Northern Essex Community College - Lumen Yearbook (Haverhill, MA)

Page 10 text:

DEDICATION to President Harold Bentley Tattered walls— so used and tired, a floor which creaked with wea- riness, and long, warped halls of dusty age. To this place there came a man, who painted the dying walls with knowledge and woke the sleeping dust with the fresh breeze of thinking minds. In the October of 1960, Harold Bentley took on a task; one which required a strong will and held the possibility of many dis- appointments. When he was appointed Director (and eventually President) of Northern Essex Community College, he had nothing but his sincere dedication and love for learning to build with, but this seems to have been enough. After one year of collecting able teach- 6

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March 10,1972 To The Class of 1972 This year will mark two important events at Northern Essex Community College. One will be the tenth anniversary of the first graduation class; the other will be the tenth anniversary of the publication of the Lumen. Each one marks significant progress in the life of this collegiate institution. Each should be given full recognition as important to all in the college. I once heard Winston Churchill say that anniversaries are the special prerogative of women and of institutions. Something pleasant and wonderful happens to a woman when her loved ones remember her wedding anniversary. A good husband never forgets the importance of such remembrance. By the same token, institutions remember the time of their founding and continually reiterate the importance of their existance by noting anniversary. It is interesting to observe that anniversary is never the period at the end of the sentence. We do not expect to turn an anniversary into something final. Such a celebration is always a comma linking the past to the future. The comma gives proportionate balance to the entire sentence. Just look for a moment at our anniversary which will be recorded in this publication of the Lumen. For ten successive years we have graduated many wonderful people from this college. Each year had its accompanying hopes and frustrations, its anguish and its ecstacy. Programs and plans were fulfilled, but buildings were not. Now we have a beautiful new campus given to us by the Commonwealth. No longer do we hope for what seemed always quite impossible. The impossible has become the real, faith has passed into knowledge, and we have in our grasp the promise of a wonderful future. We pause to offer thanks and appreciation to all who have made this possible. And we now seize with firmer hands the resources which will permit us to attain true greatness. In all of this the Lumen plays a most important role. Many years from now this year’s graduates will be able to revive their memories of people, buildings, and events that will speak pictorally through the printed page. The institution and the book go together. Let us cherish both. President Harold Bentley

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(old Greenleaf School) ers and searching out space, Northern Essex was granted the use of the old Greenleaf School (an ancient building, at one time the town hall). This was a proud but tired building. Its many years of use showed upon its face of leaning doors and sticking windows with their sad expression of surrender. Therefore, in 1961 the old Green- leaf was first condemned, and then renovated by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and given new youth and six classrooms with space for laboratories, electronics equipment, and business machin- es. Mr. Bentley’s efforts were soon rewarded with a graduating class of one hundred and eighty-six students. Through the use of the Grange Hall and a church, Northern Essex grew stronger and larger. The city of Haverhill gave additional space in its former high school and helped to feed NECCO’s population as it grew from a student body of 186 to 1,8000 in the fall registration of 1970. As the student number grew so did the resources of its library which progressed from a small 4,500 volumes to a constantly grow- ing 35,000 volumes. On February 23, 1965, President Bentley and those following him, received a deed from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts which opened up 110 acres of dreams to pursue. It was a deed which led to opportunities for people who wanted to learn but who before then could not. NECCO gave many individuals a second chance to find an education. Through the long journey of NECCO, many programs were created to bring out the needs and abilities of individuals. Some are: the nursing program, which was born in 1969; the child care program; and the work study program. Yet NECCO has remained personal despite its growth. 7