Today’s Project 100 memory comes from Danielle Abdullah.  She was raised in Washington Township.  Her father worked for the United Parcel Service (UPS), where he was responsible for working with clients who needed to ship hazardous materials.  Her mother did not work while Danielle, her sister, Ashley, and her two brothers, Jeremy and Christian, were growing up. Later, after her parents moved to North Carolina, she became involved with a charter school.  Danielle attended public schools and graduated from Washington Township High School in 2006.  After graduating from Rowan in 2010 with a major in history, a minor in Spanish, and a concentration in International Studies, she moved to North Carolina where she briefly worked in retail banking.  She then returned to New Jersey where she stared working in e-commerce on supply chain issues.  After working for several different companies, including Chanel and Theory, she now works on the procurement side of e-commerce for Billie, Inc.

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I knew I wanted to go to Rowan.  My sister had gone there, and I knew Rowan was a very good school. I had no desire to go far away for college.  When I first applied, I was thinking of history and education.  Although I ended up not doing much with the education side, Rowan’s reputation for training teachers was important at this time. 

I loved my time at Rowan.  I would do it all over again for sure.  I loved both the History Department and the Spanish program.  I had so many great professors.  One of them was Dr. Morschauser.  I have long loved ancient history, especially that of Egypt and Greece.  However, even if you had no interest in the subject, Dr. Morschauser would transport you to the ancient world through his lectures.  I remember his passion and love for his subjects.  He made history come alive, and I loved it when he introduced ancient language into his classes. 

One of the pivotal moments in my life was my being in the CLIO program.  Those of us in the program had an easier time developing close relationships with the faculty, especially you, Dr. Carrigan.  I remember your class very well.  I still remember your lecture on George Washington.  Like Dr. Morschauser, you also had great passion and made United States history come alive for me.  I also really appreciated the way that you explored difficult subjects in history.  One reading that really mattered to me was Celia: A Slave, which was on a very tough subject, about the sexual exploitation of enslaved women.  Yet, the way that you approached the topic was very well done.  You managed to bring dignity to the discussion.  I also remember the tremendous time you spent with me on my writing in that first class.  You gave such detailed comments and pushed me to become a better writer.  On top of that, you did so in a nurturing way.  Even after our class together, indeed throughout my entire time at Rowan and even after graduation, you continued to check in with me to see how I was doing.  Overall, you were just a very caring professor.

I took the history of the Modern Middle East and Senior Seminar with Dr. Blake.  She was very opened minded in my opinion.  She allowed me to use my uncle as a primary source due to his extensive experience in the Middle East.  This was a new type of research for me, but it was great for me to be able to connect with this family member.   I remember comments that she made to me about her time living with a Jehovah’s Witness family in Jordan.  She said that they were as nice as any people that she had ever met.  This supportive comment, as my family are also Jehovah’s Witnesses, meant a lot to me.  It also just shows you how nice she was, which is my main memory of her and her classes.

In addition to these faculty, I also had great experiences with the Spanish program faculty, especially Dr. Roberto Madero.  I had a course with him on Latin American poetry.  To do well in the class, you had to understand the political context of the country as well as the art.  He was teaching very complex things, as you were learning Spanish, political history, and poetry all at the same time.  The way that he did this was truly amazing.  He made you so comfortable in expressing yourself in Spanish even when you were discussing the most complex and challenging topics.  He opened himself up to you through personal stories that just made the class one of the most powerful experiences in all of my education. 

My experience at Rowan empowered me. I felt both safe and seen there. This may have been from the small classes, but I don’t think everyone felt the same about their college experience. I certainly had friends at other colleges and in other departments that did not get the same level of support I received in the History Department and the Spanish program.  I felt proud of being part of the school.  It was the first time in my life that I felt I had something intellectual to share in conversations.  A new me emerged at Rowan.  It truly gave me a confidence that I still carry to this day.  My time at Rowan definitely prepared me to succeed in the position that I am in now, even though it is in the business world.

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This is part of the Department of History’s “Project 100,” the collection and sharing of one hundred memories by Glassboro State College and Rowan University alumni and staff in celebration of the 100^th anniversary of the founding of Glassboro Normal School, later Glassboro State College, and now Rowan University.  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 entries on the Web:  https://chss.rowan.edu/departments/history/alumni_highlights/project_100/