Before professors were standing in the front of the room they were students in college ready to learn and taking on the next steps of their lives.
“I didn’t want to go to college initially,” Assistant Professor of philosophy Dr. Jennifer Bulcock said.
Bulcock attended The University of New Hampshire and graduated in 2005. Bulcock started out as a provisional psychology and economics major with hopes to go to law school after getting her bachelor’s degree.
“When I was a freshman I wanted to be done already so I could go to law school so I could be done already and be a lawyer,” Bulcock said. “I wanted to be in the next part of my life already.”
While in school she changed course and switched to an English and philosophy major with a minor in political science and justice studies. Although Bulcock no longer wanted to go to law school she still had her eye on a PhD.
“Slow down and appreciate the moment,” Bulcock said. “Most plans in life don’t work and it’s okay to end up where you end up because I never thought I would be a professor at a small liberal arts college when I was in college. That’s where I ended up and it was the best possible place.”
Bulcock did not just focus on studying. She was also involved in the socratic club that had ties with the philosophy department, tutored and was a part of a sorority. Then when the day was over she hung out with her friends. “My fondest memories are of my friends; I still keep in touch with six or seven of the people I hung out with in college,” Bulcock said.
“We were very close to the beach so we spent a lot of time there,” Bulcock said. “One of my favorite things to do in college was take sleeping bags to the beach in the middle of the wintertime and have conversations under the moonlight. In New Hampshire it snows and gets really cold.”
Assistant Professor of criminology Dr. Katie Farina attended DeSales University and graduated in 2007. Farina went to DeSales with the intentions of being a pharmaceutical marketing major before realizing that psychology was a better fit. “I loved math and I loved chemistry so I thought it would be the perfect major for me,” Farina said. “I quickly realized that I did not like selling people things so that was the end of my pharmaceutical marketing career.”
After taking a criminology class, her professor urged Farina to consider going to graduate school.
“I was a psych major and I realized by my junior year I wasn’t interested in counselling people but I didn’t know where to turn from there,” Farina said. “It wasn’t until grad school did I realize teaching was something I was interested in.”
Farina was involved in psychology club and senior year she became President of psychology club. She also spent a lot of time with her friends.
“DeSales was literally covered in corn fields so the only thing around was a Walmart 10 minutes from us and we used to go to Walmart at 2 a.m.,” Farina said. “Every Tuesday night my friend and I would go to the movies at 10 o’clock because it was cheaper, we got free popcorn and the theater was always empty.”
Farina recalls one of the few times her school canceled classes for the day due to snow.
“One year we had this epic snow storm,” Farina said. “My dorm was on top of this gigantic hill so we thought the best idea was to take trays from the cafeteria and blow up mattresses to sled all the way down the hill.”
Mathematics Professor David Madway attended Franklin and Marshall College and graduated in 1976 as a business finance major then continued to get a masters degree in business. “I knew I was going to go to graduate school. I knew I was going to get my MBA. I never had a doubt,” Madway said. Madway described himself as “very quiet” and never participated in class.”
“In first course on government we had a test and I did really well on it,” Madway said. “Well that woke up the professor and then he starts calling on me when he never called on me before.”
“The longer I was in school the more I liked it,” Madway said. “By junior year things started to get good and by senior year we thought we owned the place.”
After class he mostly spent time with close friends on the college campus.
“We were in Lancaster and there is not a lot to do there so we were on campus most of the time. Down the street we went to the shopping mall, back when shopping malls were novelties. It was one of the biggest in the areas.”
Madway still talks to and keeps contact with the friends he made at Franklin Marshall. “My roommate from my freshman moved back into town about three or four years ago so I see him often, ” Madway said.
“Last June we had our 40th reunion. It’s like going to sleep and waking up 40 years into the future because you remember what they were like 40 years ago then you see them 40 years later and it’s like ‘Wow, you’ve changed.’ I’m the only one who didn’t get older,” Madway said.
Madway recalls how going to school now is very different from when he was there during the 1970s.
“Very very few people that I knew worked. Back then the cost to go to college was not such a large percentage of income. Everybody felt that it was affordable and wasn’t the issue that it is today.”
“We also did not have the social technology pressures that students have today,” Madway said. “ I used to call home once a week and it was on a payphone and if you wanted to talk to a friend from home you had to pick up a phone and call them”
Being in college can be stressful but it is important to make memories and enjoy the time being spent at school.
“Don’t have any regrets. Walk away from this experience with absolutely no regrets,” Farina said.
“It was really the best years of my life and I didn’t realize that until it was time to graduate,” Madway said.
“College is a really awesome time where you get time to develop yourself, figure out what you believe about the world and you get to make friends that will last a lifetime.” Bulcock said.
