EMCC among state community colleges making summer classes free By Will Stribling and Molly Minta/Mississippi Today 6 hours ago This story was originally published by Mississippi Today. When COVID-19 hit Mississippi last spring, students at Northeast Mississippi Community College in Booneville flooded Michelle Baragona’s office to withdraw from their classes. They cited similar reasons, said Baragona, the college’s vice president of instruction. Their parents were laid off, so they needed to work. They no longer felt safe attending class in-person. As the year wore on, withdrawal requests kept coming in as students struggled to overcome pandemic-related academic challenges. In the fall semester, Baragona said one student requested to withdraw because his grades had suffered after he was exposed to COVID and quarantined four times.