By Pauline Chiungwiza

The students at Northeast Community College talk about the different opportunities Northeast has to offer, influencing them to consider and choose Northeast as a reliable place to complete their first two years of undergraduate studies.

Dr. Michael R. Chipps, president of Northeast, is shaping Northeast to be a culturally and internationally diverse college. Chipps said that he encourages Students from different parts of the world to consider Northeast as the right place to begin their journey both in college and the United States.

One of the Malawi Students, Juanitta Chikaluma said that Northeast is quite welcoming and gives room to international students to fit in. “The idea of going to college in a different country was scary, but when I arrived at Northeast everyone made me feel comfortable and eventually I wasn’t scared anymore.” Chikaluma said.

Northeast offers an athletic program for students that thrive in sporting activities. Scholarships are opened up to these students allowing them to complete their studies and be on a campus athletic team. “I have always wanted to play basketball professionally, but I also wanted to something to fall back on.” Hawks basketball player, Joel Ufele said. “Northeast seemed like a good place to start because it offered me an education too.”

A large number of local students talked about how affordable Northeast is. Northeast provides a lot of support and essential needs to students like a wide range of resources. Some students work while attending classes at Northeast to save up for future purposes since they don’t have to take much out of their pockets to cover their tuition fees. Work study prepares the students for future jobs and gives them a real experience on how thing are in the real world.  Northeast being affordable does not only apply to local students but international students that are not on scholarships as well.

After graduating from Northeast, former student, Whitney Porn said Northeast opened up opportunities for her to complete her degree at the University of Nebraska- Lincoln. Porn said UNL was her first choice, but she was not ready for it. Northeast then became the second choice after hearing about the transfer program it offers. “Northeast teachers not only prepared me to transfer to UNL, but they also prepared me to feel confident as I was transferring and to learn how to problem solve and make the right decisions.” Porn said. “My success started at Northeast.”