Student Services

Overview

The Division of Student Services at MWCC offers an extensive array of support services and programs (virtual and in-person) to enhance each student’s academic, career, co-curricular, and personal development. These services include academic advisement, financial aid, records, transfer guidance, job placement, veteran student support, student-parent support, personal counseling, student life, health and wellness center, and services for students with disabilities. Students are encouraged to become thoroughly familiar with these resources and to use them as often as they wish.

Vision

Student Services is a mutually committed team of student affairs professionals dedicated to excellence, innovation, and appreciation of diversity. In partnership with campus colleagues, we contribute to students’ successful educational experience, support an actively engaged and diverse student body, and challenge students to become leaders in their community and the world.

Mission

Student Services advances the College’s mission by facilitating student learning and development for maximizing academic and personal success. We create a positive, inclusive, and challenging learning environment that encourages self-motivation and fosters leadership development and life skills. Through engagement with our essential services and programs that promote the intellectual, physical, and emotional well-being, our students transform their potential to match their highest aspirations.

Values

We value a student-centered community where:

  • education and advancement are open to all learners who dedicate themselves to identifying their personal goals and challenges and strive to achieve their maximum potential;

  • collaboration exists in the spirit of teamwork, learning, and creativity;

  • communication is respectful, open, and continuous;

  • integrity guides our sense of honesty, fairness, and compassion;

  • diversity and inclusion are embedded in our work;

  • innovative processes bring about the advancement of knowledge;

  • personal growth, and sustainable change; and

  • excellence is achieved through best practices, knowledge, and demonstrated expertise.

 

Career Services

Career Services are offered to students seeking full-time, part-time and temporary employment by providing job search skill-building seminars and one-on-one sessions on resume building and cover letters, interviewing skills, professional portfolio preparation, and experience navigating a job fair.  Local employers share job openings, which are distributed online and through BlackBoard. Employers visit campus weekly during the academic year, offering a variety of major specific and general job opportunities.  An annual job fair is held in the spring, providing students with an opportunity to meet face-to-face with employers and to discuss potential job opportunities.  For assistance with the job search process, including resume and interview preparation, and learning how to utilize the online job posting system, please stop by Gardner Campus Room 135 or call the Coordinator of Career Services at 978-630-9254.

Services for Students with a Diagnosed Disability

At MWCC we are committed to providing quality services to all students. Students with a diagnosed disability are entitled to receive services that promote academic success in their college experience. Under the mandates of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, any individual who has an impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities such as seeing, hearing, learning, or walking; has a record of such impairment; and/or is regarded as having such impairment is ensured to have equal access and opportunities for success.

Qualified persons with documented disabilities have the right to receive reasonable accommodations that will facilitate full participation and inclusion in courses, examinations, and activities related to their educational and co-curricular experience. Approved accommodations depend upon the particular disability and are granted for the classroom and/or testing setting. Accommodations may include the use of assistive technology, electronic textbooks, audio recording of lectures, preferential seating, reserved parking, ASL interpreting services, extended time for testing, and/or a low distraction setting for testing.  A team of qualified professionals is available to every student who voluntarily discloses a disability. To request information, please contact the Coordinator of Disability Services at 978-630-9330.

Assistive Technology Services

Reasonable accommodations for students with a diagnosed disability are provided after approval from the Coordinator of Disability Services. Procedures for accessing accommodations are provided when students present a notification letter with recommendations of out of classroom testing and/or the use of assistive technology.

iConnect

iConnect is MWCC’s student portal, featuring announcements and a college events calendar.  A student uses an MWCC username and password to access the portal. Students without a username and password may obtain credentials by visiting iConnect's login screen. This same username and password grant access to iConnect, on-campus computers, and the student wireless network, as well as the following student systems with a single sign-on.

Student email is provided via Google’s Gmail. A student's email address is the student's username@mwcc.edu; and the email account is accessible from iConnect. It is important that students check for new email messages regularly, as faculty and staff communicate with students through the MWCC email accounts.

WebConnect is part of the MWCC student information system, where students may register for classes, learn about financial aid awards, check class schedules, view grades, request transcripts, pay bills, and more.

Blackboard is the student learning system. This is where instructors post class information, such as the class syllabus, assignments, and documents. It also contains class discussion boards, as well as other learning-related resources. Not all instructors use Blackboard. If a student does not see a course listed in Blackboard, the student should contact the instructor to ask if Blackboard is being used for the course.

AwardSpring is MWCC’s one-stop scholarship application site. A student can complete the convenient application once and automatically be entered into the applicant pool for all of the MWCC scholarships for which the student qualifies.

Mental Health Counseling

Licensed mental health professionals are available to support and assist students as they cope with personal difficulties that may be interfering with their academic progress. Counseling staff offers crisis intervention, psychoeducational programming, and outreach workshops. Counseling is confidential, short-term, goal-oriented, and free of charge. Personal counselors can also assist students with referrals to outside services in cases where extended therapy or specialized assistance is required. Consultation to faculty, staff, and students is also provided. Please call 978-630-9568 to schedule an appointment.

Students SOS Office

Students Serving Our Students (SOS) is a student-led program offered at MWCC to help students stay in college. Volunteer student mentors are trained to help fellow students address the challenges students encounter that impact their ability to succeed in college.

Student mentors provide information, referrals and support completing applications for issues with:

  • Transportation
  • Childcare
  • Utilities
  • Housing
  • Food Insecurity, etc.

Student mentors refer students to existing community organizations and resources that have programs to address the individual student's needs. For more information about becoming a mentor or if you are in need of support, please visit the SOS Office in Room 152 (the Brewer Center) at the Gardner campus, call 978-630-9255, or visit our website.

'Food for Thought' Campus Pantry

The Food for Thought Campus Pantry is located at the Gardner Campus in room 192, and also on the Leominster Campus. The pantry provides snacks, prepackaged meals and other shelf-stable food items to students in need. Students who are unable to visit the pantry during open hours may visit Student Services on either the Gardner or Leominster campus, call the Basic Needs Coordinator at 978-630-9855, or email us at foodpantry@mwcc.mass.edu to schedule a more convenient time.

The pantry schedule is subject to change based on the academic calendar and availability of volunteers.

Students may walk in, or may be referred by campus departments. The pantry is available to any student enrolled in at least one credit-bearing course or Adult Education / Non-Credit Programs at MWCC. No proof of income is required. Students may receive a total of 30 items each month, but may qualify for additional support from the Gardner Community Action Committee for students who reside in: Gardner, Templeton, Westminster, Ashburnham and Hubbardston.

Students at the Automotive Tech campus and Fitchburg campus are also eligible for support. The Leominster campus has opened a satellite food pantry site, and can support students directly from that campus location. Students should contact the Basic Needs Coordinator at 978-630-9855 to make an appointment.

 

TRIO Student Support Services Programs

Mount Wachusett Community College has two TRIO Student Support Services (SSS) programs funded by the U.S. Department of Education. In accordance with TRIO eligibility requirements, the programs provide services to students from families where neither parent has earned a four-year degree, who have documented disabilities, or who come from limited-income backgrounds. The programs are designed to help students persist in college until graduation and to assist those who wish to transfer to a four-year institution. The programs are:

Rx Program: This program is designed to specifically help eligible students pursuing a career in a health science major and accepts a maximum of 120 students every year.

Visions Program: This program is designed for all other majors and accommodates a maximum of 300 students.

Both programs offer intensive, personalized support to students. Services include academic, personal, and transfer counseling; professional tutoring; study skills and life skills seminars; faculty feedback; career awareness counseling; access to a computer lab; supplemental instruction; and learning disability services.

Motivated students who meet at least one of the eligibility criteria and are in need of academic support are strongly encouraged to apply. For an application and additional information, please call 978-630-9297 or visit MWCC TRIO Student Support Services.