Grant, Fab Studio Appear in Boston Globe

Montserrat was recently featured in the Boston Globe! The article, written by Globe correspondent Maeve Lawler, discusses the $2.1 million grant awarded to the college by the US Department of Education.

Read the article below, or at BostonGlobe.com

Small Beverly art college dreaming big with $2.1 million federal grant

Montserrat College of Art lands first-ever federal Department of Education grant

By Maeve Lawler Globe Correspondent

Finn Lewis (right), a Montserrat student who has a work study job in the college’s Digital Fabrication Lab, gave instruction to fellow student Lyss Lentini on using a dremel tool to sand out a resin sculpture. LAURIE SWOPE

The digital fabrication studio at Montserrat College of Art in Beverly buzzes with students working on 3D printers, designing artist stamps, and sketching portraits, amid other creative endeavors.

Finn Lewis gets an up-close look at all these ideas and designs in their job as a student monitor at the studio.

“Having these on-campus jobs that pay $15 an hour is really good for students that want to get a job but don’t necessarily have the experience or interest to jump out in the ‘real world’. . .,” said Lewis, a junior majoring in art education.

More campus jobs are in the picture for the small, private art school. Montserrat will use a $2.1 million grant awarded by the US Dept. of Education in October to boost the success of low-income students. The grant is the largest ever received by Montserrat, and its first-ever from the DOE, college officials said.

The college will spend the money over the next five years to create new student job opportunities, along with adding staff positions. Some of the funds will also be used to bolster an existing mentorship program, as well as help create a new Summer Bridge program.

That program gives students the chance to spend a few weeks of summer at the college to build relationships and help them adapt. Students also receive a $1,500 credit to use for an internship or study abroad program.

When applying for the grant, administrators asked themselves “If we had $2.1 million to improve the lives of our students, what would we do?” said Brian Pellinen, the college’s interim president.

The answer came in the faces of its diverse student body of about 400 students who fill the classrooms, studios, and galleries of the campus in downtown Beverly.

The grant was awarded to over 100 colleges across the country this year as part of the DOE’s Strengthening Institutions Program, which helps schools “expand their capacity to serve low-income students,” according to its website.

Cape Cod Community College and Mount Wachusett Community College are the other Massachusetts schools among this year’s recipients. Those schools have received the grants before, officials at each school said.

Pellinen said applying for the grant allowed the college to “dream” and “plan big.”

“The fact that we actually got the grant, that’s really special,” he said.

The federal dollars come as Montserrat has seen its star steadily rise in recent years. It’s added new areas of study, such as toys and games, and in June welcomed a groundbreaking cartoonist to address one of its largest graduating classes.

Montserrat scored well in the last two cycles of US News rankings for serving Pell-grant-eligible students, which may have helped them to secure the $2.1 million, Pellinen said.

Around 36 percent of Montserrat students are eligible for federal Pell Grants, which are awarded to undergraduates from low-income households.

“Because of its size, because of the attention we give students, we see the same kind of retention and graduation success with our lower-income students as we do with our students overall,” Pellinen said.

The college used its first installment of $390,000 to fund three new positions, a research analyst, a mental health counselor, and a student employment coordinator. In the spring, 10 new campus jobs will be added for students and 20 more in the fall semester, Pellinen said.

The new student employment coordinator will help students understand how the job connects to a career outside of college, Pellinen said.

Crow Stevenson, a senior majoring in print making, co-runs the Bear Gallery, an on-campus student-run art gallery. Because of this job, Stevenson is considering working in a similar setting after graduation.

“It’s kind of opened my eyes to this whole new world of art that I’m really, really passionate about,” Stevenson said.

Creating more jobs on campus could also increase a student’s academic success, Pellinen said.

The college found that the average GPA for Pell-eligible and low-income students at Montserrat was 3.18, lower than the 3.25 overall average.

“When I did that same calculation for students who work on campus, I saw that GPA go up from the 3.25 . . . to a 3.43,” he said. One reason for these GPA differences may be that low-income students are often working off-campus jobs while in school, he said.

Deon Agyeman, a junior majoring in games, toys, and play, thinks more jobs will allow students to be involved with campus life.

“I think it’s just a great way to get out of your dorm and interact with other people,” said Agyeman, who works as an assistant at the college’s library.

Stevenson thinks new jobs will not only give students more opportunities for work experience but also allow them to have more of a voice on campus.

“I think it’s going to be a huge benefit,” he said.