TCNJ

45 FALL/WINTER 2026 WE LOVE OUR LEGACY LIONS Please share the TCNJ experiences that have been passed on through the generations of your family at magazine@tcnj.edu. Smooth transitions Clare '30 and Catherine '26 Gonzalez The stories they will tell Tracy '96 and MaryBess '30 Gorelczenko Tracy Howard Gorelczenko '96 knows her way around a television studio. A theatre and television production major, she interned for each major network — ABC, CBS, and NBC — and then started her career in talk shows. She went on to be an audience coordinator, a booker, and a segment producer at popular shows such as The Montel Williams Show, The View, and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? She's even done some acting on soap operas. "While interning on Weekend Today, NBC would send a limousine service to pick me up at 4 a.m. in front of New Res Hall," she says. "Sadly, nobody was awake to witness it." Now her daughter, MaryBess '30, is a spinoff in the making as she starts her first year at TCNJ as a communication studies major with a specialization in digital filmmaking and TV. "MaryBess is a creative comedy genius," says the proud mom. "I hope she takes every opportunity available to create and build her portfolio and resume." Will the mom-daughter duo eventually make films together? "Absolutely not!" says Gorelczenko, pointing to her own dramatic style versus MaryBess's comedic preference. "We interpret scripts in a different way." As a transition leader at TCNJ, Catherine Gonzalez '26, MA '27 facilitates orientation activities for new students as they get to know the campus and meet friends. This year, one of those students was her sister, Clare '30. Catherine, an English secondary education major who is now working toward her master's in English, was excited to have her sister on campus. "The random moments that we saw each other made us very happy," she says. But she is also mindful to let Clare, an accountancy major, find her own identity. "No two students' journeys will ever look the same," Catherine says. "My time at TCNJ and my involvement in clubs and the connections I made with professors helped me grow as a thinker and as an individual. I hope Clare discovers opportunities that also teach her more about herself and expand her mind." One thing is certain: This will be a special year for the sisters. "Because Clare and I are four years apart in school, we've never been in the same school at the same time before." The bloom of youth The TCNJ Alumni Association sponsored a September afternoon of sunflower picking at Holland Ridge Farms in Cream Ridge, New Jersey.

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