On September 18 2023, the Becton community went to a Monmouth College football game in support of Becton Alumni, Greg Anderson. Anderson is Captain of the Monmouth football team and plays right guard on the offensive line. With this game being Anderson’s last season opener, he felt all the love from his Becton community there to support him.
Anderson credits his ability to achieve his accomplishments to, “staying humble and growing as a person on and off the field.” He further tocuhes on some of his successes at Monmouth in his years spent there, “One of the biggest accomplisments was earning back-to-back conference championships here in 2019 and 2020. I have also been able to play in over 30+ games in my college career and start more than half of those games. Academically, I have completed my goals of graduating with multiple degrees (2 bachelors degrees) and I am currently working on my graduate degree.” Being a part of the Becton community helped Anderson set a firm foundation for football and education.
Michele Ferris, Becton’s Alumni Affairs Coordiantor, was the organizer of this trip. Ferris planned this visit for a plethora of reasons, “Greg Anderson was a student of mine and a gifted athlete. This is his last year at Monmouth and I knew he deserved Becton’s support. I contacted Monmouth University athletics to reserve group seating and then reached out to alumni through social media as well as the Becton coaches and faculty to advertise the trip.” Becton football players and cheerleaders were invited to attend through their coaches in support of Anderson as well. Also, personalized banners were printed and brought to the game. Kathryn Scalera, a Becton English teacher who was in attendance for this event, shares her view of the day, “The event was such a great day. It was so nice to see Monmouth University and to see one of our students perform on the Division 1 field. It meant a lot to me since Greg was one of my former students.” Additionally, Mary Vaccaro, Becton teacher, was also in attendance and shares, “This event was a lot of fun. It was great seeing our graduates from the class of 2018. It was so special because so many people came out to support Greg. Greg was a kind, considerate, respectful student/person when he was in high school. He was so sweet when he came out to see all of us. He absolutely deserves support from the Becton community.”
To close off, Anderson left us with some advice for students who want to reach his level of achievement, “Never give up on your dream and what you believe in. Coming from a small group 1 school (at the time) many people said I would be overlooked just because of the high school I went to. That was all wrong, if you are good enough, the coaches will find you no matter where you are. Another piece of advice would be to never stop perfecting your craft. Always look to get better, always strive to be coach-able, and always give 110% in everything that you do.”
Congratulations Greg on all of your wonderful successes– is easy to support someone like you!
