Greg and Priscilla Matuson Choose Lifelong Learning
Greg Matuson ’96, who studied Accounting, is now president and CEO of Sturdy Savings Bank, and his wife, Priscilla ’01, who studied Literature and Writing, is a former high school English teacher, homeschool teacher to their two daughters and a lifelong learner.
We asked them why they chose Stockton and what advice they would share with their 18-year-old selves.
One book, “The Metamorphosis,” and one professor at Atlantic Cape Community College, Effie Russell, were all it took for Priscilla to know that she was going to study Literature and become a teacher. She chose Stockton to continue her education because of the professors.
It became clear that Stockton would be a place where she would learn from people who would make a lasting impact on her life. She first saw this impact when her sister and brother-in-law named their child after a Stockton professor.
“Writing was never one of my strengths. When I started college, I was going to the writing lab and struggled writing papers. By the time I graduated Stockton, I was a tutor in the writing lab and loving every second of it,” she said. The inspiration from her professors overpowered her weakness for reading and writing that she quickly turned into strengths.
“So they really taught me that when you're inspired, when you're passionate and when you work to put the time in and you work hard for something, any weakness can become a strength,” she said.
All of her literature and writing classes were her favorite. A lesson she learned from Tom Kinsella, Distinguished Professor of Literature, as she reluctantly let go of her senior thesis, was that a written work is “never complete. It is merely abandoned.”
As a sophomore in high school, Greg took his first accounting class and knew immediately he would enter that field. As a manager at a movie theater in Ocean City, he was looking for a place that would be close to home.
Greg enjoyed the people he met in his classes. “One of my very best friends to this day is a guy that I met in college. There are a handful of those relationships, with people that I was introduced to at Stockton, that still last today. And so that's what I would say was a standout memory from college,” he said.
As part of his at-some-distance requirement, Greg found himself in a Holocaust and Genocide Studies course with Murray Kohn. He connected with his professor and before he knew it, he was one class shy of a minor and had dove into a topic far away from finance.
Priscilla’s advice to her 18-year-old self: “I would say the magic is in the pauses. That’s when we get clarity and the truth, and we really could avoid so much suffering and wrong turns in life. And to just go slowly in life. At times it will feel like you're at a stop, but you're not.
"You're never stopped. Life is always moving. I used to burn myself out, but for what? I'm the healthiest and happiest, and I make really good decisions when I just pause. Everything I need to know is within. I don't need to look outside for any answers. Take the time to listen,” she said.
Greg would tell his younger self: “When you're in college or maybe when you get into your industry or career, you're sort of forward-looking and trying to get things done and planning everything out, but don’t forget to stay present. Focus on enjoying each day and get the most out of it.”
Greg and Priscilla stay present by finding peace in the outdoors.
Story by Susan Allen
