Motto | Life Happens, Keep Learning |
---|---|
Type | Public community college |
Established | 1963 |
Accreditation | NECHE |
President | James L. Vander Hooven |
Students | 5,932 (2023) |
Location | , , United States 42°35′34.64″N71°59′0.61″W / 42.5929556°N 71.9835028°W |
Campus | Rural, 269 acres (109 ha) |
Mascot | Marty the Mountain Lion |
Website | mwcc.edu |
Mount Wachusett Community College (MWCC) is a public community college in Gardner, Massachusetts. Established by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in 1963, it features an open admissions policy for the majority of its academic programs. MWCC offers more than 70 academic programs that allow students to earn an Associate of Science degree (A.S.), Associate of Arts degree (A.A.), or a certificate.
The 269-acre (1.09 km2) main campus is located on 444 Green Street in Gardner, Massachusetts. The college also maintains a satellite campus at 100 Erdman Way in Leominster, Massachusetts, and an Automotive Technology Facility on Linus Allain Ave in Gardner, Massachusetts. The college has an additional educational site in Fitchburg, Massachusetts where dental hygiene and dental assisting students take classes and offer free dental cleanings at 326 Nichols Road in Fitchburg, MA in partnership with Community Health Center of Fitchburg, Massachusetts.
The college has been praised for its use of renewable energy, winning the National Wildlife Federation's "Chill-Out: Campus Solutions to Global Warming" competition in the spring of 2007. [1]
Renewable energy technologies at the college include: Solar PhotoVoltaic panels originally producing 5 kilowatts and upgraded to 97.24 kilowatts in September 2009. [2] and a biomass plant which heats the college by burning waste woodchips.
The college also uses a biomass gasification generator, where woodchips are turned into combustible gases, which are used in a gasoline engine, powering a generator that produces 50 kilowatts of electricity. This is a research and development project contracted with the U.S. Department of Energy.
Two Vestas V82 1.65 MW wind turbines were activated in March 2011 which are expected to generate 97 percent of the college's annual electricity demand. [3]
Mount Wachusett Community College serves the following 29 cities and towns in North Central Massachusetts: [4]
Mount Wachusett Community College offers multiple programs that offer high school/home school juniors and seniors the chance to enroll in college classes prior to their high school graduation. Mount Wachusett Community College is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education. [5]
An Adult Education program prepares adults without high school degrees to complete their high school equivalency exam (GED/HiSET). These students are then eligible to continue their education at the college level at Mount Wachusett Community College or any other institution. [9]
The college provides corporate instruction and workforce development training for local businesses. Services include assisting companies with accessing Workforce Training Fund grants and delivering customized training. [10]
ESL students receive personalized instruction in a computer/media lab at the campus in Leominster, MA. Courses are taught at 4 levels: beginning, advanced beginning, intermediate, and advanced. [11]
The college offers noncredit classes for personal enrichment year-round as part of its Lifelong Learning program. [12]
MWCC students enjoy many support services and resources including free tutoring in the Academic Support Center, subsidized childcare, career planning assistance, disability support, food assistance, counseling, and veteran services. [13]
Mount Fitness is the college's 65,000-square foot gymnasium. It is open to the public and offers memberships for individuals and families. Membership fees include group fitness/yoga classes, pool use, and tanning. [14] The facility includes:
The college's theatre hosts a sizable community theatre program. Started in the autumn of 1976 (under the name "Theatre North Central"), [15] notably through the Eastern Massachusetts Association of Community Theatres (EMACT) [16] [17] [18] [19] and New England Theatre Conference (NETC) [20]
In 2006, Theatre at the Mount launched the TAMY Award program for high school musical theatre. [21] Modeled after Broadway's Tony Awards, the TAMYs evaluate high school performances within a 50-mile radius of the college based on a number of criteria, including (among others) Best Actor,Best Actress,Best Featured Ensemble and Best Overall Production. [22]
Leominster is a city in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the second-largest city in Worcester County, with a population of 43,222 at the 2023 census. Leominster is located north of Worcester and northwest of Boston. Both Route 2 and Route 12 pass through Leominster. Interstate 190, Route 13, and Route 117 all have starting/ending points in Leominster. Leominster is bounded by Fitchburg and Lunenburg to the north, Lancaster to the east, Sterling and Princeton to the south, and Westminster to the west.
Princeton is a town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. It is bordered on the east by Sterling and Leominster, on the north by Westminster, on the northwest by Hubbardston, on the southwest by Rutland, and on the southeast by Holden. The preeminent landmark within Princeton is Mount Wachusett, which straddles the line between Princeton and Westminster but the entrance to which is within Princeton. According to tradition, in 1675, Mary Rowlandson was ransomed upon Redemption Rock, now within the town of Princeton, by King Philip. The population was 3,495 at the 2020 census. Princeton is a rural exurb, serving as a bedroom commuter town for nearby cities such as Worcester, Gardner, and Boston.
Running Start is a dual credit enrollment program in Washington, Hawaii, New Hampshire, Montana and Illinois which allows high school juniors and seniors to attend college courses numbered 100 or above, while completing high school. It is similar to other dual enrollment programs common at public and private colleges and universities in other states like Concurrent Enrollment or Dual Enrollment. Running Start credits are held in equally high regard as Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate.
Fitchburg State University is a public university in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. It has 3,421 undergraduate and 1,238 graduate/continuing education students, for a total student body enrollment of 4,659. The university offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in 25 academic disciplines. The main campus, the McKay Campus School, and athletic fields occupy 79 acres (320,000 m2) in the city of Fitchburg; the biological study fields occupy 120 acres (490,000 m2) in the neighboring towns of Lancaster, Leominster, and Lunenburg.
Wachusett Regional High School is located in Holden, Massachusetts, United States and services the Wachusett Regional School District. Founded in 1955, the school educates students from Holden, Paxton, Princeton, Rutland, and Sterling. It is the first regional high school in Massachusetts. The interim principal is Michael Pratt. The assistant principals are Rebecca Demarco, Josue Delgado, Victoria DeSimone, and Matthew Lane.
In the United States, dual enrollment (DE), also called concurrent enrollment, programs allow students to be enrolled in two separate, academically related institutions. Generally, it refers to high school students taking college or university courses. Less commonly, it may refer to any individual who is participating in two related programs.
The Fitchburg Line is a branch of the MBTA Commuter Rail system which runs from Boston's North Station to Wachusett station in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. The line is along the tracks of the former Fitchburg Railroad, which was built across northern Massachusetts, United States, in the 1840s. Winter weekend service includes a specially equipped seasonal "ski train" to Wachusett Mountain.
The City Colleges of Chicago is the public community college system of the Chicago area. Its colleges offer associate degrees, certificates, free courses for the GED, and free English as a second language (ESL) courses.
The Massachusetts School of Law (MSLAW) is a private law school in Andover, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1988 and claims that its design and curriculum were influenced by the medical school educational model and legal scholars. Although it is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education, it is not accredited by the American Bar Association (ABA).
Westford Academy is the public high school for the town of Westford, Massachusetts, United States. It was incorporated in 1792 and is one of the oldest public high schools in the United States.
Leominster High School is a public high school located in Leominster, Massachusetts, United States. It is the only secondary educational institution found in Leominster. It is situated in a mixed-industrial-residential section of Western Leominster in a 1960s era building.
"Wachusett" is a word derived from the Algonquian languages such as Nipmuc and Wompanoag, still spoken by the Native Americans of Massachusetts and is believed to approximate "near the mountain" or "mountain place". Wachusett was originally used as the name of a mountain in Massachusetts; other uses of the word have been derived directly from the name of the mountain.
The Early College High Schools (ECHS) in the United States allow students to receive a high school diploma and an associate degree, or up to two years of college credit, by taking a mixture of high school and college classes. Designed for students traditionally underrepresented in college, the programs differ from dual enrollment, by the intentional supports provided to students. These supports help students to prepare to take dual credit classes while in high school and be ready for the rigorous college work after they graduate from high school. Different from dual enrollment, early colleges also provide pathways leading to some post-secondary credential or transferable college credit. There are different models of early college programs. Some early colleges are stand-alone small schools, often located on a college campus, where all students are expected to participate in the program. Other early colleges are programs within comprehensive schools that enroll interested students.
The Heart of New England Council is a Boy Scouts of America council serving Cub Scout packs, Scouts BSA troops, Exploring posts and Venturing crews in central Massachusetts with administrative support, program resources, activities, events, and camping properties.
The Montachusett Regional Transit Authority (MART) is a public, nonprofit organization established under Chapter 161B of the Massachusetts General Laws to provide public transportation to the Montachusett Region. MART is one of Massachusetts' 15 regional transit authorities and provides public transportation to 21 communities within the Montachusett region consisting of the cities of Fitchburg, Leominster and Gardner, and the towns of Athol, Ashburnham, Ashby, Ayer, Bolton, Boxborough, Hardwick, Harvard, Hubbardston, Lancaster, Littleton, Lunenburg, Royalston, Shirley, Sterling, Stow, Templeton, Westminster, and Winchendon.
College in the Schools (CIS) is an educational program for Minnesota high school students run by the University of Minnesota. It allows students to take college level classes in their high school and, as a result, earn college and high school credit free. The classes are taught by high school teachers who receive several weeks of additional training by the University of Minnesota. The curriculum is controlled by the University of Minnesota. More than 100 high schools in Minnesota participate in the program. Similar to programs such as Post Secondary Enrollment Options, the school district must pay for CIS programming for each student who enrolls in the program. Costs for College in the Schools are generally higher than alternative options offered by the Minnesota State System. Many schools who do not offer Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate classes offer CIS.
Montachusett Regional Vocational Technical School, also known as Monty Tech, is a grade 9 to grade 12 public, secondary, vocational, open enrollment school in Fitchburg and Westminster, Massachusetts, United States. It provides training in 21 different trades and is the second largest vocational-technical school in Massachusetts.
Wachusett station is a commuter rail station on the MBTA Commuter Rail Fitchburg Line. It is northwest of the intersection of Massachusetts Route 2 and Route 31 in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. It serves as the northwestern terminus for Fitchburg Line trains. The opening of Wachusett extended service 4.5 miles (7.2 km) west from Fitchburg on the Pan Am Southern main line, lengthening the Fitchburg Line to 54 miles (87 km). The station was expected to draw 400 daily riders; by 2018, daily ridership was 132.
Gardner station is a former station stop on the MBTA Commuter Rail Fitchburg Line, located in Gardner, Massachusetts. Passenger service to Union Station ran from 1851 until 1960, and commuter service also briefly ran from 1980 to 1986. Restoration of passenger service was considered in the early 2000s, but was rejected due to low cost-effectiveness.
John J. Cronin is a lawyer, Massachusetts state Senator, and former American military officer. Before election to the Massachusetts Senate, Cronin attended the United States Military Academy and served two tours in Afghanistan as an Army infantry officer. Cronin was honorably discharged from active duty as a Captain in 2018.