by Sarah Bergen ’15
This is a story of fate and of family. This is a story of two generations of Rider students: my grandmother and me.
The story begins long before I decided to attend Rider. Fresh out of high school, my grandmother (née McHale) began classes at Rider College in 1952, despite her mother’s wish that she would study piano at Juilliard. Fifty-nine years later, I enrolled as a student at the Rider we know today. I started my freshman year without knowing that my grandmother had also attended Rider. She says that detail must have just slipped her mind, and we laugh about it now.
Between her time and mine, a lot has changed at Rider. She attended classes at Rider College on East State Street in Trenton. I take classes on Rider University’s Lawrenceville campus. She was one in a class of 40. I’m one in a class of nearly 1,000.
My grandmother attended Rider for only 10-and-a-half months, after which she received a business certificate. She studied typography, shorthand and filing. She believes that years of piano classes resulted in fast, nimble fingers, allowing her to receive the top honor for fastest typing.
While she acknowledges that most of those skills are now obsolete, they helped her land a secretarial job with a lawyer in downtown Trenton. She later worked as a secretary at General Electric and, after leaving behind the office, eventually bought a bar with her husband.
Many years later, I was placed into my grandmother’s custody at age 9. We grew together and became very close.
As I finished high school, I planned to go to Hofstra University. I had visited a couple of times and loved the campus, but I still felt a little lost and unsure. As I was about to send in my acceptance to Hofstra, one of my best friends invited me to visit Rider with her, where she was planning to go. So I did – and it changed my life.
When I visited Rider for the first time, I attended an informational session on the journalism department. I planned to major in journalism because I knew I was a good writer and I longed to make a difference in the world. Rider would prepare me to do just that. I clearly remember a professor talking about a student who got an internship for National Geographic. That was my dream – and it was suddenly attainable.
Once I became a student, like my grandmother, my love for Rider grew and I became more involved on campus. The fun really started my junior year, when I had really mastered the ropes and begun to refine my goals and passions. During my junior year, I began writing and copy editing for The Rider News, the University’s student newspaper. By the end of the spring semester, I was training to be the next managing editor. I was overwhelmed by excitement. Being a part of the newspaper has allowed me to discover my passion for editing, and an obsession with saving the environment.
I volunteered to review the movies screened during Rider’s Green Films series, which were presented by Rider’s Eco-Reps, a group of undergraduates who educate their peers about environmental issues. Watching glaciers melt, witnessing drinking water burst into flames and discovering roads made of solar panels lit a flame inside of me – and I was anxious to write it all down. Having the power to inform others about environmental issues and solutions was like nothing I had ever experienced. I had discovered my passion.
Shortly following my promotion to managing editor of The Rider News, I interviewed and received a position as an eco-rep. When I received my acceptance letter, I screamed loud enough for my whole block to hear. I cannot wait to impact Rider as an Eco-Rep during my last year of college. As my dreams and goals continue to evolve, I cannot help but feel that choosing Rider was fate. I have followed in the footsteps of the most important woman in my life. A lot has changed at Rider, but it is still shaping students into passionate, educated adults. If I grow up to be half the woman that my grandmother is, I will be more than satisfied.
