This was the first Community Leaders Day held at NCCC since the coronavirus pandemic started, and Keegan said there was lots to celebrate, with $3.3 million in science and nursing lab upgrades almost complete.

Keegan said for the first time in a decade, the college had an uptick in enrollment from fall semester to fall semester — a 5% rise this year from the 2022 fall semester — from 651 students last year to 685 this year. He said this is no doubt the work of staff at many levels.

The college started the semester in late August with 696 core students, what was at the time only a 2% increase from last year’s 685 students on opening day. The college ended the fall semester last year with 638 core students.

Franklin County Legislator Lindy Ellis and Essex County Board of Supervisors Vice Chairman Jim Monty were thanked for their respective board’s pledging of an additional $100,000 each in operating aid this year. This brings the total county taxpayer contribution to NCCC to $3.5 million this year.

North Country Community College administrators and professors met with local and state legislators in the college’s nursing simulation labs on Wednesday. These labs are being upgraded with state funding. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)

Keegan said the college depends on the counties and state, as well as student tuition and philanthropists, to stay open.

The labs are being improved with a $1.1 million state funding infusion through advocacy by state Sen. Dan Stec, R-Queensbury, and former state Sen. Betty Little to modernize the science labs at the Saranac Lake and Ticonderoga campuses.

NCCC also got a $250,000 state grant secured through Assemblyman Billy Jones, D-Chateaugay Lake, to renovate the science labs at NCCC’s Malone campus and $1 million in federal funding from North Country Rep. Elise Stefanik, R, and federal Sens. Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand to upgrade the nursing labs at all three campuses.

Vice President for Academic Affairs Sarah Maroun gave a run-down of all the college’s new programs and certificates to expand its offerings in an effort to attract more students.

Jones said NCCC is truly a community college, meeting the needs of the communities it serves.

North Country Community College President Joe Keegan ducks out of the way to let Assemblyman Billy Jones peek into one of the college’s nearly finished science labs on Wednesday. These labs are being upgraded with state funding. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)

Nursing Program Director Tana Hare thanked the legislators for a bill they recently passed allowing for one-third of nursing students’ required clinical hours to be replaced by time in a simulation lab.

Hare said in rural areas, it is hard to get hours in hospitals, and their new simulation lab allows for a larger enrollment in nursing programs and increases the college’s clinical capacity. She said this benefits nurses, patients, hospitals and communities.

Science Professor Sarah Shoemaker said safety is of the utmost importance in science labs. While studying chemistry and biology they are working with dangerous chemicals, fire risks and potentially pathogenic microbes. Having up-to-date equipment makes that work safer and more comfortable.

Carrie Reardon, an NCCC alum and Adirondack Health’s associate vice president of nursing, thanked the college for bringing up the next generation of nurses who are much needed in the hospital.

Outgoing NCCC Board of Trustees Chair Stephen Reed and incoming Chair Pete Suttmeier had a changing of the guard. Suttmeier said the college is in a pivotal time, coming out of the coronavirus pandemic and coming into new technology. He said the college has gone through hard times as college enrollment has declined all over, but with NCCC’s uptick this semester, he’s optimistic for the future.

North Country Community College President Joe Keegan speaks to local and state legislators, and NCCC board members at the Community Leaders Day event on Wednesday. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)