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Welcome to College and Career Success Students!

Posted in Northwestern.

To help you learn more about the Northwestern campus and the services we provide to help you succeed, we have created short videos explaining our departments and their offerings.

Academic Success Center

Dr. Laura McCarthy introduces you to our Academic Success Center at Northwestern where we offer free tutoring and academic support services to all students.

Northwestern Library

Jim Patterson, director of the Northwestern Library talks about the services to students.

President Rooke's Office

President of Northwestern, Dr. Michael Rooke welcome you to the campus.

Admissions, Advising and Financial Aid

Our staff in the Admissions, Guided Pathways and Financial Aid offices welcome you to Northwestern

“Food for Thought” Food Pantry

At Northwestern, we have a free food pantry for students, run by Phi Theta Kappa and Profs. Wiggins and Bryda. It's on the third floor of the Founders Hall Annex.

Student Activities

Director of Student Activities, Andrew Wetmore explains the services provided by our Student Activities Office and Student Senate.

Disability Services

This video introduces students to the services provided through our coordinator of disability services.

Office of Student and Faculty

Dr. Jay Whitaker, Campus Dean of Students and Faculty talks about the services that his office provides.
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Northwestern Student Success Fund

Posted in Northwestern.

The Student Success Fund, generously funded by the Northwestern Community College Foundation, provides a one-time payment to CT State Northwestern home campus students who have a sudden and unexpected expense that may impact their ability to continue their education. These payments have no repayment obligation.

Eligibility Requirements

To be eligible, students must meet all of the following:

  1. Have a temporary financial hardship resulting from a sudden emergency and be able to provide sufficient documentation of financial hardship.
  2. Be a CT State Northwestern home campus student, currently enrolled at CT State Northwestern.
  3. Be in good academic standing and be making satisfactory academic progress.
  4. Through the interactive process, the student must show evidence that other possible resources have been considered or are unavailable or insufficient.
  5. Explain how the payment will aid the student in academic progress.

Examples

  • Basic Needs
    • Rent
    • Transportation
    • Medical- non-reoccurring and emergency medical expenses that are not already covered by insurance or other financial resources.
    • Car Repair
    • Car Payments, Utilities
  • Academic Experiences

For more information, contact:

Megan Vo, Associate Dean of Student Development
Location: Founders Hall 102
Email: Megan.Vo@ctstate.edu
Phone: 860-738-6335

How to Apply

The application opens on the first day of instruction for the semester and closes on the last day of instruction before finals. Awards may not be made until after the drop date.

Once an application is received, the student will receive a request for follow-up inquiries, including an intake meeting to review the documentation provided and explore any additional resources available both on and off campus.

Apply to the Student Success Fund

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Team Success Scholars

Posted in Northwestern.

  • Temp Last Modified: 2025-03-04
Large group of TSS students in woods pose in goofy ways at camera

The Team Success Scholars (TSS) program at CT State Northwestern is designed for student success. Supporting students from traditionally underserved populations, we help young adults who are attending college for the first time successfully navigate the college experience and achieve their educational and career goals. 

About the Program

Our Success speaks for itself. With an average cohort size of 25, Team Success Scholars:

  • Are more likely to stay in college
  • Earn on average a higher GPA of 2.90
  • Finish English and Math coursework sooner
  • Obtain at least one Workplace Recognized Credential
  • Complete an Internship Experience
  • Complete a Service Learning project
  • Upwards of 80% graduate with an Associates Degree
  • Graduate on average in 2.5 years
  • Greater than 90% transfer on to a 4-year university

Learn More About TSS

Video produced by Erin Sullivan, NCCC May ’21 graduate & TSS alum

Apply

Applications for the 2026-2027 cohort are now being accepted! Please complete the application of intent (this application takes no more than 5 minutes!) Application deadline is June 1st, 2026.

Complete the online application by the deadline. All supporting documents must be submitted to complete the application packet. Incomplete applications will not move forward for consideration.

Documents to be collected include:

  • High School Diploma (or GED)
  • Social Security Card
  • Birth Certificates
  • Paystubs
  • State issued ID
  • Disability Documentation (if applicable)

*Please note that this is a federally funded grant, and document collecting is a mandatory step in your application.

Program Benefits

As a member of Team Success Scholars, students benefit from a holistic support system that focuses on personal development and academic and career success. The tightly-knit cohort of students are engaged on campus with faculty, staff and student activities, and in their communities as young professionals. As recognized leaders, TSSers are routinely asked to speaker before groups and to act as ambassadors to the college and the TSS program. Through these opportunities TSS students develop a robust network of professional contacts and enrich their professional portfolio.

  • TSS helps students to develop their own career pathway toward an associate’s degree, including earning at least one workplace recognized credential, ultimately helping them to secure a better job and economic security. Workplace credentials may include Security Officer certificate, OSHA 9 certification, CNA certification, EMT certification or ServSafe certification. All training costs are supporting by the TSS program. Upon completion of training and certification, we assist students with securing employment utilizing the credential.

  • All TSS students are required to work during their time in the program. We offer internships at $18/hr both on and off campus. Students can work up to 20 hours per week during the semester and up to 35 hours per week over the winter and summer breaks. TSSers have interned at Charlotte Hungerford Hospital, HO Products, American Mural Project, Five Points Gallery, Torrington Historical Society, Salvation Army of Winsted, Ed Advance Day Support Program, Prime Time House, The American Tort Law Museum, Town of Winsted, Dolly’s Doggy Daycare, to name a few.

  • Students meet weekly for individualized sessions focusing on any barriers the students may be facing, and facilitating an action plan for positive resolution. Actionable items may include meeting with a professor, going to tutoring, pro-active advising, meeting with our study coach, visiting the campus food pantry, reaching out to a campus or community professional, or financial assistance. We encourage self-resolution with facilitated guidance.

  • We have a dedicated TSS room on campus where students engage in learning cohorts, peer tutoring, individual study time, and weekly TSS Workshops. The room is open and accessible whenever the campus is open, supporting faculty and peer connections, socializing, and sometimes simply downtime. We also hold two TSS Leadership Retreats off campus, encouraging leadership training, teamwork and cohort building. Weekly TSS workshops include topics such as:

    • Financial literacy
    • Career-focused panel discussions
    • Community Action Planning
    • Developing your Personal Brand – LinkedIn, Social Media and You
    • Resume writing & Interview Preparation
    • Virtual Savvy & Dress for Success
    • Scholarship writing
    • Mental Health

  • Our students regularly attend statewide, national and international conferences and volunteering experiences. TSSers regularly are part of:

  • TSS offers financial resources and guidance to students facing economic challenges. Financial support addresses individual needs, which may include costs for books, transportation, eyeglasses, professional clothes, credentialing costs, food, rent or housing. The program also supports students wishing to train and earn workplace recognized credentials as part of their career plans, assisting with tuition, books and supply costs.

    • All TSSers are involved in yearlong Community Action Planning (CAP) projects, addressing a need in the community and assisting the stakeholder with developing a sustainable solution. Working in partnership with Quinnipiac University, students meet at least twice a year to collaborate on projects and share successes. Past projects have included planting and landscaping for elder care and veteran centers, understanding and addressing food insecurity, improving police and student relations, and addressing access and equity in education. Ongoing projects include “The Mosaic Project," a collaborative effort with the Torrington Historical Society to develop an online space to document and celebrate the diversity of the immigrants who have chosen to call Torrington home.

      For More Information

      Jessie DePonte, Program Director of Team Success Scholars
      Email: jessie.deponte@ctstate.edu 
      Phone: 860-738-6348

      Maggie Sullivan, Program Assistant of Team Success Scholars
      Email: margaret.sullivan@ctstate.edu 
      Phone: 860-738-6361

      Northwest Community Bank Northwest Regional Workforce Investment Board

      Team Success Scholars is a Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) youth funded program, administered through the Northwest Regional Workforce Investment Board. Additional funding is provided by Northwest Community Bank of Winsted CT.

      What TSSers are Saying

      Being a part of Team Success Scholars gave me the opportunity to be more involved on campus and taught me several life lessons.The workshops taught me how to properly write a resume, apply for jobs, get out of my comfort zone, and communicate with my professors and faculty. The TSS Leadership Retreat forced me to be out of my comfort zone and do things I never thought I would do, such as zip lining. After being in the TSS program for 3 years, I was able to job shadow at The Jackson Laboratory last summer. This experience helped me to get hired at my current job at Dymax, which I have been trying to work at for years. Being in Team Success Scholars has greatly impacted my experience at NCCC and helped me to achieve my goals.
      - Cynthia Pitcher, May 2020 graduate

      Team Success Scholars has helped me find myself and become someone that I have always dreamed to be. It has pushed me to be the best version of myself. Team Success Scholars is not only there to help you succeed – it’s a family that is there for support when you feel as if you can’t succeed.
      - Sarah Kruse, May 2020 graduate

      The Team Success Scholars program provides me with many great opportunities to give back to my community and to acquire useful job experiences for my future.  I have been able to be a part of many events that are deeply important to me. I was able to have a voice for my Hispanic community by speaking before the Legislative Budget Appropriations Committee Hearing in Hartford. I have been able to volunteer and provide food for the people who need it most in our community through NCCC’s CT Food Bank Mobile Food Pantry. I am very grateful for this program.
      - David Castillo, First-year Business Administration major

      TSS has helped me an extreme amount through my time here. I would wager without it I would have dropped out a long time ago if it wasn’t for the support I received from TSS. I owe my internship and international experience to this program. Team Success Scholars has instilled a sense of urgency in me; I felt I was capable of doing much more than just taking classes at the college.
      - Tommy Le,  May 2020 graduate

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      Mad River Fest

      Posted in Northwestern.

      Mad River Fest Logo

      Mad River Fest 2026

      Wednesday, April 8, 2026 | 3-7:30 p.m.

      A Day of Celebrating Resilience Through Art, Poetry and Community
      Founders Hall, CT State Northwestern

      Free and Open to the Public
      Join us for all the events!

      Event Flyer

      Festival Schedule

      A Lyrical Lens: Coping with the Contemporary Through Music with Dr Whitaker, Dean of Students and Faculty

      3-4 p.m. | Library Rotunda
      (Students only)

      Join Dr. Whitaker, Dean of Students and Faculty, as we launch the festival with an engaging conversation on how music helps us navigate the complexities of contemporary life. Through reflection and discussion, we’ll explore how lyrics and sound can serve as both a mirror and a guide–offering insight, connection, and resilience in times of change, uncertainty and shared experience.

      Student sits on windowsill with headphones, eyes closed enjoying music

      Exhibition Reception Featuring Artist Janis Stemmermann

      4 p.m. | The Gallery at Founders Hall

      Empty room with branches laid out on floor matching print made from branches on canvas on wall

      Artist Statement

      When conceiving work for this exhibition, I was thinking about the process of printmaking and shaping clay vessels as empathy—points of contact. Often, I use text to create connections between ideas and materials, as the visual representation of language into a physical form. In early works of this genre, I used passages from The Passion by Jeanette Winterson, in which she describes raw and visceral experiences of the mind and body. When thinking about the text for this most recent work, I came across a note I wrote over 30 years ago, written next to a sketch of a sculpture idea. In it are questions of permanence, carrying grief in our bodies and how we translate experience into objects.

      In making Note to Self, 2024-2025, I carved these words backwards onto several young maples I had cut down outside my studio, using one tree for each of the 13 lines. To reveal the text, I inked the trees, one by one laid a large piece of Okawara paper over them and used my hands to apply pressure around the form to create an impression along its length. I leaned the trees into the forms of wet, malleable clay pitchers, allowing them to be reshaped by the weight of the wood. When installed as a whole piece, the impression is hung on the wall with the tree matrix arranged horizontally on the floor, along with the reformed pitchers. All the parts radiate personal history, experience, time and touch.

      The Whey Station Grilled Cheese Truck

      4-5 p.m. | Outside Founders Hall

      We proudly welcome back the Whey Station! Swing by Mad River Fest for next-level grilled cheese that’s affordable, family-friendly and seriously satisfying–then stick around for a night of art and poetry that feeds the soul.

      People order from the Whey Station Food Truck

      Family Friendly Events

      4-5 p.m. | Founders Hall (Hallways and Lounges)

      Join students from H.E.A.R.T. (Helping, Educating, Advocating, Reaching and Transforming) for kid-friendly activities, plus work with students from P2P (Peer 2 Peer Mentors) and the art department as they guide you through the process of making your own customizable Mad River Fest t-shirt!

      T-shirt being screen printed

      Live Music Sets the Stage!
      Featuring Student, Ella Gannon

      4:30-5:30 p.m. | Founders Hall Auditorium

      Ella Gannon is a Folk + Rock musician based in Barkhamsted, known for her warm tones and a bright and positive energy that will remain memorable long after the final applause. Blending influences from Joni Mitchell, Fleetwood Mac and Noah Kahan, she creates a soprano sound that is soft and gentle, bringing a comforting and joyful mood to any room she plays in.

      Ella Gannon in field of wildflowers

      About Ella

      Ella has sung all her life but first began choir in 4th grade and continued through her senior year of high school. She picked up a guitar for the very first time in June of 2024,a self-taught beginner. In winter of 2025, she began taking guitar lessons at Mad River Music in Winsted. Since then, she has enjoyed performing at multiple events, such as The Colebrook Fair, The Winsted Fall Foliage Festival, and several open mics. Ella signs herself up for as many performances as she can, continues taking lessons and strums away in her free time, continuing to shape her evolving sound.

      Mad River Anthology Launch

      5-5:30 p.m. | Outside Founders Hall Auditorium

      Pick up your copy of this year's Mad River Anthology, hot off the presses! Featuring incredible work from our talented Northwestern student body.

      Stack of anthologies

      Main Stage Event Plus Open Mic!
      Featuring Antoinette Brim-Bell and Janis Stemmermann

      5:30-7:30 p.m. | Founders Hall Auditorium

      Stick around after the main stage presentations and take the mic!
      Sign up for the Mad River Open Mic as you enter the Auditorium. Share your poetry, music, stories or creative spark with our community.

      headshots of Antoinette Brim-Bell and Janis Stemmermann

      About Our Featured Guests

      Antoinette Brim-Bell is Connecticut’s 8th State Poet Laureate (2022–2025) and the author of three poetry collections, with work featured in Poetry Magazine, Poem-a-Day, and numerous journals and anthologies. A Pushcart Prize nominee, Cave Canem Fellow, and interdisciplinary artist, her work spans poetry, criticism, visual art, and performance, including a ballet adaptation presented on the Alvin Ailey stage in New York City.

      Janis Stemmermann is a visual artist and designer whose interdisciplinary practice spans installation, ceramics, textiles, and printmaking, exploring the space between art, function, and the language of domestic objects and landscape. Her work has been supported by the Pollock-Krasner Foundation and exhibited widely in New York and Connecticut, with studios based in Williamsburg, Brooklyn and Sharon, CT.

      A Brief History of the Mad River Festival and Mad River Anthology

      The Mad River Festival is a long-standing celebration of literature and the arts in Northwestern Connecticut, rooted in the region’s educational and cultural traditions. It originated in 1965 as Scroll, a literary magazine produced by the English and Art departments at what is now CT State Northwestern. Renamed the Mad River Anthology in 1974, the publication has provided a platform for student writers and artists for decades, featuring poetry, fiction, essays, song lyrics, and photography.

      In 1996, the anthology became the centerpiece of the Mad River Festival, an expanded event that brings the campus and community together through poetry readings, faculty and guest speaker presentations, a juried student art show, and interdisciplinary collaborations. While the festival and publication continued uninterrupted until 2019, both paused during the COVID-19 pandemic before returning in 2023.

      Today, the Mad River Anthology remains CT State Northwestern’s annual literary magazine, showcasing student work selected by faculty editors from the English and Art departments. Meanwhile, the Mad River Festival has evolved into a dynamic, multi-faceted event that fosters creative expression across disciplines. The Northwestern Connecticut Community College Foundation has sponsored the anthology’s publication since 1993, in collaboration with the campus Cultural Planning Committee.

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      Kids Kloset

      Posted in Northwestern.

      room with children's clothes, toys, stuffed animals and books

      The Kids Kloset at Northwestern is a free resource available to all enrolled Northwestern students. It is stocked with gently used children’s clothing, toys, and books. All Northwestern students are invited to choose items for the young children in their lives. The mission of the Kids Kloset is to provide support to CT State Northwestern students while they embark on their educational journey.

      How It Works

      The Kids Kloset is located in the Founders Annex– Room 318 (3rd floor, across from the Food for Thought Food Pantry).

      You may visit during our open hours by going to the Food Pantry office, signing in, and then picking your items. Alternatively, you may make an appointment to visit the Kids Kloset by contacting Tracy Smith at tracy.smith@ctstate.edu

      When you arrive, you will self-select the clothing, toys, and books of your choice. Please take what you need.

      Spring 2026 Hours

      Monday: 8:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m.
      Tuesday: 8:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.
      Wednesday: 8:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.
      Thursday: 8:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.
      Friday, Saturday, Sunday: Closed

      Donations

      The Kids Kloset is currently accepting donations of children’s clothing, toys, and books. All donations must be free of stains and holes with light to no wear and tear. Please contact Tracy Smith at tracy.smith@ctstate.edu to arrange drop-off.

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