This week’s Project 100+ memory comes from George Goddiess.  He was born in Somerville and raised in Hillsborough, New Jersey.  His mother is an instructional assistant for children with autism.  She works in elementary education.  His father has had a variety of jobs over the years.  At one time or another, he owned his own trucking company and at another time his own mailing company.  At the time of the Great Recession, he was unfortunately working in the mortgage industry.  Today, he is semi-retired, does a little driving for Uber, some house painting, and so on.  He attended public schools and graduated from Hillsborough High School in 2009.  He has a twin brother, Will, who also graduated from Rowan in 2013.  After George graduated from Rowan with a major in history and a minor in political science, he moved back to Hillsborough.  After a short stint with the moving company where he had worked every summer, he took a position with a conferencing software company called GlowPoint.  He left that position less than a year later when he got an opportunity to enter the management program with Sherwin Williams.  He moved around New Jersey learning the company, beginning as an Assistant Manager.  After a series of promotions over the last decade, he is now a Sales Representative in Bloomfield, New Jersey.  He manages accounts in Essex and Union Counties.

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My parents believed in the importance of a college education.  My mother had a college degree, and my father had experienced losing out on many jobs for which he had experience but simply did not have a degree.  So, they hoped that my brother and I would go to college. I was interested in going straight to a four-year college.  My brother began at a local county college, transferring to join me at Rowan after two years.

For my part, I applied to six colleges as a senior in high school and was accepted at all of them.  Rowan was the first one that I visited, and I used it as the benchmark to judge the others.  Even though I received a better financial offer from William Paterson, I chose to attend Rowan.  I entered as a history major simply because it had always been my favorite subject in high school.

Glassboro was fairly far from my home.  This was a big deal for me, especially as I was very close to my identical twin brother.  I also had many friends back in Hillsborough, so the move was both challenging and exciting.  I ended up making new friends, some of which I am still close to today. 

My early days in the history department were interesting. I was part of the CLIO program, and it was the first time that I was in a community of people who were all interested in history just like me.  While this was refreshing and exciting, I also learned that some of these people were even more into history than me, which was something that I had never really encountered before.  My four CLIO history courses were United States to 1865 (with you, Dr. Carrigan), Western Civilization to 1660 with Dr. Heinzen, US History since 1865 with Dr. Kress, and World History since 1500 with David Applebaum.  The CLIO program was a great introduction to the major and prepared me well for Historical Methods.

Scott Morschauser taught Methods.  It was a critical class, transforming me from someone who was interested in history to someone who could do historical research.  I took him again for Medieval Europe. He was a great professor as he was so passionate about what he was teaching.  His lectures were captivating. 

I was quite interested in military history, so I took every course in that area that I could.  I took your Civil War and Reconstruction course, Dr. Carrigan, as well as a course on the American Revolution with a visiting faculty member.  I took several courses with Dr. Kress, including one on World War I and another on World War II.  I remember great open discussions in Dr. Kress’s classes.  I remember debating big topics where people passionately disagreed.  For example, we discussed the morality and ethics of dropping atomic weapons on Japan.  I took Senior Seminar with Dr. Heinzen, and I wrote about the persecution of socialists and communists in the 1950s.

I really enjoyed the content of your classes.  I took History of New Jersey, and I remember your assignment that we find a new primary source and edit it.  I ended up going to the Camden County Archives.  I also remember that I took your Civil War and Reconstruction class primarily to focus on the four years of the Civil War. I was not that excited about the Reconstruction half, but I left thinking it was a fascinating period to study.  I should say something about our relationship outside of the classroom.  You were my academic advisor, and I enjoyed seeing you in that role during my four years at Rowan.  Moreover, I am proud that our relationship has endured in the decade or so since I graduated.  I came down to Rowan two years after I graduated to attend your “Last Lecture,” and we have been in touch via email (and now this interview, conducted at Mission BBQ in Deptford). I wish I could get down to Rowan more often, but it is a bit far from my home in northern New Jersey for events on weekdays.

Outside of the classroom I participated in co-ed intramural sports offered by the rec department and played pool regularly at Prof’s Place.  While at Rowan, I held a work study job in the Registrar’s Office.  I enjoyed the people that I worked with, especially my supervisor. This was actually the longest stretch of my having the same single boss I think!  

My time at Rowan improved greatly once my brother transferred.  Like other identical twins, we have a deep connection.  It was so fun to live with him again. We shared an off-campus apartment at Campus Crossings.  Today, my brother lives in  Georgia, which is not fun, but one gets used to it.

It was an interesting time to be a political science minor while I was at Rowan. I remember discussing the re-election of Barack Obama, the killing of Osama Bin Laden, and so many other interesting world events in Rowan classrooms.  I remember that one of my Political Science classes required me to go to a town meeting.  Mine was very boring. However, by this time, my brother had joined me at Rowan and took the same class. His town meeting was exciting, with lots of yelling about whether or not Pitman should allow “bring your own bottle” restaurants.

In addition to the application of my history degree to my job, I still do a lot of history work for fun.  In addition to reading history books, I am a member of the Nutley Historical Society (NHS). I recently attended a talk on the history of New Jersey taverns and their connection to the American Revolution hosted by NHS.  I am also beginning a family genealogy project that has already taken me to Canada.  Finally, I participated in a Civil War reenactment exercise in Delaware.  I went with my friend who is a passionate reenactor and borrowed the appropriate clothes.  It was a two-day affair.  I was a Confederate prisoner on the first day, and a Union prison guard on day two.  We slept in the fort overnight and ate food from the period.  I found it fascinating.

I am glad that I was a history major and that I attended Rowan.  I have no regrets, and I feel so fortunate to have met the faculty and other individuals I met there.  If I could do it all over again, the only change that I might make would be to work for a year or two before going to college. In hindsight, I was not as mature at 18 as I needed to be to excel in my studies.  I was a much better student my last two years at Rowan.  Today, I work in the business field, in sales.  The practical skills that I learned through my history major are directly relevant to what I do now.  I am always analyzing information and doing research, trying to see patterns and to figure out how things fit together.  This is fundamentally the same as what I had to do for my history papers.  Furthermore, I do a lot of communication after I do the analytical work.  Being able to convey what you have learned doing research to others in a simple and clear manner is another skill I attribute to my history degree.  

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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/