Founding GLEC Director Retiring

The Enrichment Program started in 1985 by the Board of Directors of The Greater Lawrence Educational Collaborative (GLEC), who had the vision to see the potential of using school collaboration to nurture the social and cultural bonds between communities; challenge, develop and showcase students' skills and talents; provide new opportunities for students to explore, develop and succeed; and reinforce the educational goals of their school districts.

Jim McConaughy, the founding director of the Enrichment Program at GLEC, will be retiring today. During his nearly 27 years with GLEC, McConaughy started and directed the Greater Lawrence Academic Bowl, which has served more than four thousand 7th and 8th grade students since 1986 in the communities of Lawrence, Methuen, Andover and North Andover.

McConaughy created the GLEC Service Leadership Program, which for 17 years united students from 6 high schools to produce service activities in each other's communities.  The AppleSeed, AppleSauce and ApplePi Literary Magazines, created by McConaughy, collectively have published more than 5,000 students in grades 3-12 in the Andover, North Andover, Methuen and Lawrence communities. In addition to the students’ published works, the literary magazines are used extensively in the classrooms of the communities listed as inspiration for all students. The Collaborative Art Awards, produced by GLEC since 1988, honor outstanding artists from local high schools with a group show and special recognitions. Linking more than 25,0000 students in the Merrimack Valley is the pen pals program open to elementary and middle school classes.  Finally, McConaughy leaves a legacy of academic competitions and cultural events in French and Spanish at area high schools.

Every public school in Andover, Lawrence, Methuen and North Andover (and until 2005, Haverhill as well) has been involved in at least one of the multifaceted enrichment programs listed. Through the active participation of more than 100 teachers annually, each school directly benefits from one or more of GLEC's enrichment programs each year.

The GLEC Enrichment Program has received several honors, including a “Make a Difference Day Award” from USA Today and a “Points of Light Foundation,” citation by the mayors of Lawrence, Methuen and Haverhill for building partnerships to make our communities a better place to live, a “Multicultural Achievement Award” from the Massachusetts Department of Education, citations from the governor's office and the state senate, and recognition in a Brown University publication resulting in replication of the Academic Bowl model by several communities in Connecticut.

Before his position at GLEC, Mr. McConaughy worked at Bell Laboratories in North Andover, had a brief off-Broadway experience as an actor and musician at the Public Theatre in New York City, and taught music at Beaver Country Day School in Chestnut Hill. He earned an Associate’s Degree in Electronic Engineering at Franklin Institute, and a Bachelors and Master’s degree at Wesleyan University, where he majored in music, concentrating on music composition and performing the classical music of South India, where he lived for two years.

The Multicultural Enrichment Program will be administered by Kristen Hollenbeck. Hollenbeck has lived in North Andover for 21 years. She has been an active volunteer in North Andover and Lawrence.  In North Andover, Hollenbeck has served for 11 years on the North Andover Schools’ Enrichment Program as Fundraising Chair and program coordinator for Kittredge School and North Andover Middle School.  Ms. Hollenbeck was instrumental in bringing the SmartRoutes to School grant from the state of Massachusetts to North Andover.  She created a new MVRTA bus route for North Andover, and has volunteered in the community in a variety of programs related to education.  In Lawrence, Ms. Hollenbeck volunteers at Habitat For Humanity, Cor Unum, Essex Arts Center, and Greater Lawrence Community Boating.  Ms. Hollenbeck has worked professionally for Bradford College, Wellesley College, The Nature Conservancy, Boston College, and Brigham and Women’s Hospital.