Speaking Frankly: Odyssey spans three generations

By Jeff Frankel

As I sit here writing, I can’t help thinking about the full circle that I have completed.

When I entered my freshman year here, I started off at this paper as a lowly staff writer. But by my sophomore year, I was given the great opportunity to be an editor in the news section and continued there for my entire duration. In that time I wrote countless news articles, sprinkling in a few features and entertainment and sports stories here and there.

My time at The Rider News has come full circle, as this is my first opinion piece.

I also can’t help thinking that my family has come full circle as well. When I graduate, I will be the third person in my family with a degree from Rider.

My mother graduated in 1973 with a B.A. in Journalism and is a former staff writer of The Rider News and the now-defunct Night Rider, the paper for the Evening School. She would always regale me with her late nights in the newsroom and the scramble to put the newspaper to bed.

She was not the only one to come to Rider; her father got his business degree here after the war, when Rider was still located on the corner of South Broad and Front Streets in downtown Trenton. My family always had great things to say about this school and from an early age, I knew I wanted to come here.

Rider was my first choice when I was in high school and I would check our curbside mailbox every day waiting for the acceptance letter. On a cold, rainy day on my daily trek to the mailbox, along with the usual bills and magazines, I found a big, white envelope with the Rider logo on the upper corner. I knew right away what it was.

I was so excited running back to the house that I forgot to look where I was going and ran head first into the garage door. I forgot that I had come out of the other garage bay. Luckily for me, I don’t think anyone saw my accident.

I was so thrilled about getting accepted that I didn’t care about my throbbing headache; I knew I was going to Rider University. I entered this college in the fall 2004 semester, and I will be leaving all too soon in a few short weeks.

As I’m sure every senior is feeling right now, my time here has gone by much too quickly. I’m now entering a new phase in life where school will only be a distant memory and everything will soon revolve around the 9-to-5 job.

At least I will have the same experience Rider gave to my mother and grandfather. And they did all right for themselves.