Toward a College Experience: 1950 to 1964
1950 represented a turning point for the school’s graduation program. The exercises were held at the Manchester Country Club in Bedford, and would continue to be held there for the entire decade. For the first time academic caps and gowns were worn by the participants. There was also a student designed commencement program, a practice that would also continue for the next decade. The ceremony also included baseball awards, a recognition that was not repeated. The existence of a detailed program gives us insight into the menu for the class banquet: fruit juice or consommé, hors d’oeuvres, olives and celery, chicken pot pie or baked halibut, vegetables and French fried potatoes, rolls, coffee, and ice cream sundaes.
The 1952 commencement saw the awarding of a Senior Bookkeeping diploma to Norman J. Burke, the first time we have record of a student who had died during the completion of a program being awarded a credential.
With the death of Mr. Shapiro in September of 1952, his wife Gertrude Shapiro took over as sole proprietor of the school. Under her leadership commencement exercises continued in the established format. Her remarks to students, which she composed on note cards, have largely been preserved.
The 1960s began with a return to the annual selection of commencement sites, with the Carpenter Hotel, Memorial High School, and Manchester Institute of Arts and Sciences all hosting ceremonies at various times. The time of the ceremonies was also moved for the first time to an afternoon, weekend schedule, beginning at 2:30 on Sunday, a practice that would be maintained through 1965. By 1966, however, the College once again moved the time to 8:00 PM. It also settled in to the use of one facility: The John F. Kennedy Memorial Coliseum, which would be used until the College’s campus opened in 1972.
In 1961 the scheduling of commencement was moved from its early- to mid-August time frame to late June. This aligned with the end of the spring rather than summer semester. That year the Weaver Real Estate program was also introduced, a franchised course that ran over 19 sessions on Tuesday nights. This program held its own graduation exercises.
The 1964 commencement was noteworthy both for its small size. On June 24, 1963 the College had been empowered by the State of New Hampshire to issue both Associate’s and Bachelor’s degrees. This meant that students who had previously expected to spend one or two years at the College in pursuit of a diploma now could stay for two to four years and earn a degree. The 1964 commencement saw eighteen individuals who had completed their Associate in Business Science degrees in the subjects of Accounting, Business Management, and Legal Secretarial. The total number of students receiving degrees or diplomas was 37, down from 66 the year before. This was largely due to the fact that many students were continuing on to earn their Bachelor’s degree.