MCC and Lowell's Murkland Elementary School have teamed up to celebrate the installation of a colorful, moveable alphabet that combines English letters with multicultural images.
The project is the work of Professor Jan Arabas' Electronic Imaging course, and the letters were designed by MCC students from Arabas' class. The series of 52 upper and lower-case letters interweaves images of objects that start with each specific letter, and were created over the past year as a community service project for the class.
Alphabet mastermind Jan Arabas gets an A for her efforts!
Murkland fourth-graders, under the direction of Preschool/Kindergarten Special Education Teacher Sarah McPhee created drawings that the MCC students also wove into the alphabet.
The collaboration is an outgrowth of a trip to Cambodia made by Arabas and McPhee in 2010, when they were among 13 MCC and Lowell Public School teachers who participated in a U.S. Department of Education Fulbright-Hays Group Project Abroad, intended to promote communication between American and Cambodian educators.
M is for Matthew!
MCC student Karon Keeney designed the letter "B" -- which features images of a boat, bananas and Buddha.
The new alphabet is lining the walls of the Murkland's Early Childhood wing. The letters were printed by ProForma Graphics, with costs funded by the Cambodian Opera Fund, which is administered by the Cultural Council of Lowell.
Celebrating the alphabet are Lowell Public Schools Superintendent Jean M. Franco; PreK/Kindergarten Special Education Teacher Sarah McPhee; MCC Art Professor Jan Arabas, and Murkland School Principal Jason DiCarlo. MCC students designed the letters in the new teaching tool, incorporating images drawn by Murkland fourth-graders.
Give them all a standing "O" !!!
One last post before Christmas, to give a holiday high-five to one of our own, Chris French, 21, of Lexington, seen here shaking hands with MCC Executive Vice-President Jay Linnehan alongside Dean of Facilities Matt Sepe. Chris in addition to being a part-time employee with our Facilities Department is also a student in our nursing program.
And apparently, in his part-time, is a life-saving Santa Claus.
Chris, who hails from a law enforcement family in the Bedford and Lexington communities, was playing back-up Santa for the real deal recently for a group of Bedford schoolchildren. One of the children, though, was having an anxious time with it, afraid to personally sit with Santa, because he was afraid of the man in the big red suit.
As the boy was leaving the Rotary Club event with his 51-year-old father, the boy's father stopped to give Chris a high-five. But as he did so, the father suddenly collapsed at Santa's feet.
Chris, having recently just been re-certified in CPR, knew there was a problem. Still dressed as Santa, Chris lowered the man to safety, then knelt and began taking the man's vital signs, his pulse and heart rate. As Chris prepared to begin performing CPR on the father, two doctors at the event rushed in to take over, and Chris was able to back off.
But thanks to the immediate help of everyone involved in getting the man the medical attention he desperately needed, the father is alive today, to celebrate Christmas with his family.
The boy in the incident will likely never forget the image of Santa Claus helping to save his dad's life.
To borrow from Linus, that's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.
Heading into the holiday break, we wanted to take a quick moment to acknowledge some of our terrific students and staff who made more than 500 Christmas wishes come true for families throughout the Merrimack Valley!
MCC's Center for Community Engagement, working in partnership with the Salvation Army, helped organize a campuswide collection throughout the holiday season. Students and staffers have been collecting gifts such as toys, games, and new clothing to be distributed to families with Christmas list wishes that couldn't be met this holiday season.
The call for donations went out before Thanksgiving, and in the ensuing weeks, more than 500 wishes were filled by the students, staff and faculty at the college!
Last week, volunteers loaded up truckfuls of the donations and trekked them over to the Salvation Army for distribution to the families on the organization's Christmas wish lists.
Big thanks to all from MCC involved, especially MCC Engager Extraordinaire Sheri Denk, Americorps VISTA member Ashley Borda, MCC staffers Kim Clark and Debra Jordan, and students Doug Avery, Nathalia Ramirez, Julius Williams, John Linton, Kelsey Jones, David Lazu, Nirav Patel, and Daniel Blahnik for their energy and assistance in making sure all of the Christmas deliveries made it over to the Salvation Army!
Here's hoping the families on the receiving end of MCC's generosity have all their holiday wishes come true!
And in the meantime, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy New Year and Season's Greetings to everyone from MCC's extended family, from all of us here at the college!