Grand Opening
Ribbon-cutting ceremony at 11:30 a.m.
Holyoke Community College will celebrate the grand opening of its Marieb Adult Learner Success Center, a new support program for adult learners and student-parents, on Wednesday, Dec. 11, beginning at 11 a.m.
The celebration, which will include a ribbon-cutting ceremony, will be held on the second floor of the Frost Building on the main HCC campus, between the Marieb Adult Learner Success Center (FR 264) and its companion resource room, the Parent Learning Center (FR 269).
“We are a space dedicated to our adult learner and student-parent community,” said Anne Medina, HCC associate director of enrollment and recruitment, “where students who are 24 or older, or any student-parent, can receive admissions counseling, holistic advising, and career counseling, or attend workshops. It’s also a space where student-parents can bring their children and study without feeling like they are being a distraction.”
The Marieb Adult Learner Success Center and the Parent Learning Center are funded through a $1 million gift from the Elaine Nicpon Marieb Foundation, which was established by the late professor emerita and HCC alum Elaine Marieb, a long-time member of the biology faculty who went on to become a best-selling author of anatomy and physiology textbooks.
“In her generosity and love of lifelong learning, she earmarked this money for the adult learner and student-parent community,” said Medina. “She herself was an adult learner and understood the unique challenges adult learners face as older students. She firmly believed that they needed dedicated programs and spaces on campus to be successful in their studies.”
The Marieb Adult Learner Success Center is a small lounge and study area with adjoining staff offices. The nearby Parent Learning Center is a much larger space that contains a special desk with an attached and secure play or napping area for small children, a pack and play, changing station, large screen TV, conference table, art easel and learning corner with children’s books and toys.
“The Parent Learning Center is a workspace where students can bring their laptops, sit and work on group projects, or just kick back and relax for a while, where they can have their kids with them and feel safe and welcome,” said Medina.
Also, sometime in 2025, the college’s Itsy Bitsy Child Watch Center will relocate to a new and larger space on the second floor of the Frost Building, close to the Marieb Adult Learner Success Center and Parent Learning Center.
“We’re going to hear a lot more little ones roaming our hallways,” said Medina. “It’s certainly going to bring life to this hallway.”
Tomorrow’s event will begin at 11 a.m., with short remarks from Medina, about the center and its origins, Sharale Mathis, vice president of academic and student affairs, and President George Timmons, followed by the ribbon-cutting at 11:30 a.m.
Light refreshments will also be provided.
PHOTO: Amy Woody, left, Marieb Adult Learner Success Center coordinator; Anne Medina, associate director of enrollment and recruitment, back; and Danielle Clough, academic counselor, in the new Parent Learning Center
