HCC: We Really Started Something.
In 1946, Holyoke Community College opened its doors as the first two-year college in Massachusetts. In the decades since, HCC has paved the way for generations of learners in western Massachusetts and beyond.
Please join us as we celebrate 75 years of changing lives.
September 1967: 20th Anniversary
After being temporarily relocated to other downtown buildings due to construction, HCC faculty and staff move back into the renovated Holyoke High School. Classes are first held in the new HCC campus building in September 1967. As the 1967-1968 school year begins, and in celebration of the college’s 20th anniversary, President George Frost reflects on HCC’s development over its first two decades: 1,561 students, more than 60 full-time teachers, an expanding array of liberal arts and career programs, and a growing reputation as it an institution that prepares students for transfer to four-year school
SHIRLEY CHISHOLM, 1984 HCC COMMENCEMENT SPEAKER
Twelve years after her historic bid for president, Shirley Chisholm, the country's first Black woman elected to Congress and the first woman to run for the presidency with a major political party, served as a guest speaker at Holyoke Community College's 1984 Commencement.
QUOTED
"HCC was founded on the belief that everyone deserves access to high quality education, and we remain determined to remove the barriers between our students and their dreams of a better life."
– HCC President Christina Royal
QUOTED
"I am truly grateful for the doors Holyoke Community College opened for me. Without HCC and the mentors who encouraged me, saw in me what I did not see in myself, I would not be where I am today. I would not have known it would be possible. Every day, I feel fortunate for the field of possibilities open before me and the people who helped to guide me here. It’s a beautiful view."
– Tori Currier ’19
HCC student Evan Saito speaks about his experience.