Rockingham County is the birthplace of the North Carolina Community College System. In 1958 the Leaksville State Vocational Training Center opened on the Morehead High School campus. The Leaksville Training Center was the first of seven such centers authorized by the North Carolina legislature to open across the state. Those seven centers grew to 20 by 1963 and became the core of the North Carolina Community College System. On Oct. 28, 2012, a dedication ceremony took place at Morehead High School in which a highway marker was unveiled. The center in Leaksville was the forerunner of Rockingham Community College. The college was chartered in 1963 and classes began in 1966.