SPRING 2008 Community College Magazine - Northampton ...

well as teachers and guidance
counselors from Fountain Hill
Elementary.
“What makes this program
different from others is the
parent piece,” Mrowinski says.
“Our goal is to rally the community
and parents to increase
student success. One way to do
that is to make parents more
successful – get them to come
to parent-teacher conferences,
perhaps get them involved in
adult basic education or GED
programs” at NCC.
Another way to make
parents feel involved, according
to Mrowinski, is to break
down the language barrier.
“For instance, during the recent
parent-teacher conferences,
Pizarro and several others
provided bilingual translation.
We want to break down
those barriers, make parents
feel comfortable coming into
the school.” The program will
also begin an English-as-a-
Second-Language (ESL) class
for parents and community
members this year.
Parents are encouraged
to volunteer to help with
the after-school activities.
Pizarro states, “We want
to empower the parents to
participate more. In the Hispanic
culture, the tendency
is to not be involved in your
child’s school life. We’re
trying to challenge that and
change it. It takes a village to
raise a child – teachers can’t
do it on their own.”
“We want to build
a bridge for Bethlehem’s
Southside community to NCC
programs,” Mrowinski says.
“We’re hoping some of these
parents will feel comfortable
enough to get involved in
College programs.” u
FOR DECADES, THE
AMOUNT OF FUNDING
CLUBS AT NCC RECEIVE
HAS BEEN LINKED TO THE
AMOUNT OF COMMUNITY
SERVICE THEY DO. More
recently, service learning has
connected community service
to the academic program, and
“engagement” has made partnering
with community organizations
one of the College’s
top priorities. The zeal for
community service seems to
grow each semester.
In September, the Spartan
Center was “Rockin’ for
Research” as the Bethlehem
and Monroe chapters of the
NCC Science Club teamed up
to stage a musical extravaganza
to benefit breast cancer research
at Fox Chase Cancer Center in
Philadelphia.
Two weeks later, illuminated
balloons cast a soft glow
over the campus as more than
2,000 walkers, including a team
from NCC, helped the Lehigh
Valley Leukemia
and Lymphoma
Society “Light
the Night,”
A Year-Round Commitment
ReaCHiNG oUT
COMMUNITY
is our middle name
raising $310,000 to advance the
quest for a cure for blood cancers.
NCC’s house band, Shake,
Rattle and Soul, led by Associate
Professor of Electronics
Keith Hartranft, kept the crowd
moving with popular covers.
Other bands with NCC
connections performed in
Lipkin Theatre the night before
at a concert organized by
NCC’s Forum on Peace, Justice
& Conflict Resolution, the
Political Science Club, and the
Progressive Student Alliance to
aid people left homeless by the
violence in Darfur.
Students, faculty and staff
from NCC’s Monroe campus
worked together throughout the
fall to raise more than $4,300
for the Monroe County United
Way campaign, and “elves”
from the Main campus filled
more than 600 shoeboxes with
toys and goodies to brighten
the holidays of children in need
in the Lehigh Valley as well as
shipping 30 cartons of gift items
to American soldiers in Iraq.
This spring, the College
will again host the Concours
d’Elegance, a vintage car exhibition
that benefits the Lehigh
Valley Hospital Burn Foundation.
And student clubs and
administrative departments will
continue to take turns preparing
and serving meals at the Trinity
Ark Soup Kitchen in Easton
On deck for fall? A
children’s carnival to raise
money for Alex’s Lemonade
Stand and the work of childhood
cancer researchers.
Caring for others is a
lesson the NCC family has
taken to heart. u