Hudson County Community College to Mark 10th Anniversary of North Hudson Campus with Dedication to Congressman Albio Sires
April 19, 2022
Hudson County Executive Thomas A. DeGise, and New Jersey Senator and Union City Mayor Brian Stack will join the celebration.
April 19, 2022, Jersey City, NJ – On a sunny September Wednesday in 2011, more than 100 individuals gathered outside 4800 Kennedy Boulevard in Union City, New Jersey to celebrate the grand opening of the $28.2 million Hudson County Community College (HCCC) North Hudson Higher Education Center (now the HCCC North Hudson Campus). Elected and appointed officials, college and university presidents, Hudson County area grade-school and high-school principals and counselors, and HCCC students, trustees, faculty, and staff came together for a day of festivities that included music, guided tours, ice cream socials, scavenger hunts, keepsake photos, and a ribbon-cutting ceremony with formal remarks.
Like so many things that were intended to happen in 2021, the 10th Anniversary celebration of the HCCC North Hudson Campus was put on hold until now.
On Monday, April 25, 2022, at 11 a.m., Hudson County Community College will commemorate the North Hudson Campus 10th Anniversary by naming the building’s towering Entrance Atrium for one of the those who made the HCCC North Hudson Campus possible – Congressman Albio Sires. The dedication program will include remarks from HCCC President, Dr. Christopher M. Reber; HCCC Board of Trustees Chair, William J. Netchert, Esq.; Union City Mayor and New Jersey State Senator, Brian P. Stack; Hudson County Executive, Thomas A. DeGise; and Congressman Sires.
“It is altogether fitting that this space be named for Congressman Sires,” Dr. Reber stated. “Yes, he was responsible for obtaining the funding for this building. Perhaps more importantly, his public service record demonstrates that he shares the experience of so many HCCC students by navigating challenges, achieving excellence, and serving others. At the age of eleven, Congressman Sires emigrated to the United States with his family from Cuba, learned English, attended Saint Peter’s College on a basketball scholarship, earned his master’s degree, and dedicated his life to serving the people of his adopted home – Hudson County.”
Chairman Netchert said that before entering public service, the Congressman was a teacher and a business owner. He first served as Mayor of West New York for 12 years. As the New Jersey Assembly Speaker, he created the STARS (Student Tuition Assistance Reward Scholarship) and STARS II programs, which offer full county and state college tuition scholarships to thousands of students. He was also responsible for the passing of a $760 million public education bill.
“Albio Sires provided the impetus for building this North Hudson Campus. He and his Hudson County colleagues in the Assembly and Senate advocated a full HCCC campus, not just a satellite facility, right here where many of our students reside,” Mr. Netchert said.
The magnificent, seven-story HCCC North Hudson Campus is replete with lecture halls, classrooms and labs all outfitted with up-to-the-minute technologies. The campus includes an Enrollment Center; Bookstore; Community Education Office; outdoor courtyard with seating and tables; Student Lounge/Cyber Café; 2,400 square-foot Multipurpose Room; 3,600 square-foot Learning Resource Center and Library; Art Studio; and a bridge walkway that provides secure, direct access to the New Jersey Transit Bergenline Avenue Transportation Center.
Students can complete 19 academic programs at the HCCC North Hudson Campus, including Associate in Science degrees in Accounting, Business Administration, Criminal Justice, Criminal Justice-Homeland Security, and Environmental Studies; Associate in Arts degrees in Business, Elementary/Secondary, Education-Elementary/Secondary (Liberal Arts), English, History, Liberal Arts (General), Psychology (Liberal Arts), Sociology, and Special Education; Associate in Applied Science degrees in Early Childhood Education (Liberal Arts) and Health Sciences; Digital Art and Design Proficiency Certificate; Early Childhood Education Child Development Associate (CDA) Coursework; and Infant/Toddler CDA Professional Development.
“The North Hudson Campus Atrium, with its soaring ceiling, is filled with light. In naming this space for Albio Sires, it will forever commemorate the hope, promise, and light he brought and continues to bring to so many Hudson County residents,” Dr. Reber said.