For many years now, there has been a dinnertime tradition at my house. As we sit down to enjoy each other’s company and the evening meal, we share something we are thankful for and something we are hopeful for.
There aren’t too many rules about what we call our “Thankfuls and Hopefuls.” We used to say them first and try to keep the lists short enough that the food wouldn’t get cold, but as my daughters grew older, and the “Thankfuls and Hopefuls” became even more involved and interesting, we finally decided to go ahead and eat while we share (and do what we can not to speak with our mouths full).
As idyllic and Norman Rockwell-ish as this tradition of ours may sound, it actually began during a time of hardship in our family, when seeking out things to be thankful for and dreams of the future to aspire toward helped us get through the many challenges of the day.
As Thanksgiving approaches, and we all prepare to sit down and enjoy the company of those closest to us over a good meal together, whatever challenges and rewards the past year has held for you, sharing a sense of gratitude and hopefulness may be just what we all need most.
Here are a few things from 2025 that I’m Thankful for:
More Students
Across the country, undergraduate enrollment, according to the National Student Clearinghouse, rose by more than 2% this year, fueled by a healthy 4% increase at community colleges.
Here at NECC, thanks to the MassReconnect and MassEducate free community college initiatives, our enrollment is up by 12.2%, slightly higher than the 11.4% increase across all fifteen community colleges in the state.
That’s nearly 600 new students on campus, bumping us back over 5,000 for the first time since 2018.
Increased Confidence in Higher Education (Especially Community Colleges)
For the last several years, Americans’ trust in higher education, according to the well-known annual Gallup survey, has been declining, from a high of 57% saying they have “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in colleges and universities a decade ago, until it hit an all-time low of only 36% last year.
Of course, when it comes to confidence in institutions, even that dismal showing is better than the faith Americans expressed in the Supreme Court (30%), the presidency (26%), banks (27%), newspapers (18%), Congress (9%), and almost every other institution in the country.
The good news this year is that, despite, or perhaps because of, the federal government’s assault on higher education in 2025, things are looking up: This year, 42% of Americans express strong confidence in higher education overall, and community colleges lead the pack, with 56% approval, based largely on perceived affordability, quality, and education connected to workforce needs.
A New Vision for Career Readiness in Massachusetts
Massachusetts CTE high schools, like our nearby partners Whittier Tech and Greater Lawrence Tech, serve around 36,000 students annually, but because of space limitations, around 40% of applicants each year—6,000 students—are denied seats and placed on waitlists.
Like community colleges, many of the state’s CTE high schools were constructed during the 1960’s and 1970’s. They are now more than half a century old and in need of significant renovation or, increasingly, complete replacement.
Because of specialized laboratory space for highly technical programs, coupled with inflation and new tariffs on imported materials, the cost of building new CTE high schools has soared in recent years to hundreds of millions of dollars—beyond the ability of most cities and towns to afford, even with state assistance.
I’m thankful this year for the partnership of the mayors, town managers, city councilors and select board members, and of our colleagues at Whittier Tech High School, who are collaborating with Northern Essex on a new vision for career readiness in Massachusetts that will, hopefully, build a new, more affordable school for Whittier on NECC’s campus, while expanding access to trades training and CTE programs, as well as Early College and new career options in fields like artificial intelligence, climatology, drone technology and more.
Base Manufacturing
Speaking of new CTE horizons: I’m thankful for the generous support of the Axim Collaborative and the vision and drive of NECC Vice President Allison Dolan-Wilson, which together will be creating the Base Manufacturing Program, aimed at preparing our regional workforce for high-skill, high-wage manufacturing jobs.
Outstanding Athletes
What an amazing year it has been for NECC Knights athletics!
Last Spring, after another season for the record books, NECC’s Nicole Pyburn was named the NJCAA Athletic Trainer of the Year, an award that recognizes someone “who best exemplifies the overall purpose of leading their institution, athletic department, and student-athletes through athletic training.”
In June, the National Alliance of Two-Year College Athletic Administrators (NATYCAA) announced the results for the 2024-25 academic year of the Ron Case Cup presented by Daktronics. The Northern Essex Community College athletics program ranked among the nation’s top 30 programs for a third consecutive season and cracked the top 20 for the first time this year with a total of 39.5 points for an 18th-place finish.
For the second time in three years, the Knights ranked as the top junior college athletic program in New England. NECC picked up points over the year in men’s soccer, men’s basketball, women’s track and field, and baseball.
Then in July, the NJCAA named a record 16 NECC student athletes to All-Academic teams for their outstanding performances off the field in their classes.
And just two weeks ago, the NECC men’s soccer team picked up its first-ever national tournament victory on when it defeated Raritan Valley 4-0 at Wehrum Stadium on the campus of Herkimer College. The win gave the Knights a fifth-place national tournament finish in their second-ever tournament appearance, and an amazing 13-4-1 overall record for the season.
Employee Engagement
We hear from former students all the time: “I wish I could have stayed here longer!” They appreciate small class sizes, plenty of options for sports, clubs and activities, and most of all, the faculty and staff who care about them and do all they can to help them succeed. Some of the most talented and dedicated educators you can find anywhere work at Northern Essex Community College.
Faculty and staff engagement on a college campus is essential to student success, and to recruiting and retaining those dedicated, talented educators that NECC is known for; so to gauge how we are doing and how we can improve, for the last three years we have offered Gallup’s Q12 Employee Engagement Survey to our nearly 400 full-time employees.
The twelve-question survey asks participants to respond to statements like, “There is someone at work who encourages my development” and “The mission or purpose of my company makes me feel my job is important.”
This year, nearly 80% of NECC faculty and staff took the survey (a fantastic response rate), and the results reflect improvement in every single category, as well as an overall engagement ratio that is better than most community colleges Gallup surveys.
Because the biggest room in the house is the room for improvement, in the months ahead we will be sharing results across the college and looking for even more ways to make NECC the best possible place to work, and the place all of our students wish they could stay longer.
The New England Patriots
The best record in the NFL: 10-2.
‘Nuff said.
And here are a few things I am Hopeful for:
More Support for Student SUCCESS
Even as state support for students’ tuition has made community college degrees free for most Massachusetts residents, leading to huge increases in enrollment, support for the services that help students stay on track and graduate, like intensive advising, academic and career coaching, and peer mentoring programs, actually declined this year.
The statewide SUCCESS (Supporting Urgent Community College Equity through Student Services) program received $14.7M last year, and only $14M this year, even as thousands more students arrived on community college campuses.
A new report from the Hildreth Institute, Meeting the Moment with SUCCESS, documents how successful the initiative has been over the last few years, and recommends increasing state funding to $82M in order to serve all of the low-income community college students in Massachusetts.
MassReconnect and MassEducate are the state’s access strategies, enabling more students to get to our campuses and start earning degrees.
SUCCESS is our completion strategy, ensuring students actually finish those degrees.
I’m hopeful for the support SUCCESS needs in 2026.
Big Sis T and Little Sis Z
It’s year two of both daughters living in other states (well, one state, California, and one district, Columbia).
Thomasina (a.k.a. “Big Sis T”) is working for a talent agency in Santa Monica, helping to connect actors with movies and television shows while making her own music (her latest single, “Sweatshirt,” is a catchy tune currently leading her spins on Spotify); and Zoë (a.k.a. “Little Sis Z”) is halfway through the second year of her Master’s in Public Administration degree at George Washington University in our nation’s capital, developing a particular interest in municipal government and public-private partnerships.
They will both be home for the holidays (with boyfriends in tow).
I’m hopeful that the year ahead finds them even farther along the path of their personal and professional dreams (and if that path eventually leads one or both of them back to New England, even better…)
E Pluribus Unum
This one has been on my list of “hopefuls” for a few years now:
“Out of many, one”: The motto of the United States of America since 1776, and a recognition that our highest aspiration has always been to become greater than the sum of our separate parts.
Differences of opinion have driven us since our founding, and have caused us to grow stronger; and although we have lived through perilous times, such as a bloody civil war, when our differences may have never seemed greater, today’s rancor and ideological divides have our democracy pushed quite close to the edge.
It’s time to restore some “unum” to the “pluribus.”
In 1961, the year that Northern Essex Community College enrolled our first students in classrooms at the Greenleaf Elementary School in Haverhill, our state’s own President John F. Kennedy addressed the Canadian Parliament in Ottawa, reassuring them that, “Geography has made us neighbors. History has made us friends. Economics has made us partners. And necessity has made us allies. Those whom nature hath so joined together, let no man put asunder. What unites us is far greater than what divides us.”
While his address was meant to unify friendly international neighbors, the same can be said for neighbors right here in America, down the street or in the “red” or “blue” state next door.
What unites us is far greater than what divides us.
Kennedy went on to sound a note of realism amidst idealism: “We are bound to have differences and disappointments,” he acknowledged, “And we are equally bound to bring them out into the open, to settle them where they can be settled, and to respect each other’s views when they cannot be settled.”
Diversity of thought and opinion, competition, and even conflict can drive discovery, innovation, and fruitful compromise.
But to get there, we need to restore dignity, decorum, and goodwill to our public discourse.
I am hopeful we find a way to do this in the months ahead.
Thanksgiving
Finally, I am hopeful for a peaceful, restful, healthy, and enjoyable Thanksgiving holiday for you and yours. As you sit down to dinner and enjoy the company of those closest to you, may you truly give thanks for the good things in your life, and let the spirit of hope lift you up and inspire you and those around you.
