UMASS, I realized that many of my professors at the Mount were top notch and had prepared me well. In Jack Leamy’s English class, I was thoroughly grounded in the literature, history, and philosophy of the periods we studied. Guy Turcotte fostered my lifelong interest in and appreciation of poetry. Unfortunately, I do not remember the name of the young woman who sparked my interest in Sociology. She only stayed at the Mount a short time, but her impact led me to major in Sociology at UMASS. With her guidance, we Mount scholars searched out the sociological concepts in To Kill a Mockingbird and the social problems in The Other America.
My connection with the Mount continued after graduation. I arranged with Barbara Landry to offer a workshop given by the staff of the UMASS Women’s Center. Following this event, students and staff launched the Women’s Center at the Mount. I remember Peter Trainor asked Ruth Fors and me to speak to his class about our work at the Gardner Women’s Center, where I worked as program director and Ruth was in charge of Legal Services. I taught a course at the Mount on Values Clarification that included Study Skills. I also presented a self development Workshop for the Displaced Homemaker Program.
As I continued my career, I often took courses at the Mount to enhance my workplace efforts as Equal Opportunity Officer at Rural Housing Improvement or Director of MOC’s Fitchburg/Leominster Community Action Center. One such course was Business Law, taught by former State Representative Robert Hawke. Some courses were for personal enrichment. Genealogy taught by Jean Smith led me to many fascinating hours of research on my family tree and also to the organization of the Central Massachusetts Genealogy Society. My family, knowing of my interest in Theatre at the Mount, made a donation that paid for a seat at the Raymond LaFontaine Theater. If you look in the third row center, you will see the name Constance Riley on the chair arm.
It was thirty-six years between the time I first opened the door with trembling hands to attend the Mount at the old school building on Elm St. and the day I began the Writer’s Workshop taught in 2001 by Pat Cosentino in the Mount’s L.I.F.E. Program for older learners at the Green St. campus. Before taking the course, I had submitted some of my writing to “Tapestries” the Mount’s literary magazine produced by L.I.F.E. A poem and two articles were published that year and I will have another poem and article in the upcoming 2002 “Tapestries” edition. At eighty years of age, I look back over a rewarding connection with Mount Wachusett Community College and look forward to future stimulating experiences at the Mount.
Why The Mount?
Paul Pierce (’69)
3rd Student Council President
President, Massachusetts Student Government Association
After Graduation from Chelmsford High School in 1962,
I attended the University of Miami for a while then
applied to a college in
Lakeland, Florida for the ministry, but wasn't accepted. After returning home
to spend Christmas with my parents and a high school sweet heart, I decided
not to return to Florida. Instead, I got a job working in a bank. Meanwhile
all my friends were going to college and I soon realized I was missing the
boat.
Dean John Hogan
Someone told me about Mt. Wachusett and Dean Hogan. I made an appointment to see him and applied to MWCC. It was all because of Dean Hogan that I went on to further my education. Dean Hogan had amazing insight into a young person's life. He also had the ability to help slow learners and give them a second chance in making the grade. He was a remarkable man and mentor who saw an individual’s hidden talents and could unlock athletic and scholastic abilities. He was a friend to all, whose door was always open to students. As a teacher in Psychology 101 he was interesting, informative, and challenging. I am indeed most grateful to him for giving me the opportunity to continue my education and inspiring me to bigger and greater things.
Dr. Arthur F. Haley
Dr. Arthur F. Haley was a visionary. He could see the new campus before the architect could put it down on paper. His commitment was untiring and he worked with the Legislature and government to fund this dream. Dr. Haley also added to the dignity and culture of the learning environment. Through the President’s Hour he presented programs to the students that enlightened them on the Arts and Humanities of the world. Dr. Haley was proud of what he was given and made the most of an old school building that was the beginning of what is MWCC today. He also sought to bring top-notch faculty to the college and students. He was a man of dignity and was respected among his peers and the community of Gardner. His vision for the future of MWCC was unrelenting and perhaps misunderstood by some. One of his finest moments was the dedication of a plaque to those students that had left the Mount for Vietnam and had died in service to their country. Dr. Haley made a special effort to be in touch with parents who had suffered the loss of a son or daughter.
Paul’s Remembrance
My remembrance of the Mount is unending. It was here that I began to look at education as an achievement in the path of life, not only to obtain a better position in life but also to experience seeing the world with a whole different perspective. One of my early recollections is of my English composition teacher Jack Leamy. He so inspired me and I dare say the entire class in English composition and literature that we hung on every sentence he spoke. It was one of my first experiences in reading and writing where the words came to life.
Mrs. Lily Mark in Survey of Western Literature brought the classics to life. I still remember her remarks on my papers, "Don't tell me the story. Compare and contrast the characters." She was indeed a remarkable professor and friend. My Spanish teacher Cynthia Clarkson was another who reached out to students not only in class but also in regards to their personal well-being and direction. There was also a guidance counselor, Charlotte Rahaim, who was a go-getter. Any student that wanted to continue their education was found a place by her and she followed through to their acceptance and placement.
There are so many more. I can remember and see their faces but their names have escaped me. I would love to see them all and thank them for their dedication and commitment to my success.
It was at the Mount that I discovered a gift for leadership as the Student Council president, the President's Hour, Winter Carnival, the Beanie Court, Freshman Orientation, the Vietnam Memorial, and finally president of the Massachusetts Student Government Association. The student body also elected me as "Most Likely To Succeed" but that remains to be seen.
One of the recent moments I will cherish was to find the Alumni Association on the Web. It was like finding my roots again and coming back home.
Note:
Today, Paul Pierce is a retired minister living in Florida who actively serves as the Chaplain to Police and Fireman in the Tampa Bay region. Read about Paul in this St. Petersburg Times article:
Rescuers find shoulder to lean on
Chaplains volunteered in Largo and Clearwater in August, just in time to help firefighters grieve for New York colleagues lost on Sept. 11. Coincidence? You be the judge.
http://www.sptimes.com/2002/05/24/NorthPinellas/Rescuers_find_shoulde.shtml
Donald Allain
2nd Student Council President
Class of 1966
Mount Wachusett Community College announced it’s
opening at a time in my life when a local college would
fit my needs. Being strapped for money and having a "junker" of
a car, I felt that I could walk to the campus if my
vehicle broke down.
I interviewed with Professor Tays, Chairman of the Division of Science and
Technology, and was impressed with the Associate in Science program and the
credentials of the teaching staff. I shortly thereafter enrolled at the Mount.
With the help of two scholarships, one from the Albert Stone Fund and the other
from the Rotary Club, I was able to afford continuing my education. I am still
very grateful for that financial support.
Classes began in the National Guard Armory because renovations were still being done to the Elm Street building. At the engineering orientation session Prof. Tays stated to about 60 engineering students that they should take a look around them. He predicted that by the end of the first semester half of those students would drop out of the program and that one fourth of them would graduate. This forecast turned out to be true. By October of the first semester, I thought that I would be one of the dropout statistics. With perseverance, long hours of studying, and help from fellow students I made it through year one.
During my first year I was elected as Vice President and later President of the Student Council. The council helped the college form student programs that would benefit as many students as possible. The first two years were foundational, and new start-up clubs and activities kept the student government busy trying to sort out charters, allocate funds, respond to issues, etc. It was a challenging experience, and I had my first taste of confrontational management. I learned a great deal about leadership and that fearful area called public speaking. These experiences would help me later in my career.
After graduating in 1966 I married and began a career in semiconductors. I entered the workforce as an engineering technician. I was responsible for starting up equipment, training operators, and assisting engineers in running experiments. The semiconductor industry was in its infancy, and opportunities abounded. After two years of working in Worcester I was offered a position in research and development in California. From that point on I held various positions in engineering, manufacturing, and marketing in a number of locations in the U.S. and Asia.
Because of the value I place on education, while still working I earned a B.S. degree from the University of Maine in 1976. My MWCC associate degree credits were fully accepted towards my degree from UMaine.
One of my positions allowed my family of five to live in Asia for two years and travel parts of Europe during that time. We resettled in Maine in 1985, where I continued to work in the semiconductor field. I recently took an early retirement and am enjoying the peacefulness of living on a lake in Maine. I continue to work as a consultant on an as-needed basis.