Homecoming 2018 draws thousands; Profs win!

Music and footballs filled the air outside Coach Richard Wackar Stadium Saturday, Oct. 20, the biggest day of the week for Homecoming 2018, which this year culminated in an upset win over nationally-ranked Wesley College.

Though Rowan football turned over the ball twice early on, the Profs roared back for a 28-27 win for a  5-2 record so far this season.

For some attendees, however, the big draw wasn’t football, but friendship. Homecoming Week, which ran from Oct. 15-21, has become one of the biggest alumni events of the year and for 2018 drew thousands of visitors, some for their first time back to campus in decades.

In town for their 50^th anniversary alumni reunion, Nancy (Osborne) Ireland and Zaundria (Mapson) Little reminisced about the Glassboro State College they knew, marveled about the Rowan University it’s become and joked that some parts of campus, like Triad residence hall, have (sort of) stayed the same.

“I’ve only been here once since graduating and that was 40 years ago,” said Little, who now lives in Florida.

Since then, the institution has more than doubled enrollment and added colleges, buildings, campuses, even two medical schools, developments that would have been nearly unthinkable when the two friends graduated in 1968.

“We were both education majors but back then that’s pretty much what you came here for,” said Ireland, now of Mount Laurel. “We took a campus tour and I was speechless.”

Steve Goldberg ’83, now of Suffern, N.Y., said a group of friends started coming back to campus after the loss of a fellow alumnus about seven years ago.

“There are usually around 20 of us who get together,” said Goldberg. “We eat, we walk around and we tour the old campus, always surprised at some new development. It’s about the only time we get to see each other.”

But Homecoming, which has grown more popular by the year with alumni, has also become a focal point for present and future students. A “College Row” outside Wachar Stadium enabled parents and prospective students to learn about research, campus activities and opportunities around which to build a college career.

Greeting visitors wrapped with a docile young Eastern Black Rat Snake, junior biology major Emily Beardsley encouraged onlookers outside a tent for the College of Science and Mathematics to hold, pet and, most importantly, not fear the animal.

“We want to show that snakes do not have to be dangerous,” said Beardsley, at right, informing visitors that the animal’s fast moving tongue is used to sense its surroundings, not necessarily to sniff out meals. “Yes, there are some New Jersey snakes that can be dangerous, but this guy has no venom.”

Nearby, a group of pink t-shirt clad students represented the Rowan chapter of Colleges Against Cancer (below), a club with more than 50 local members.

Club president Zach Padron, a junior translational biomedical sciences major, said the one-day goal was to raise $3,000 for breast cancer research through sales of the long sleeved shirts emblazoned with the message “Tackle for a cure.”

“October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month,” he said. “Throughout the year we support various causes but for this event we’re raising money to fight breast cancer.”