Seven of Rowan College of South Jersey’s Gloucester campus students received $1,000 Peter J. McGuire scholarships during the 125th Annual Labor Day Observance held Friday, Aug. 30, at the Collingswood Grand Ballroom.
Rowan College of South Jersey President Frederick Keating and New Jersey Senate President Steve Sweeney were on hand at the scholarship breakfast to congratulate students Hailee Bachorz of Woodbury, Margaret Benz of Monroeville, Maura Conaghan of Barrington, Jordyn Cudd of Franklinville, Tyren Davis of Hi Nella, Alyssa Meglino of Williamstown and Makaila Valentino of Mullica Hill.
Founded in 1985 by the Camden Central Labor Union and American Federation of Teachers Local 2373, the program honors McGuire, the father of Labor Day. Coordinated by the Southern New Jersey AFL-CIO Central Labor Council, it has granted over 600 scholarships—awarding more than $500,000 to deserving students—since its inception.
McGuire devoted his life to fair labor laws, working conditions and education and co-founded the American Federation of Labor alongside Samuel Gompers. He famously proclaimed, “[we want] more schoolhouses and less jails, more books and less arsenals, more learning and less vice.”
