Earlier this summer in Atlanta, Georgia, more than 6,500 students competed at the SkillsUSA Championships, the world’s largest career and technical education skills competition. 

Students were invited to demonstrate their technical, workplace, and personal skills in hands-on competitions, including one of LRCC’s popular programs, Culinary Arts.

Second-year Pastry Arts student Starr Perry was awarded a silver medal in the Job Skill Demonstration A category. This timed instruction was judged on knowledge, public speaking, poise, and teaching ability.

Perry was given some of the highest marks and impressed the panel with her presentation on “How to plate a cold and hot dessert.” Perry will continue her culinary education at LRCC in the fall and plans to open a bakery when she graduates. 

Arianna Roberts received a bronze medal in the Commercial Baking category. This rigorous challenge included baking seven pastries to professional standards. Roberts placed third among twenty commercial bakers. She recently completed degrees in Pastry Arts and Culinary Arts at LRCC, and plans to become a culinary educator.

Perry and Roberts had previously earned gold medals in their categories at the SkillsUSA New Hampshire competition.

White Mountains Community College, in partnership with Campus Compact for New Hampshire, received a $1.2M grant to assist North Country families with the cost of higher education. The grant will support efforts to improve rates of postsecondary enrollment, providing students with education and job training to support college readiness and career mobility.

WMCC serves northern New Hampshire from its main campus in Berlin and academic centers in Littleton and North Conway.  

Earlier this year it was announced that WMCC had been chosen as one of 150 semifinalists nationwide for the 2023 Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence. WMCC is only one of two community colleges in New England selected to be a semifinalist for this prestigious recognition based on performance in student outcomes.

For the fourth year, CCSNH students have been invited and provided with grant funding through the NH BioMade program to explore a pathway to the rapidly growing, high-wage biomanufacturing workforce.

The specific projects in which CCSNH Undergraduate Research Training (URT) students will be participating are:

Nick Mixon, from Rochester and a current student in the Chemistry program at GBCC, will work with Won Hyuk Suh, assistant professor of biotechnology at UNH Manchester, on the “Peptide Hydrogels for 3D Printing of Human STEM Cells” project.

Mason Jacques, from Rochester and a recent graduate of GBCC with an associate degree in Engineering Science, will work with Katie Hixon, assistant professor of engineering at Dartmouth College, on “Assessing the Feasibility of Integrating 3-D Printing and Polymer Scaffolds.” Jacques is transferring to UNH in the fall to study Mechanical Engineering in the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences (CEPS).

April Weeks, from Portsmouth and a GBCC graduate with an associate degree in Biology, is working with Nate Oldenhuis, assistant professor of chemistry at UNH, on the “Development of pDNA-Based Molecules.” Weeks will continue her education this fall in the Bioengineering program at UNH.

Gwendolyn Tupman, from Pembroke and a recent graduate of MCC with an associate degree in Life Sciences, will be working with Linqing Li, assistant professor of chemical engineering at UNH, on “Developing a Vascularized 3D Tumor Model to Screen Drugs for Cancer Treatment.” Tupman is enrolled at UNH Manchester this fall to study Biotechnology.

“These are powerful experiences for CCSNH graduates,” said Dr. Leslie Barber, GBCC professor of biological science and CCSNH faculty fellow. “By choosing a research experience at the institution they plan to attend, students can also build connections with faculty and other students.”