The Rowing and Growing initiative formed in 2018 to expand the reach and potential of the Stockton crew teams, engage the community and raise critical funding for the programs. A new head coach with local rowing experience and collegiate rowing prowess, John Banchieri, was hired in December 2018 to lead the charge.

There was no slow start to this reinvigorated program. Following Banchieri’s arrival, the women’s rowing team posted their best finish ever, third place, at the Mid-Atlantic Rowing Conference Championships and earned their first varsity eight medal ever at the famous Dad Vail Regatta with bronze in the 2019 spring season.

The women’s eight was accepted to row at the prestigious Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston in October 2019. The team competed in four regattas during the fall portion of the 2019-2020 season; the spring portion was cancelled following the COVID-19 pandemic.

Two Rowing & Growing with the Ospreys fundraisers have helped to raise much-needed funding for the men’s and women’s rowing programs, strengthen community support and honor local rowing legends. The 2019 event honored local rowing legend Stan Bergman and raised enough funds to purchase three new varsity 8 shells and other equipment. Former Atlantic City High School rowing coach Bob Garbutt and his wife Judy were honored at the 2020 event, which also raised funds for ergometer rowing machines and oars for the teams.

Eight boats were named after supporters and donors at events at the Atlantic City Boathouse in September 2019. Two boats were named Sept. 25 for Bergman and supporter and former state senator William “Bill” Gormley. The Bergman boat was made possible through a generous donation by Horizon Blue Cross/Blue Shield of New Jersey which is also listed on the boat.

Ceremonies were held during the Atlantic City Stakes boat race on Sept. 28 to name six more boats for coach Bob Kerstetter, Ray D’Amico ’81, Stockton trustee Madeline Deininger ’80, who rowed at Stockton, Stockton First Lady Lynne Kesselman ’82, Stockton founding trustee Elizabeth B. Alton and her son, R. John Alton.

Stockton University President Harvey Kesselman and his wife, Lynne, career educators and Stockton alumni, have committed $50,000 to establish The Lynne Kesselman ’82, M.A. ’05, and Harvey Kesselman ’79 Endowed Scholarship Fund.

During Dr. Kesselman’s 35-year tenure at the University, he has served in many leadership roles including as provost and executive vice president; dean of the School of Education; interim vice president for Administration and Finance; CEO of the Southern Regional Institute (SRI) and Educational Technology Training Center (ETTC); and vice president for Student Affairs. He also serves on many national and state academic organizations.

Lynne Kesselman serves as first lady at Stockton and has retired from her teaching position at Egg Harbor Township High School. Her career highlights include being named an American Star of Teaching, a national award from the U.S. Department of Education.

Mrs. Kesselman taught web design, programming, financial literacy, workplace readiness, and marketing. She maintained the high school website, leading her Web Design students to apply what they learned.

In addition to teaching and mentoring, Mrs. Kesselman has mastered thousands of hours of professional development in technology and provides ongoing formal and informal technical training for faculty and staff at the high school. Lynne Kesselman earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Business and a Master’s Degree in Instructional Technology, both from Stockton. She earned the Stockton Professional Achievement Award for alumni in 2014-15.

President Kesselman received a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Stockton, a master’s degree in Student Personnel Services/Counseling from Rowan University and a doctorate in Higher Education Administration from Widener University.

Annual awards of at least $1,000 have been given to Stockton students beginning with the 2016-2017 academic year. Once fully funded, the earnings of this permanently endowed scholarship will be used to provide ongoing scholarship awards.

During her teaching career at Egg Harbor Township Schools, Lynne Kesselman and her colleague, Adam Swift, submitted an application to participate in Bird Brain Technologies Finch Robot Loan Program. Their proposal was one of 76 districts in the country selected. Finch robots are used in the classroom to encourage participation in computer science. She also traveled to North Jersey to offer her students opportunities to compete in coding competitions.

Kesselman’s interest in promoting computer science in students has continued at Stockton where she helps organize annual CSTA-SNJ computer science competitions, beginning in 2015. Stockton Computer Science and Information Systems faculty members help to create the problems and judge the competition with staff from the University’s Information Technology Services and the Southern Regional Institute & Educational Technology Training Center (SRI&ETTC) helping to organize the events.

Nearly 130 students from 11 high schools in Atlantic, Ocean, Monmouth and Cape May counties participated in the second annual competition in March 2017. The competition challenged students with seven problems that utilized their abilities with the Java programming language to code solutions. Participation grew in subsequent years, with nearly 200 students participating in 2018 and 2019. The 2020 event was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Kesselman has worked to establish the CSTA computer coding competitions at Stockton as a means to bring the opportunities and excitement of these competitions to South Jersey.

“I love when students are more creative than you could even imagine. Technology can be uncomfortable, but with a spark of confidence, students are off and running on their own, creating great projects,” Kesselman said.

Sunnie Yousaf, a Stockton transfer student and former high school student of Lynne Kesselman, volunteered to help at the coding competition in March 2017. Early exposure to coding helped to demystify the science and gave Sunnie the confidence to rise up in a male-dominated field.

“Her curriculum didn’t deter you, and the feeling she left you with was that you can take on the world,” said Sunnie about her former teacher.