By Dalia Diaz
Each step our community takes for our growth in education is deserving of recognition because we can always look at the present and realize how we got to where we are. It is not reinventing the wheel but making it smoother, improving on what we have done.
The PIES Program at Northern Essex Community College reminded me of how professionals used to get their credentials from foreign countries and be able to use their skills in this country. Behind that effort was Nunzio Di Marca. We met back in 1985 (even before I moved to Lawrence) while he was working with the Hispanic Job Incentive Program, which was part of the Chamber of Commerce.
Ana Levy joined him and they met through the years at the Masonic Center teaching English and Citizenship. As a result of their efforts, the Association of Latin American Professionals was born and many residents were able to get their credentials revalidated.
Long before NECC had a home in Lawrence, John Dimitri, president of the college asked Nunzio to bring that program as part of the college. For a while, he held classes at the Old High School, Grace Episcopal Church and the third floor at Lawrence Public Library until Richard Capaldo, National Vice President of Metropolitan Insurance donated the building on Franklin St. to Mr. Dimitri, which became the Lawrence Campus.
Ana and Nunzio have remained very close and it was my privilege sharing an afternoon with them reminiscing about the beginning of that program.
