NSCC expansion on course

LYNN – Fencing and work trailers set up on North Shore Community College’s Broad Street campus mark the first steps in a two-year project to expand the college complex.The $21 million expansion includes building 10 classrooms, consolidating the campus Student Success Center and creating space for several college programs, including academic technology, the Center for Teaching and learning and assessment.”North Shore Community College is the city of Lynn’s only institution of higher education and we embrace our role as a community resource and contributing partner. We look forward to the expanded opportunities this new facility will provide for all,” North Shore President Patricia Gentile said.The college’s new 37,000 square foot wing is slated to open for spring semester 2017.The expansion is beginning 30 years after the Lynn campus opened as a 1,000-student academic center. Filled to capacity immediately after its opening, the Lynn campus has been proposed for expansion since 2002.North Shore has Beverly and Danvers facilities, but the college – in a statement – said almost half of North Shore’s 15,000 students attend classes primarily on the Lynn campus.”The Lynn campus was too small when it opened and it has been over-capacity ever since. Our space needs are great, so seeing this project come to fruition is very exciting and long overdue,” Gentile said.DeIulis Brothers Construction of Lynn is the expansion project contractor. Outside site preparation work will continue into August with piling installation scheduled to start in mid-August and be completed by the start of the academic year in September.Planning for the expansion includes reconfiguring the current campus layout: The college enrollment and student records office relocated from room LW157 to LW205 for the length of the project.Work on the new wing is beginning three months after Gentile announced North Shore’s participation with the Lynn public schools and North Shore Workforce Investment Board in a “cradle to career” program to give college students an education mirroring employers’ needs.Eight out of 10 North Shore Community College students hold jobs while attending school, she said, adding 30 percent need academic help transitioning from high school academics to college-level courses.Gentile, who began overseeing North Shore’s three campuses in January 2014, said the college works closely with area employers and with the Workforce Investment Board. The percentage of local residents without a high school degree is higher than the number statewide, according to Census statistics.