Mount Wachusett Community College News & Events

Friday, November 17, 2006

 

CLINTON WELLNESS CENTER WINS GRAND PRIZE IN MWCC’S 2ND ANNUAL BUSINESS PLAN COMPETITION

By Kimberly B. Caisse

Clinton Wellness Center won the grand prize in Mount Wachusett Community College Entrepreneurial Resource Center’s second annual Business Plan Competition. The announcement was made at the conclusion of the finalists’ presentations Thursday, Nov. 16 at MWCC’s Gardner campus.

Judges Worcester State College Professor Dr. Shiko Gathau, Patsy Lewis, former executive director of the Worcester CAC, Darrell LeMar, integration director of business resources at Massachusetts Office of Small Business & Entrepreneurship, and Ronald M. Ansin stand with Maureen Kittredge, founder of Clinton Wellness Center, and MWCC President Daniel M. Asquino.

The competition’s three finalists, Clinton Wellness Center in the expanding business category, Wrap-It Products in the startup business category and Sterling Music Exchange Inc.’s Step Up to Music in the nonprofit category, each won $4,200 in cash and in-kind services at the semi-final contest on Monday, Nov. 13.

Based on Thursday’s results, Clinton Wellness Center also won $7,200 in cash and in-kind services; Wrap-It Products received the Fitchburg business prize of $2,500 in cash; and Step Up to Music was awarded the Community Builders volunteer program prize of $2,000 in cash and the Phoenix Park office space prize valued at $3,000.

“On behalf of the other judges, I want to tell you how pleased we were with all your business plans. They were first-rate,” said community leader Ronald M. Ansin. “We were pleased to be part of the process.”

MWCC President Daniel M. Asquino announced the grand-prize winner and special prize winners. “I have been reflecting on how important something like this contest is to our community,” he said. Innovation is important to thriving communities, and entrepreneurs are a key source of this, he noted.

Clinton Wellness Center, founded by Maureen Kittredge of Clinton, will offer acupuncture, massage and other modalities. It is an expansion of Kittredge’s already successful business, Healing At Hand Massage Therapy.

The need to expand has come from not only the success of her massage therapy business, but also from the expanded knowledge of Kittredge. She will complete her master’s degree in acupuncture at the New England School of Acupuncture in April 2007.

Wrap-It Products of Fitchburg, founded by Donna Henderson, manufactures and distributes a line of innovative headbands. Wrap-It Products began in 1995 as a sole proprietorship to conduct test marketing for its flagship product, “Wrap-It, the Sports Headband with a Twist,” and resumed in 2006 with an all season product line for year-round sales. Those include The Original Wrap-It, Visor Wrap-It, Fashion Wrap-It, Winter Wrap-It and Flap-It Wrap-It, and the Winter Do-Wrap-It. Henderson told the finalists judges that she had to stop development of Wrap-It Products in 1995 to return to the workforce.

Henderson’s idea for these specialty headbands came from her dissatisfaction with existing visors. “I needed a comfortable headband that would keep the hair off my face and also hold my ponytail...to wear under my motorcycle helmet, under my ski helmet, as a Visor Wrap-It when I golfed or enjoyed the sun,” she states on her website.

Henderson has established a partnership with Malden Mills to use the company’s PowerDry polartec for some products and partnerships with local vendors to help with her order fulfillment process. She told judges she is awaiting the arrival of her first sample order.

Step Up to Music is a new program of Sterling Music Exchange. Aimed at adolescents who are being treated for emotional problems and/or depression, this program will provide them with free music lessons, access to a guitar and eventual ownership of a guitar. Pete Cormier, founder of Sterling Music Exchange, wants this new program “to enhance the self-esteem and self-confidence of adolescents who for a variety of reasons find themselves in a situation that warrants counseling, outpatient therapy or residency in a group home situation.”

Cormier said the program will cost $240 per student. To cover those costs, he expects to apply for grants, to solicit donations from local businesses and to receive payments from treatment centers. Sterling Music Exchange will also cover a portion.

Like Sterling Music Exchange, Cormier said Step Up to Music will be run by volunteers. Carefully selected music instructors will be paid for their services.

The finalists judges were Ronald M. Ansin of the Ronald M. Ansin Foundation; Darrell LeMar, integration director of business resources at Massachusetts Executive Office of Economic Development; Worcester State College Professor Dr. Shiko Gathuo; and Patsy Lewis, a nonprofit management and board development consultant.

MWCC GRADUATE’S SERVICE LEARNING PROJECT GIVES GARDNER CAC A NEW WEBSITE

By Kimberly B. Caisse

The Gardner Community Action Committee wanted a website for many years to help market its services to area residents in need and potential donors. Today, the CAC has a website featuring many modern design techniques thanks to the volunteer work of Mount Wachusett Community College alumna Rebecca Gerry (’06).

MWCC alumna Rebecca Gerry, left, and CGD Professor Paul Swerzenski stand with Gardner CAC Executive Director Patricia Jandris as she has the agency's new website showing on her computer screen.

Gerry and CAC Executive Director Patricia Jandris met last spring to start the design process, a partnership encouraged by Computer Graphic Design Professor Paul Swerzenski. Gerry, working on her capstone CGD course to complete her degree, needed to develop a website for a client.

“I encourage my students to pick a nonprofit organization so that the assignment can be part of a service-learning project,” Swerzenski explained.

Through the CAC’s membership to the Institute for Nonprofit Development at MWCC, Jandris was able to inform the CGD department that her agency wanted a website.

“Having help from MWCC to see this through has allowed us to meet a long-awaited goal,” Jandris said. “As with most nonprofit agencies in this area of hunger and homelessness, our priority is to help those who turn to us for assistance. This collaboration has had a tremendous impact on our service area.”

“I approached it from a business standpoint,” Gerry, 53, said of the project. Therefore, she interviewed Jandris just as she would any client. “We have to learn to listen to them…what they want to convey,” she said.

“My clients usually have a list of homework [items] based on my questions,” Gerry, who runs R Gerry Design and Gerry Granite Works, added. “I want them to know right away that they need to work with me.”

One of the things Gerry learned from that first meeting was Jandris wanted the site to feature insightful quotes about hunger, community involvement and the CAC’s mission. So Gerry used flash technology to create a quote slideshow on the site’s entry page.

While the CAC supplied the content, Gerry categorized it, created drop-down menus and found stock photos for Jandris to review.

“I get frustrated if a website isn’t more than what you see in an ad in the newspaper,” she said of her approach to website design.

Although Gerry received associate’s degrees in both Computer Graphic Design–Print and –Web Design concentrations in May 2006, she is still working with Jandris to add functionality to the CAC website. Gerry intends to add PayPal to the site, so that people can make an online donation to the agency. She also plans to teach Jandris how to use website publishing software, so she can update pages herself.

For information on how to enroll in MWCC’s Computer Graphic Design programs, contact the Admissions Office at (978) 630-9110 or admissions@mwcc.mass.edu.

For information on MWCC’s service-learning initiative, contact Associate Vice President of Academic Affairs Dr. Melissa Fama at (978) 630-9288 or mfama@mwcc.mass.edu.

Nonprofit organizations interested in joining the Institute for Nonprofit Development can contact Andrea Hart at (978) 840-3221 ext. 197 or ahart@mwcc.mass.edu.

SERVICE-LEARNING STUDENTS COORDINATE CAR-SEAT SAFETY INPSECTION EVENT

Five nursing students, in partnership with HealthAlliance Hospital, coordinated a recent car-seat safety inspection event that gave almost a dozen families individual, half-hour training sessions with a certified car-seat safety inspection officer. The event, a service learning project for the Molly Bish Institute for Child Health and Safety, took place at the HealthAlliance Hospital Burbank campus.

LeeAnn Brown, Mary-Ann Labarge, Christine Johnson, Shelby Sicard and Elizabeth Paris developed this program for MBI in order to address the serious problem of 80 percent of children being at risk due to improperly installed car seats.

Students Shelby Sicard and LeeAnn Brown adjusting an infant car seat for a four-week old baby boy from Fitchburg. (Courtesy photo - Fagan Forhan)

Officers Ralph LeBlanc and Jason Tamulen of the Westminster Police Department carried out inspections, giving each family undivided attention and guidance to ensure proper installation of their car seat.

The available time slots were easily filled, some by families who gave birth at HealthAlliance that weekend and others by families identified through various human service agencies in the area.

“Working with these five women this semester has been such a positive experience. They’re all very driven and passionate about the importance of child safety, and I was thrilled when they decided to do a service-learning project with the Molly Bish Institute,” said Fagan Forhan, coordinator of civic engagement for the Center for Democracy and Humanity.

“They brainstormed and developed this project on their own, and really drove the entire thing,” Forhan, who coordinates MBI, added. “Through their efforts, the Molly Bish Institute was able to provide some local families the peace of mind that their child is going to be riding safely and securely in the family vehicle. I applaud these women for taking the time to put together such a worthwhile project and for having the fortitude to see it through to fruition.”

Working with MWCC’s marketing department, the students put together a promotional postcard inviting families to participate and a six-panel informational brochure that was provided to the families as well as to other human service agencies that detailed what kind of car seats should be used when a child is of a particular size, and how they should be fitted in the vehicle.

In addition, the MWCC Nursing Club generously donated one car seat and the students themselves also purchased and donated an additional car seat in the event that a family showed up with a seat that did not pass inspection. Rather than allowing that family to drive off with their child in an unsafe car seat, a brand new seat would be provided at no charge.

For more information about the Molly Bish Institute for Child Health and Safety, contact Forhan at (978) 630-9595 or fforhan@mwcc.mass.edu.

For information on MWCC’s service-learning initiative, contact Associate Vice President of Academic Affairs Dr. Melissa Fama at (978) 630-9288 or mfama@mwcc.mass.edu.

More MWCC News:

• MWCC’s Transfer Services office is hosting the annual Transfer Fair on Monday, Nov. 20 in the Gardner campus’ South Cafeteria from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Over 50 four-year college transfer representatives plan to attend. This is an opportunity for students to meet with four-year college and university representatives and talk to them about issues pertaining to transfer. For a full list of the colleges that will be at the fair, visit http://transfer.mwcc.edu. For more information, contact Nancy Greenlaw at (978) 630-9321 or ngreenlaw@mwcc.mass.edu.
• The East Wing Gallery in the Raymond M. LaFontaine Fine Arts Center is showing the exhibit “Returned” through Tuesday, Dec. 5. Exhibit showcases six years of collaborative photographs by Lisa Clunie of Australia and Cathy Tuato’o Ross of New Zealand. They corresponded with rolls of undeveloped film, double-exposing the film without knowing the exact look, but aware of the subject of the other’s shots. This resulted in sometimes quirky and sometimes beautiful juxtapositions and overlaps. For more information, contact Art Professor John Pacheco at (978) 630-9184 or jpacheco@mwcc.mass.edu.

• Dr. Peter Senge

  The Twin Cities Latino Coalition and the Trustees of Reservations will host a conversation with Dr. Peter Senge, author of “The Fifth Discipline” and world-renowned guru of the field of organizational change and leadership development, on Monday, Nov. 27 from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Doyle Conservation Center, 464 Abbott Ave., Leominster. Senge will moderate the panel discussion entitled “Meeting the Changing Face of Our Future: Facing the Challenges of Changing Today in Response to the Emerging Future.” Pre-registration is requested. Register with Sayra Pinto, associate vice president of inclusion, by calling (978) 840-3221 ext. 207 or emailing spinto@mwcc.mass.edu.
• Theatre at the Mount is accepting nominations for the inaugural High School Musical Theatre Awards, the TAMYs. These awards recognize the exceptional accomplishments in the production and performance of musical theatre in area high schools. Area high schools are invited to participate in the competition by entering their annual musical production for consideration in a variety of categories, including: best overall production, best actor, best actress, best choreography, etc. Members of the Theatre at the Mount staff will attend and evaluate each production, making nominations in each category. Winners will be honored at a “red-carpet” awards ceremony and dinner modeled after Broadway’s Tony Awards. Local schools interested in participating in the TAMY Award program should contact Professor Gail Steele at (978) 630-9162 or gsteele@mwcc.mass.edu.
• Gateway to College, one of MWCC’s College Access and Preparation Programs, offers high-school dropouts and students on the verge of dropping out of high school an opportunity to earn a diploma in a college-like setting and earn college credits. Massachusetts residents who meet the program’s eligibility requirements may apply. An information session for the session that begins in January 2007 will be held Monday, Dec. 4 from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Gardner campus. To register for an information session or to request materials, call (978) 630-9481 or (978) 630-9450, or visit http://www.mwcc.edu/services/CAPP/default.html.
• The First Connections Mothers Group’s weekly meetings are held every Friday. At the gatherings, which take place in the Children’s Room at Levi Heywood Memorial Library from 10:30 a.m. to noon, attendees discuss topics such as feeding, sibling rivalry, temper tantrums, appropriate toys, traveling with children and how to choose a daycare provider. All mothers and their babies are invited. For more information, contact Professor Nancy Duphily, the meeting facilitator, at duphi@yahoo.com or (978) 630-9233. Duphily will be assisted by MWCC nursing students as part of their service-learning project.
• MWCC’s Leo & Theresa LaChance Library will host the "Elizabeth I: Ruler and Legend" traveling exhibit beginning Wednesday, Dec. 13 through March 30. The library is one of only 40 public and academic libraries in the nation to host this exhibit. This new exhibit commemorates the 400th anniversary of the death of Queen Elizabeth I of England and encourages audiences not only to reacquaint themselves with the Queen, but also to become more familiar with the historical and cultural forces that shaped her personality and her time, and to examine the mixture of history and legend that continues to surround her today. The American Library Association Public Programs Office, in partnership with The Newberry Library of Chicago and the National Endowment for the Humanities, is sponsoring the traveling exhibit. All showings of the exhibition and related programs will be free and open to the public. For more information, contact Reference and Instruction Librarian Ellen Pratt at (978) 630-9125.
• MWCC has launched the new Clinical Laboratory Science program. Students enrolled in this program will learn how to use sophisticated biomedical instrumentation and computers to analyze blood and other body specimens. Information sessions will take place Wednesday, Dec. 13 at 3 p.m. in the OBS Conference Room on the second floor of Heywood Hospital. Prospective students interested in attending the information session are asked to call the Admissions Office at (978) 630-9110 (TTY (978) 632-4916), or send an email to admissions@mwcc.mass.edu. Information about the new CLS program also is posted on the college Blackboard website called CLS Information Center. To access more information, go to https://bb.mwcc.edu and then enter “cls” as both the username and password.
• MWCC’s new Biotechnology program will host information sessions Wednesday, Dec. 6; Thursday, Jan. 4; and Tuesday, Jan. 16 from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and Tuesdays Dec. 19, Jan. 9 and Jan. 16 from 6 to 7 p.m. at the main campus, 444 Green St., Gardner. With the decision by the drug manufacturer Bristol-Myers Squibb to locate a large biotechnology company at Devens, the college anticipates a 64-credit degree program will begin in fall 2007 and a 28-credit certificate program in fall 2008 at the Devens campus. The Massachusetts Biotechnology Council predicts more than 100,000 biotechnology jobs will be added statewide by the end of the decade. Registration is required. To register and for more information, contact MWCC’s Dean of Science Charles Weitze at cweitze@mwcc.mass.edu or (978) 630-9207.