When Manchester Community College (MCC) opened its doors in 1945 as the State Trade School at Manchester, its mission was clear: to give returning World War II veterans the skills they needed to find work. That same year, the State Trade School of Portsmouth—now Great Bay Community College (GBCC)—welcomed its first class of 130 veterans.
Eighty years later, both colleges remain rooted in that same mission of access, opportunity, and practical education, evolving from wartime trade schools into comprehensive institutions that serve thousands of students and shape NH’s economic future.
In Manchester, the State Trade School’s first home was a former shoe factory in the millyard. Programs included auto mechanics, welding, electrical work, HVAC, and sign painting. “If you look at those early years, almost all the students were veterans,” says MCC President Paul Beaudin, who joined the college in 2024. “Every one of those programs still exists except for sign painting. The mission hasn’t changed. We’re still about giving people skills that lead to careers.”
After outgrowing its early facilities, the school moved to Webster Street and then, in 1966, to its current 57-acre Front Street campus. Its name and scope changed over time, from the NH Vocational Technical College to Manchester Community College, as the college expanded from trades to academic transfer programs and workforce development.
Today, MCC serves about 3,500 students each semester, with 97% from NH and the rest representing 13 states and 37 countries. Its Workforce Development Center trains nearly 700 more students in short-term programs in health care, IT, manufacturing, and business. Another 2,100 high school students are enrolled through MCC’s Early College program.
In a poetic turn, MCC’s future is taking it back to its roots in the Millyard. Through a partnership with the Regen Valley Consortium, the college is developing advanced biotechnology programs in downtown Manchester. “It connects our past to the future of New Hampshire’s economy,” Beaudin says.
On the Seacoast, Great Bay Community College shares a nearly parallel story, and a friendly rivalry. “We’re actually a little older than MCC,” jokes GBCC President Dr. Cheryl Lesser. “It’s like a twin birth, but we came up first.”
Founded in 1945, GBCC’s first home was also an old factory, the Morley Button Factory on Islington Street in Portsmouth. The college later moved to Stratham in 1982 and finally to the Pease International Tradeport campus in Portsmouth in 2009.
GBCC today serves a diverse mix of students, from recent high school graduates to adult learners seeking new careers. “Enrollment of traditional-age students is going down,” Lesser says, “but there’s enormous potential for adults who have little or no post-secondary education to advance a new or current career.” GBCC also provides affordable pathways into four-year degree programs.
Half of GBCC’s students pursue transfer degrees in liberal arts and general education, while others enroll in signature workforce programs such as surgical technology, veterinary technology, culinary arts and biotechnology, which has helped launch a new apprenticeship program with Lonza Biologics at Pease.
New non-credit programs like phlebotomy, culinary arts and sustainable foodways, medical assisting, and licensed nursing assistant (LNA) training have seen strong growth in recent years. GBCC also maintains partnerships with the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and local nonprofits.
As one of only two community colleges in NH with athletics, GBCC’s men’s basketball team made school history by reaching the USCAA Division II Final Four in 2023.
But Lesser says Great Bay’s real strength lies in its people. “We know our students, and our students know us,” she says. “Our faculty and staff work together as a village to help them reach their goals.”
As both colleges celebrate their 80th anniversaries, their shared legacy is clear: to open doors and build futures. From factory floors to advanced biotech labs, from veterans returning from battle to working parents returning to school, MCC and GBCC have spent eight decades proving that practical education can transform lives and sustain communities.
