Dec. '25 News Blog
News briefs from the HCC campus and beyond
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Innovation Challenge 2.0
HCC held its second Innovation Challenge Dec. 4. The annual contest gives students the opportunity to work together to create solutions to real-world problems, highlighting creativity, collaboration, critical thinking, and communication skills. Students came together earlier in the semester to form teams and then worked with faculty, staff and program alumni coaches to develop their ideas. This year’s theme was transportation. Winners of the poster and pitch competition were Liam Colclough, Sarah Kites, and Eithan Ortiz Viera with their idea for EZ Board, a ramp system for public railway systems that would make it easier to get on a train for people who use wheelchairs. Second place went to Nessalyn Neth, Marison Puac Hernandez, Alvaro Betancourt, and Kayla Santo-Bermudez for InvisiGem, a tracking tool disguised as a piece of jewelry. Third place went to Zachary Barabani, Adison Oliveras, and Andy Sanders for Taurus, an automated recovery system to assist in avalanche and other risky recoveries. Serving as judges were Shannon Roberts, a professor of Mechanical Engineering at UMass who was also a guest speaker at the event, alum and retired engineer Ed Germain ’71, ALANA mentor Miguel Velez, and David McBride, a Holyoke resident and retired analyst at the U.S. Dept. of Transportation. All three teams will have the opportunity to compete in the spring for a chance to represent HCC at the national Innovation Challenge organized by the American Association of Community Colleges. PHOTO: Innovation Challenge II teams with their advisers, competition judges and President George Timmons.
'A Special Place'
Ted Hebert ’71 attended Holyoke Community College when it was still located downtown, after the 1968 fire that destroyed the main college building but before the new campus opened on Homestead Avenue in 1974. “I went to the old school when it was just three buildings,” he recently said. Hebert has spent a lot of time on the "new" campus in the past 11 years, having been first appointed to the Board of Trustees by Gov. Deval Patrick in 2014, and reappointed in 2020 by Gov. Charlie Baker. Although he completed his final term a few months ago, he stopped by the board’s November meeting to say his formal farewell. “I have so many good memories here,” he said. “I really do. I really love you all. I thank you for this journey that I’ve been on.” Aside from his work on the HCC board, Hebert, founder and owner of Teddy Bear Pools & Spas, has been a longtime and faithful supporter of the HCC Foundation. The scholarship he and his wife set up, the Ted and Barbara Hebert Teddy Bear Pools Scholarship for Working Students, supports 10 HCC students every year. “Since I became president, he’s been one of my biggest advocates,” said President George Timmons, "and he’s been a great ambassador for HCC.” And he will continue to be, having subsequently accepted an invitation to serce on the board of the Foundation board of directors. “HCC has meant a lot to me,” he said. “This is just a beautiful campus, but I think it’s not the structure that makes it great; it’s the people. It’s just a really special place. It really is.” PHOTO: HCC alum Ted Hebert ’71 and President George Timmons.
