WORCESTER, MA – September 18, 2025 – Quinsigamond Community College and Auxilium Worcester celebrated the launch of the Auxilium Center for Entrepreneurship at QCC, a new partnership designed to provide students with the mentorship, resources and tools needed for launching successful startups. The event was held at Auxilium Worcester’s newly renovated office space in downtown Worcester.
"Entrepreneurship is not a solo sport," said Cliff Rucker, founder of Rucker Investments and The Cliff & Susan Rucker Foundation, which is funding the Center for its first three years. "I made a decision that I wasn't going to be the only person who benefited from my success.”
Rucker shared his own entrepreneurial journey during the celebration, emphasizing that success comes from hard work rather than formal credentials.
"There’s a reason we chose Quinsigamond Community College. People hear entrepreneurship, they think Harvard, Ivy League, Silicon Valley," Rucker said. "To me, entrepreneurship is about not having a safety net. I didn't set out to be an entrepreneur. I set out to survive."
QCC President Dr. Luis Pedraja noted that community college graduates have high retention rates in Massachusetts, with over 90% staying in the state after graduation.
"Many of our students come with hopes and dreams of making a better life for themselves, and they have to overcome many challenges," Pedraja said. "In many ways, that's what it takes to be an entrepreneur."
The QCC-Auxilium partnership builds on existing student entrepreneurial spirit at QCC. Noah MacDonald, QCC student trustee and creator of the Coalition of Rising Entrepreneurs (CORE) student group, exemplified this drive when he described entrepreneurship as "doing things that are hard, and making things out of nothing. It's like walking a path that nobody else has before."
The Center will be led by local entrepreneur and advocate Rocky Knight. As the former director of the Center for Women & Enterprise of Central MA, Knight has a foundation in supporting individuals as they launch and grow a business.
Knight encouraged collaboration from community stakeholders through mentoring, workshop facilitation, program sponsorship and advisory roles to build an environment where student ideas and businesses can flourish.
Executive Director of Auxilium Worcester Zachary Dutton expressed excitement at expanding Auxilium’s reach to local students.
“There’s going to be a lot of opportunities for QCC students to be involved with what we're doing here, and to really help bring these students into the broader entrepreneurship community,” said Dutton.
Tim Murray, president and CEO of the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce, praised the partnership as addressing a longtime community need of early capital investment. Murray also noted that the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce was the original petitioner to establish Quinsigamond Community College in the late 1950s, making the new partnership a continuation of the chamber's commitment to economic and workforce development in the region.
For more information about the Auxilium Center for Entrepreneurship at QCC, visit QCC.edu/auxilium.