Fall Convocation

The beginning of the 2021-2022 academic year is a milestone in the history of Northern Essex Community College:

It was 60 years ago, in 1961, that NECC began offering our very first classes at the Greenleaf Elementary School in Bradford.

It was 50 years ago, in 1971, that we opened the doors to our 110-acre Haverhill campus on the edge of Kenoza Lake.

And it was 30 years ago, in 1991, that we moved into our first permanent classrooms in downtown Lawrence, now known as the Dimitry Building, donated to us by the Prudential Insurance Company.

For more than half a century now, NECC has been a vital part of the challenges and successes of our students and the communities we serve.

We have struggled through economic recessions, the loss of major employers and industries, racially-charged riots, devastating gas explosions, and a global pandemic.

And we have built two thriving campuses serving thousands of students each year that have become engines of social and economic mobility, artistic creation, athletic achievement and, over the past year-and-a-half, major contributors to the region’s pandemic response and recovery.

Despite the challenges we are still facing, the year ahead will be one of homecoming, of celebration, and of planning for a hopeful future.

As much as I would love for us to begin all of this together, in person, given recent increases in COVID-19 infections as a result of the Delta variant, particularly among those who remain unvaccinated, our Fall Convocation, scheduled for Tuesday, September 7, from 9:00-11:00 a.m. will be conducted via Zoom. Please join the meeting by clicking the invite in the email in your inbox.

Classes begin the following day, on September 8.