{"id":30919,"date":"2011-04-15T17:00:55","date_gmt":"2011-04-15T21:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom2\/2011\/04\/15\/college-prepares-to-turn-50\/"},"modified":"2026-05-18T22:31:05","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T02:31:05","slug":"college-prepares-to-turn-50","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2011\/04\/15\/college-prepares-to-turn-50\/","title":{"rendered":"College Prepares To Turn 50"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>On September 15, 1961, Northern Essex Community College opened its doors for the first time, welcoming 181 students, most of whom were recent high school graduates. At that time, classes were taught at the former Greenleaf Elementary School in Bradford.<\/p>\n<p>This September, Northern Essex will begin celebrating the college\u2019s 50 years with a year-long calendar of events that will include a gala, cultural and community activities, and the inauguration of Lane Glenn as president of the college.<\/p>\n<p>The theme of the 50th celebration is \u201cMaking a Difference for 50 Years\u201d and the anniversary celebration will recognize the many contribu\u00actions the college has made to the community over the years, illustrating how the college has and will continue to \u201cmake a difference\u201d in the lives of those who live and work in the Merrimack Valley. <\/p>\n<p>A committee of volunteers with representa\u00action from all areas of the college has been meeting to plan events and this summer a website and Facebook page will be launched in celebration of the 50th. <\/p>\n<p>College faculty and staff are encouraged to in\u00accorporate the 50th anniversary into their plans for this coming year. Professor Susan Sanders has selected A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum\u2014a production that opened on Broadway in 1962\u2014 for the fall musical, for example.<\/p>\n<p>If you have ideas for the 50th or would like to get involved, please contact Ernie Greenslade, director of public relations, at 978 556-3862 or egreenslade@necc.mass.edu.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On September 15, 1961, Northern Essex Community College opened its doors for the first time, welcoming 181 students, most of whom were recent high school graduates. At that time, classes [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":137,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30919","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archive"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>College Prepares To Turn 50 - NECC News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2011\/04\/15\/college-prepares-to-turn-50\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"College Prepares To Turn 50 - NECC News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"On September 15, 1961, Northern Essex Community College opened its doors for the first time, welcoming 181 students, most of whom were recent high school graduates. At that time, classes [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2011\/04\/15\/college-prepares-to-turn-50\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"NECC News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-04-15T21:00:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-05-19T02:31:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Angela Tournas\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Angela Tournas\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2011\/04\/15\/college-prepares-to-turn-50\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2011\/04\/15\/college-prepares-to-turn-50\/\",\"name\":\"College Prepares To Turn 50 - NECC News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-04-15T21:00:55+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-05-19T02:31:05+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/6b9309de6246690e36a4ccc03f142b7a\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2011\/04\/15\/college-prepares-to-turn-50\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2011\/04\/15\/college-prepares-to-turn-50\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2011\/04\/15\/college-prepares-to-turn-50\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/home\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"College Prepares To Turn 50\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/\",\"name\":\"NECC News\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/6b9309de6246690e36a4ccc03f142b7a\",\"name\":\"Angela Tournas\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0a8b16873ee6affd9169b36cf75721c6580131fa2594b2d267e437fc65c5a706?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0a8b16873ee6affd9169b36cf75721c6580131fa2594b2d267e437fc65c5a706?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Angela Tournas\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/author\/atournas\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"College Prepares To Turn 50 - NECC News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2011\/04\/15\/college-prepares-to-turn-50\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"College Prepares To Turn 50 - NECC News","og_description":"On September 15, 1961, Northern Essex Community College opened its doors for the first time, welcoming 181 students, most of whom were recent high school graduates. At that time, classes [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2011\/04\/15\/college-prepares-to-turn-50\/","og_site_name":"NECC News","article_published_time":"2011-04-15T21:00:55+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-05-19T02:31:05+00:00","author":"Angela Tournas","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Angela Tournas","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2011\/04\/15\/college-prepares-to-turn-50\/","url":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2011\/04\/15\/college-prepares-to-turn-50\/","name":"College Prepares To Turn 50 - NECC News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-04-15T21:00:55+00:00","dateModified":"2026-05-19T02:31:05+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/6b9309de6246690e36a4ccc03f142b7a"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2011\/04\/15\/college-prepares-to-turn-50\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2011\/04\/15\/college-prepares-to-turn-50\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2011\/04\/15\/college-prepares-to-turn-50\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/home\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"College Prepares To Turn 50"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/#website","url":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/","name":"NECC News","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/6b9309de6246690e36a4ccc03f142b7a","name":"Angela Tournas","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0a8b16873ee6affd9169b36cf75721c6580131fa2594b2d267e437fc65c5a706?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0a8b16873ee6affd9169b36cf75721c6580131fa2594b2d267e437fc65c5a706?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Angela Tournas"},"url":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/author\/atournas\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30919","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/137"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30919"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30919\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34405,"href":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30919\/revisions\/34405"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}