NASHUA, NH – Nashua Community College (NCC) held a graduation ceremony last week for the 36th Cohort of Microelectronics Boot Camp. The boot camp is an intensive 10-week, 400-hour technical job training program that was founded in 2014. The program was created in partnership with multiple NH manufacturing companies to meet the demand for a skilled workforce.
Jon Mason, Director of Workforce Development at NCC, leads the program. He served as the Master of Ceremonies for the event. He began with a heartfelt, emotional recognition of the late NCC president Lucille Jordan.
“I’ve worked at NCC for 14 years. This program started in 2014 with me, George Block, Kim Calorette, and President Lucille Jordan. President Jordan is no longer with us, but without her, none of us would be here today. This is the 36th time we’ve had a graduation, and the first one she’s missed. Almost 100 people have gone through this program, and lives have been changed thanks to Lucille. Lucille was a great advocate of this program and the college,” said Mason
BAE Systems is one of the founding corporate partners of the program and employs dozens of program graduates. Jason Krug, the Senior Director of Stategic Operations, addressed the graduates and the gathered guests.
Describing the work they learned to master in the boot camp, he said, “Over the past couple of months, you’ve immersed yourselves in one of the most complex and rapidly evolving industries in the world. You learned how to put down components, interconnect those components, all of which is done under a microscope. The ability to do this and what it takes from your hand-eye coordination is something I can’t even comprehend or do. This is incredible stuff, guys. This is really, really hard work under a microscope. Fully deep, deep, like literally 20x, 30x, 1000x, really diving into components that are the size of a salt granule,” Krug said.
“You are not just graduates, you are builders and future problem solvers of generations to come in the microelectronics field. So, as you walk out of here today, certificates in hand, I want you to remember this. What you’ve learned is powerful,” Krug said.
Davina Duncan, a 2022 graduate of the program, provided the alumni address. She described her path from bartender in the service industry to her current professional career in microelectronics manufacturing. She credits the program and the supportive NCC staff and community for her success.
“This program and the staff have helped me change my life in such a drastic and positive way, and I’m far from the only one. It has given me stability and a renewed passion for my work. Whatever reason you had for starting the program, you have now successfully completed microelectronics boot camp, and the doors that that achievement opened for you can lead you to even more amazing opportunities,” said Duncan.
Cohort 36 Graduates are listed below. Each has already received job offers from program partners and expects to begin new jobs post-graduation.
- Dean Joseph Adams
- Alejandro Borrero
- Amy Jane Caissie
- Spencer James Davis
- Alessandra Nicole Deutschlander
- Matthew Gregory Dobens
- Harrison Ryan Dugas
- Gabrielle Maria Gagne
- Janessa Anne Jette
- Trey Edward Newell
- Dominic George Notini
- Ryley Robert Rankins
Congresswoman Maggie Goodlander was a guest speaker at the graduation. She serves on the House Armed Services Committee, and she emphasized the strategic value and need for qualified workers for New Hampshire’s defense and high-tech manufacturing, especially for microelectronics.
“It’s been said this morning, but something so tiny that is so important, it’s a beautiful thing and a really inspiring thing. But I want to say to you, congratulations, because the work – everything that you’ve put into being here, it’s hard work. And I want to say thank you because the work that you’ve put into getting here is such important work,” Goodlander said.
After the event, she discussed the looming budget cuts to education at the state and federal level, noting that, “New Hampshire is 50 out of 50 in how we fund our universities and our community colleges.”
“What I love about NCC, it’s a true community here. It’s a place where people make things like this boot camp possible, which is so important for one of the most essential industries in our country today and in the future. So I’m fighting for every dollar because these are relatively small investments that have extraordinary returns for our state and our country,” Goodlander said.
“I think about these 36 cohorts, almost 400 students who came into the workforce in one of the most important industries for such a relatively tiny investment. When I think about the budget of the Department of Defense, you know, almost a trillion dollars a year. The most important thing we could be investing in is the people of this city and of our state who are actually going to make it happen,” said Goodlander.