This week’s Project 100+ memory comes from Eric Haslam.  Unlike many of the other interviews that I have done, Eric did not wait for our scheduled call.  The biography and reflection that he shared with me is below.  He covers his amazing life story, and his experience at Rowan so well.  Eric graduated in 2011, and he has been a middle school social studies teacher in Logan Township for the past thirteen years.

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My journey began halfway around the world in a city called Calcutta (now renamed Kolkata), India. Kolkata was one of the poorest cities in the world at that time and was famous for being the home of Mother Teresa, a Catholic nun who dedicated her life to helping the poor in Kolkata. My mother was a teacher at the time and taught English to elementary school students. She also would travel to people’s homes to tutor students after school. I have distinct memories of entering different people’s homes and keeping myself occupied while my mother tutored their kids. It was here that I learned the value of education.

When I was two years old, my parents got a divorce and I would henceforth be raised only by my mother. Being the youngest of seven kids and a stubborn, rambunctious child led me to the next step in my journey. My mother had limited resources to give me a quality education when I was younger so she applied for me to go to Dr. Graham’s Homes, a Christian missionary school founded to help Anglo-Indian children get a quality education funded by donors overseas. The term “Anglo-Indian” refers to people of Indian and British descent. They make up a small percentage of the Indian population and are a small reminder of the British occupation of India that ended in 1947. Dr. Graham’s Homes was a boarding school located in Kalimpong, India. It was founded by Reverend Doctor John Anderson Graham in 1900. 

At the age of 6, my mother put me on a train and I was off to boarding school. The overnight train ride took us to Siliguri, India. And from there, a three-hour bus ride took us to Kalimpong. Kalimpong was located close to Darjeeling, a nearby city known for its tea production. It was definitely a huge adjustment for me due to its colder weather and mountainous terrain.  

Boarding school proved to be extremely tough academically and emotionally. We were grouped together in cottages of about 40 boys each. We were expected to complete chores everyday before and after school. Weekends were a bit more relaxed with free time and games. The classes themselves were rigorous and teachers and cottage supervisors were allowed to use corporal punishment as a means of discipline. Once a month we would write to our sponsors to thank them for their generous donations to us. Their donations helped pay for our education and also the new sets of clothes we received. My sponsor was a woman in Canada. I cannot remember her name, but I am eternally grateful for her kindness and generosity. After nine months in boarding school, we would return to our homes to spend time with our families. We would get a three-month break from December to February and then we would go back to school. These years proved instrumental in my development as it taught me the value of hard work as well as self-discipline. I also found myself gravitating towards education as it was an area that I was succeeding in compared to others around me. 

After a few years in boarding school, another opportunity presented itself. My grandmother was a nurse in Kolkata, India. She previously applied to be an in-house nurse for an Indian man who was living in New Jersey and her application was accepted in the 1980s. After living in New Jersey for a few years and meeting and marrying a man from Paulsboro, she decided that she wanted to sponsor her own children to the United States. Slowly over the course of the next decade, she sponsored all six of her children to the United States. 

My mother came to the U.S. in 1998 and under U.S. law was able to bring me to the country the year after as long as we submitted the right paperwork and obtained our visa. I arrived in New York City in the summer of 1999. I was amazed at the sites and how clean everything was. My grandmother owned a home in Paulsboro, New Jersey, and my mother as well as my aunt and uncle were living with her. To say the house was crowded was an understatement. It was a true immigrant experience, sharing space with aunts, uncles, and cousins. I would often find myself trying to find a quiet place to work or study. My room would be my escape.  

I attended the Paulsboro school system from 1999 to 2006. It was a complete culture shock for me and took me a while to adjust. I did not make many friends the first year and struggled to adapt to the way of life in the United States. I once again found solace in education. I thrived in academics and found myself tutoring some students in math to help them keep up. My teachers noticed and I was soon recommended for the gifted and talented program. From that point, I found my people. I was placed in more rigorous classes and competed with friends over grades. I had some amazing middle school teachers like Mrs. Tedeski, Mrs. Smith, Mrs. Hathaway, and Mrs. Tatum. They were all so kind and pushed me to be the best version of myself.  

It was not until high school that I had my first impactful history teacher. Mr. Kirschling taught U.S. History to sophomores and was known as a tough teacher. He wanted all of his students to be extremely organized and work hard for every grade they received. I think I enjoyed the rigor of it because it reminded me of my time in boarding school. My junior year, I had Mr. Riskie, who taught U.S. History II. It was in this class that I learned to love history. Mr. Riskie was the opposite of Mr. Kirschling, he was carefree, fun, and engaging. He gave us unique projects and challenged us in different ways. I grew to love his approach to teaching and his charisma. It was in this class that I started to think about my future and realized I wanted to be a teacher. 

During my senior year, I began to think about college. I ran cross country and track all throughout high school and received partial scholarship offers to small colleges. These offers were barely going to put a dent in my college tuition, and so I sought the advice of my guidance counselor. Nobody in my family had ever gone to college so I found it difficult to lean on any of my family members for guidance. My guidance counselor informed me about the NJ STARS program and told me that I qualified for it. I used the program to go to Gloucester County College (now Rowan College) to obtain my associate of arts degree. After I graduated from Gloucester County, I set my eyes on Rowan where I wanted to major in History and Education. I wanted to stay local and be able to commute to college. Many of my friends went away for college because they were looking to get away and gain some freedom. My experience in boarding school was enough separation for me so I sought to live with my family during this time and I also thought it was the better financial decision.  

My first exposure to the history department came in the form of Dr. Heinzen’s Historical Methods class. I remember the first few weeks of that class being extremely challenging. We were asked to spend countless hours in the library researching different information and to narrow down sources for our research paper. I actually contemplated a change in my major during that time and briefly committed to math before realizing the folly in my ways. Dr. Heinzen accepted me back with open arms and I committed to putting in the work. I wrote a paper on the My Lai Massacre and tried to prove that William Calley was a scapegoat for the whole situation. The paper was one of the longest papers I had ever written and showed me that I was ready to overcome the challenges in front of me. 

From that point, I had a number of different professors. I had Dr. Kelly Duke-Bryant for Sub Saharan Africa, Dr. Rose for African American History, Dr. Kress for the Vietnam War, Dr. Carrigan for Civil War and Reconstruction as well as Seminar, and Dr. Heinzen again for Russian History. I can honestly say that I had a good experience in all my classes. My professors were tough but fair.  

Another standout moment for me came in Dr. Carrigan’s Civil War and Reconstruction class. I took that class as a summer course and couldn’t believe the amount of reading I had to do in that span. I think I had to read a total of five books and write a paper all while balancing the regular reading and work of the class. I remember thinking, wow, this is a lot of work for a three-week class. The class ended with an amazing trip to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. We were able to walk up to Little Round Top, see the National Cemetery and walk the entire length of Pickett’s charge. Dr. Carrigan was a great tour guide, and I enjoyed his class so much that I sought him out for my Seminar class.  In that course, I wrote an essay on the influence of cartoonist Thomas Nast on the Republican Party, arguing that his turning against Reconstruction in the 1870s played a role in the collapse of that experiment in expanding democracy in the American South. 

I graduated Rowan University in May 2011, married my high school sweetheart in 2016, and I have two beautiful daughters. I was the first person in my family to go to and graduate from college. I was fortunate to find a job the summer I graduated, and I have been teaching 6th, 7th, and 8th grade social studies in Logan Township since. It has been 13 years since I started my journey as a teacher, and I hope to be as influential as my teachers and professors have been for me. I started a club called “The Warriors Club” in which I mentor young men. I focus on providing guidance related to sportsmanship, leadership, and life skills in general. I also coach cross country and track and field. 

Recently I ran into Dr. Heinzen at the Jonas Cattell 10-mile race from Haddonfield to Red Bank Battlefield. It was one of many run-ins that I have had with Dr. Heinzen. I previously have seen him at a Sixers game, the airport when I was heading on my honeymoon, and the Philadelphia Marathon bib pickup at the Convention Center in 2017. I knew he was a runner but was in shock when he passed me at mile five of the Jonas Cattell race. I ended up finishing slightly behind him by the time we crossed the finish line. We talked for a bit afterwards and I left the race in awe of his conditioning. I remember thinking about it afterwards and being inspired to continue running and pushing myself. Even after all these years he is continuing to inspire me and push me to be better. My time at Rowan University was challenging and engaging and I had to overcome many obstacles on my way there. But I look back on all those challenges and I am appreciative of the role they played in my life. Because without them, I would not be who I am today.  

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This is part of the Department of History’s “Project 100+,” an ongoing collection of memories by Glassboro State College and Rowan University alumni and staff that began as part of the celebration of the 100^th anniversary of the founding of Glassboro Normal School, later Glassboro State College, and now Rowan University.  Due to interest in the project, the number of interviewees continues to grow.  Thanks to Laurie Lahey for helping proofread and edit the final versions.  Email carrigan@rowan.edu with questions or corrections.  You can find the Link to all of the Project 100 and Project 100+ entries on the Web:  https://chss.rowan.edu/departments/history/alumni_all/project_100+.html