Students hone their skills by writing about the town

BLOOMFIELD, NJ — Bloomfield College students taking a first-year writing course have been uncovering township and school history that may go onto the college website commemorating the sesquicentennial, or 150th anniversary, of the school.

The students are in three classes being taught Assistant Professor Nora McCook, who is in her first year at BC. What her students’ research turned up was given a public display, via laptops, on Monday, April 23, at the college library, in the Shelby Room.

According to McCook, the information on display was one of six writing assignments that will go into a virtual portfolio.The laptop presentation was the fifth classroom assignment and it focused on Bloomfield history.

“We’re hoping to share some of this information,” she said.
Freshman Quentin Williams researched a campus monument: the bell located outside Siebert Hall facing Franklin Street.
I wanted to know why it was put on campus. It goes back to the beginning of Bloomfield”

From his laptop, it was learned that the bell once rang out for the German Presbyterian Church, now demolished,. The church was established in 1855, but built in 1865. It closed in 1966 when its congregants merged with the Church on the Green. When the German Presbyterian church was demolished, the old bell rang out 111 times, one for each year that the structure stood.

Jeyda Rivera chose the decline of religious influence in America.
“I know that Bloomfield was pretty religious,” she said. “Bloomfield College was originally named German Theological Seminary.”

She said immigration was one reason for the decline, displaying a map showing the places immigrants settled one they came to America. From the graphic, it is learned that they mostly settled along the coast Rivera said it was only speculation, but she thought there would be more religious diversity along the coastlines since people having a greater variety of religious of backgrounds lived there.

She also displayed statistics as to the religious affiliations of individuals living in America. She said separation of church and state resulted in more affiliations.

“In 2015, 25.8 percent of Bloomfield College students said they had no religious preference,” she said. “Seventeen percent said they were Roman Catholic. The next was the United Church of Christ, with 14 percent.”

Another student was Alex Umoru. He researched one person: Roberta Bitgood. She was a choir professor at the college, from 1930-40. Umoru said he liked music and was trying to keep it simple by researching a person.

Bitgood’s passion was music. She grew up in New London, Conn. At five, she played the violin. At 15, she was playing the organ and piano.
“The organ and piano were her specialties,” Umoru said. “She played all over New London. She came here in 1932, when she came for an appointment to be music director of Westminster Presbyterian Church.”

She died on April 15, 2007, at the age of 99. Bitgood had married and had a daughter.
McCook is pleased with what her students have done.

“Since it is the 150th anniversary, the class is focused on research and I wanted a real audience for their work,” she said.

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