RCC Marks 60 Years With Free Walking Tour

Rockland Community College is turning 60. The school, which started back in 1959 in a former home for destitute residents, commemorates its 60th anniversary with a free guided history tour of the main campus Oct. 11.

“This unique event will highlight the transformative work put into building and maintaining the institution for the past six decades,” RCC President Dr. Michael Anthony Baston said in a press release. “We started with an old almshouse and transformed it into an institution that promised to make higher education accessible to all. Not only have we kept that promise, we have expanded and enhanced educational opportunities for Rockland County residents, and we will continue this work for years to come.”

The public is welcome to attend the opening ceremony and should gather at the main entrance of Brucker Hall at 145 College Road, Suffern. Refreshments will be served.

To register for the Oct. 11th event, which runs 1-3 p.m., click here.

The historical walking tour, which highlights ‘A Legacy of Change’, will be open to the public through the end of 2020.

The walking tour consists of seven stops, each with an informative banner outlining the history of the specific location, a 14-foot timeline window display in the Cultural Arts building, and vintage View-Masters with photos from the past 60 years at each stop, transporting attendees back through time.

Students of the Foundation-funded RCC Street Team helped to design the banners, timeline, website and decorations for the walking tour.

“The work I did on the 60th timeline gave me a chance to learn the history of the school and helped me build my graphic design skills,” said Nikolas Kuryla, an RCC Visual Communications major. “It gave me the hands-on experience of working on a team to create a real-world, large-scale project to build my portfolio.”