Three generations, one TU

By Megan Bradshaw on December 19, 2016

Grandmother Virginia Schaaf ‘57 called it State Teachers’ College. To mother Catherine Schaaf ‘82, it was Towson State University. Daughter Lauren Daugherty ’16 will graduate on Dec. 21 from Towson University.

But no matter the name, all three have called the campus on York Road home. Actually, all three women have called Newell Hall home, as well.

Virginia and Catherine each spent their first year living in Richmond Hall before moving to Newell. Lauren lived in Scarborough Hall before also taking up residence in Newell.

“It was so different in those days,” recalls Virginia. “I loved dorm life. We all shared a phone on the hall, and you couldn’t talk too long because there’d be a line behind you. We had a required study time until 10 p.m. after dinner, and there were hall monitors.”

She also remembers there was a campus-wide vote on whether women could wear slacks to class. The result was “no.”

Catherine recalls a buzzing campus full of people with many interests and activities.

“I think I and many others blossomed by sharing all facets of our personalities,” she said.

She liked playing intramurals and pick-up sports and even swam for a year for the Tigers’ women’s swimming and diving team and head coach Ray Riordan. She was a member of Phi Sigma Sigma—one of three on-campus sororities—and served as a Student Government Association (SGA) representative. 

Lauren, a graphic design major, takes after her mother, who taught art education in pre-kindergarten through 12^th grade in Harford County, Anne Arundel County and the Baltimore Archdiocese. Her grandmother was also a teacher, who earned her degree in elementary education and taught first grade.

But Lauren is looking to use her skills in product design and illustration. Both she and her mother were attracted to TU for its excellent art program. Lauren calls the Center for the Arts her “home,” noting that she “grew up” in her classes there. Her professors helped expand her horizons—all the way to Denmark. 

While on her study abroad trip, she took four design classes and traveled, including a hiking trip to the Czech Republic. 

“I never saw myself going to a colder place,” Lauren laughs. “I’m definitely a beach person. But it was great. TU has a great Study Abroad program!” 

Graduation day approaches quickly for Lauren, and Virginia and Catherine, who have already seen the career benefits of a Towson University degree, will be in the audience.

Virginia is a Navy wife, and no matter where her family was stationed, she was always able to find a job. She recalled one interview in Norfolk, Virginia, where the interviewer told her “Oh my gosh, we love to get Towson grads!”

Catherine also graduated from Towson State University feeling prepared for her career in education.

“I’ve very proud. I felt very prepared as a teacher, and when I was interviewing, a TU education was always a very attractive degree,” she said.

Lauren plans to look for positions in environmental product design when she moves to Portland, Oregon, next year, but like mother and grandmother, she feels prepared for her career. She feels she has become more well-rounded as an artist and, aside from her portfolio and website, that her time at TU has given her the intangibles that set her apart from others.

While all three of the women’s experiences have been different, a Towson University education has become one more thread that binds them together and to the TU family.

Virginia is a part of the TU Advocacy Group and meets with state legislators in Annapolis independently and with current students during Tiger Pride Day. Catherine stays involved as much as she can with two children in college and a teaching career, and Lauren, when thinking about her impending cross-country move, said, “After spending four years living here, moving that far away [from TU] is so hard to imagine!”