Northern Essex Graduates from Haverhill, Lawrence and Rowley Receive Phi Theta Kappa Honors

Michelle Colbert-Mason of Haverhill. (Courtesy photograph.)

Jay Anaya of Lawrence. (Courtesy photograph.)

Northern Essex Community College graduates from Haverhill, Lawrence and Rowley were recently named to the 2021 Phi Theta Kappa All-Massachusetts Academic Team based on outstanding academic achievement and exemplary student service.

Michelle Colbert-Mason of Haverhill, Jay Anaya of Lawrence and Cathalina Eisan of Rowley will be graduating from Northern Essex Saturday, May 15, with high honors.

“It’s been a stressful year, and all three of these students deserve special recognition for having achieved such high levels of academic success despite all the challenges,” said college President Lane A. Glenn. “If they can excel like this in the midst of a pandemic, I can’t wait to see what they will do in the future.”

Each spring, the Massachusetts Association of Community Colleges honors students selected for the academic team at a ceremony at the State House. This year, students were honored online during “PTK Community College Excellence Week.”

Colbert-Mason, who will be the student speaker at the Liberal Arts Commencement Ceremony, had to drop out of high school for health reasons. She received her GED and is earning her associate degree in liberal arts: journalism/communications with high honors. She is a volunteer and member of Junior Board of the Big Sister Association of Greater Boston. She has applied to bachelor’s programs at Northwestern, Northeastern, Simmons, UMass Amherst, Boston University and Emerson.

Cathalina Eisan of Rowley. (Courtesy photograph.)

Anaya is graduating with an associate degree in criminal justice. She has already begun taking courses at UMass Lowell, while enrolled at Northern Essex and anticipates she will graduate with her bachelor’s in criminal justice with a legal studies minor in just one year. She has volunteered in her community in the past, most recently committing 400 hours as a crisis counselor at Crisis Text Line.

Eisan’s goal is to be an interpreter for the deaf, and her passion is working with deaf children. After earning her associate degree in American Sign Language studies, she plans to return to Northern Essex for her sign language interpreting certificate, an intensive program which will help her hone her signing skills.

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