July 1, 2020

“Great Bay gave me the freedom to pursue my degree while working full time.”

Class of 2018

On her way to becoming a valuable member of the U.S. Department of State, Licia Schladenhauffen spent parts of two years perfecting her communication skills at Great Bay Community College.

Schladenhauffen, who lives in Portsmouth and works in the State Department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs in Boston, studied English at Great Bay and received her Associate Degree in English in 2018. She has since earned a Bachelors in English at the University of New Hampshire and will pursue a Masters in Homeland Security at Northeastern University.

She said Great Bay provided her with the foundation for success, and she expressed fondness and appreciation for the school’s role in helping her develop her skills and career path. Through relatively short, her time at Great Bay helped her focus on developing critical skills that have served her well in her other academic pursuits at UNH and Northeastern, as well as her work with State Department.

“I chose an English degree because in addition to loving reading and writing, it provided me with skills that are applicable across a range of interests and professions including critical and analytical thinking, time management, and communication,” she said.

In addition to English, she is fluent in Spanish and conversational in Portuguese, and is an active member of Sigma Tau Delta, the international English Honors Society, an honor she achieved while studying at UNH.

While at Great Bay, she gained both the confidence to recognize her dreams and the ability to chase them.

“Great Bay gave me the freedom to pursue my degree while working full time,” she said. “The English Department at Great Bay offered so much support that achieving my degree in my late 20s became a reality.”