Historic guidance counselor helped other women enter male-dominated fields
The double major in German and Spanish says Rutgers–Camden broadened her horizons and prepared her – and her two sisters – for graduate school. She eventually served as the second female guidance director in Camden County at what is now Winslow High School. Under the Medford resident’s leadership, several students were launched in directions they might not have envisioned for themselves – like the four young women she helped gain admittance to Lehigh University’s prestigious engineering program.
“I encouraged them to not just hone in on traditional female careers, but to reach out to other areas that they might have had very little knowledge about, but were bright enough to do,” says Marilyn, who graduated in 1960 from Rutgers–Camden and will walk in this year’s graduation ceremony as a Golden Raptor. Launched in 2005, the Golden Raptor program honors select Rutgers–Camden graduates celebrating their 50th anniversary as alumni.
While Rutgers–Camden was instrumental in helping Marilyn excel academically, she also credits her mother for her and her sisters’ success. “My mother was always saying ‘you’re going to go somewhere, doesn’t matter what you study, buy you’re going to continue your educations’” she recalls. Sisters Patricia and Margaret Maguire graduated in 1956 and 1961 from Rutgers–Camden with degrees in science and history.
Turns out that Marilyn did meet her life partner at Rutgers–Camden: Herman Wissman ’62. She even married him four days before graduation. It was Herman who continued to champion her dream of a graduate degree. “I started taking courses right away at night, while working. Herman was very patient and understanding…I want to thank him for all of his help,” states Marilyn, who earned a master’s in counseling from Rowan University in 1973. She was also one of the first women from the region admitted into Phi Delta Kappa, a professional association for educators, in 1976.
When Marilyn visits Rutgers–Camden today, she’s astounded at the facilities now offered. “I remembered that my high school was actually bigger,” laughs the Camden Catholic High School graduate. “But we always had full professors teaching our classes and I remember meeting people I never would have met otherwise.”
In May of 1960, Marilyn recollects not a honeymoon to some tropical locale, but traveling to New Brunswick with a graduating class of under 100 people for commencement. On May 24, Marilyn will witness Rutgers–Camden’s dramatic growth at the Susquehanna Bank Center. She’ll be at the popular amphitheater not for a sold-out concert, but with thousands of Rutgers–Camden graduates and their families, celebrating years of students’ hard work and sacrifice.
What advice does Marilyn have for the Class of 2010? “See as much as you can. Don’t restrict yourself to what you think you’re going to do,” counsels the one-time Spanish teacher who became a guidance counselor. “What you major in, might not be the field in which you make a career.”
Media Contact: Cathy K. Donovan
(856) 225-6627
E-mail: catkarm@camden.rutgers.edu