Stewards & Scholars

Alumni Spotlight: Morgan Mangee

There and Back Again: The Academic Journey of RVCC Lab Technician Morgan Mangee

By Theresa Vitovitch and Haley Weber

If you’ve ever taken BIOL 102, BIOL 111, or an environmental science lab course at RVCC, you may have met Morgan Mangee. The 27 year-old lab technician can often be found darting around classroom SC-219, wearing a white lab coat as she sets up whatever supplies are needed for that day’s lab, whether it be a bucket of freshly caught macroinvertebrates from the campus stream for the General Biology II class, or the beakers, hotplates, oils and lye needed to make soap in the Plants, Humans, and the Environment class. What might be less obvious is the fact that Morgan used to be the one taking those same exact labs during her time as an Raritan Valley Community College student and environmental science major.

Like many students at RVCC, Morgan Mangee didn’t have the conventional college experience. She started her time at RVCC in 2012 as a high school student without an official major. Morgan’s decision to attend RVCC was primarily influenced by her sister’s positive experience attending the college.

“It just made sense,” Morgan recalled. “And it’s affordable, and I’d heard great things because of my sister.” After using RVCC to get her feet wet in college- level science classes, Morgan set off to attend Delaware Valley University, where she studied Conservation and Wildlife for a year. After getting married and giving birth to her son, Noah, Morgan decided to come back to attend RVCC, where she could be closer to her parents and support network.

It wasn’t until 2017, when Morgan took ENVI 102: Environmental Science and Sustainability, and met Professor Emilie Stander, that her entire life changed. Morgan “always liked science, and I always cared about the environment and things, but this [class] really solidified it.” The course was so influential, that Morgan credits it for “why I chose [the Environmental Science major], and why I got a bachelors in it…yeah, I mean, it all started here.”

The class itself covers a broad range of environmental topics, from lead contamination in water supplies to the toxins in our shampoos. Students are charged with brainstorming individual and systemic solutions to those problems. As a new mother, many of the topics hit home for Morgan.

Morgan poses with her son Noah at a family gathering.

“I think it was having a baby and then learning about everything environmental science related: climate change, the toxins in the environment, what we eat, or what we use to clean ourselves or to cook with… [my interest in the subject] snowballed from there.” That interest led Morgan to officially change her major to Environmental Science, and to a new course load that involved intense hands-on learning. Morgan learned about how energy is generated in ENVI 103: Energy and the Environment, and reinforced that knowledge with her classmates through a field trip to a nuclear fusion research facility at Princeton University.

In her final semester at RVCC, Morgan took ENVI 201: Environmental Field Studies. As a part of her capstone project for the class, Morgan got a taste of professional field work, working with three other students to conduct a semester-long research project. They investigated the importance of forested buffers in protecting water quality in receiving streams and regulating the levels of nitrogen and phosphorus in those waterways. In the process Morgan and her classmates learned how to use almost all the equipment in the RVCC Water Quality Lab, how to repair deer exclosure fencing, and even how to cut tree branches.

Above: Morgan working in the RVCC Water Quality Lab as part of her ENVI 201 project during spring 2018, alongside a classmate.

“It was fantastic working in the field and learning all of that. And that made me love the major even more, because it is hard work, being inside and going over research,” Morgan said. “Or reading papers or peer reviewed articles, and understanding the literature, asking Jay and Emilie about it, and how to explain it, and really taking advantage of them and the classes you take here with them, because they know so much. But that was one of the best things I did [here at RVCC].”

Out of the Frying Pan and Into the Fire

By May of 2018, Morgan was thriving. She had graduated from RVCC with her associates degree in Environmental Science, and that summer, she began her first paid environmental internship in coastal ecology with RVCC Professor Jay Kelly, thanks to the connections she made during her classes. Morgan was part of a team working to combat beach erosion and protect endangered species in coastal areas of New Jersey by installing beach fencing, while also recording the elevation of sand dunes, and searching for seabeach amaranth, an endangered beach plant.

“It was a lot of long days on the beach in the heat, but I learned so much,” Morgan said about the experience. “I didn’t know anything going into it. [Staff Scientist Jessica Ray] was very helpful, [Professor Jay Kelly] was very helpful, it was really good. It was still hard, but very good.” Adding to that difficulty was the responsibility of being the primary parent to her son Noah following her divorce.

“I definitely struggled with that internship. [Noah] was two at the time, not even, he was one and a half.” Despite the hardship, after a successful summer field season, Morgan was ready to return to Delaware Valley in Fall 2018, to pursue a bachelors degree in Environmental Science. Even with the added struggle of the pandemic influencing her senior year, Morgan graduated with her bachelors degree in December 2020. Of course, that meant entering the job market at a turbulent time.

“The only experience I had was that one internship from years prior and a bachelor's degree. I was fresh out of school, very nervous and I applied to A LOT of places,” Morgan recalled of the experience. But the environmental consulting firms she applied to were all far from home, meaning long commutes, and would have required long hours and staying overtime, all big asks for a parent of a young child. That’s why Morgan was so excited to stumble across the position of Lab Assistant in the Science & Engineering department at RVCC. The job provided an opportunity to prep labs for students in biology and environmental science courses. She applied and was interviewed twice, only to get an email saying she had not gotten the job.

“I still have the rejection email!” Morgan laughed. “And I was heartbroken, I was very sad, because that was the farthest I’d gotten, I had applied to so many places, I’d been on a few other interviews, but this was the farthest I’d gotten.”

Then a couple weeks later, Morgan received a voicemail from an unknown number, which turned out to be RVCC’s HR department.

“I called her back, and she said ‘Are you still interested in the laboratory assistant position?’ and I was like, ‘Yes?’. And she was like, ‘Do you want it?’. And I was like ‘Yeah, absolutely!”

Morgan (standing) poses with classmates from ENVI 102 during a beach clean up in 2018. She returned to those beaches later that summer as a part of her coastal ecology internship.

The Return Journey

Morgan started her position at RVCC on September 7th, 2021; this past September marked a year on the job. Over the past year, Morgan has prepared water quality samples, prepped vegetables for lab tests, prepared petri dishes for growing bacterial samples, and so much more. The professors who influenced her degree path are now Morgan’s colleagues, and continue to educate her.

“Even though I've since graduated and am working here with [Professors Jay Kelly and Emilie Stander], they are so, so inclusive and they want me to keep learning. They always offer to take me out in the field, and [Staff Scientist Jessica Ray] too, and take me out and teach me things and be a part of it still.”

As for the future, Morgan has a lot to consider.

RVCC Lab Tech Morgan Mangee gives us a behind the scenes look at one of the many labs she prepares. Students taking General Biology II will end up using the macroinvertebrates seen here to determine the water quality of the nearby campus stream.

“I really want to get my Masters, but I’m also trying to be smart about it, cause you know, working full-time and having a kid, while also going to graduate school… I mean, I’ve never done it, so it’s tricky… I’m waiting on [getting a masters], because I don’t want to take on too much, and I want to do really well when I decide to do it.” RVCC is supportive in that regard; Morgan claims that “they’ll pay up to 80% [of a Masters program], I think, which is amazing. I couldn’t [get a Master degree] without that.” In the meantime, Morgan has the time to gain experience and knowledge from her current position, to determine what her exact focus of study should be.

“I truly think working here was the best option for me, ever. I’m very fortunate, and I have to remind myself of that too, because… especially when I was younger, or getting my [associates/bachelors] degree, you know, you have visions of ‘Oh, I’m going to be doing this, this and this. But then you grow up and life happens, and you figure out what you’re gonna do.” Morgan recalled as she discussed her life journey so far. “Sometimes it's defeating… when you think there's certain ways to do [school], and you should be doing it certain ways. But then you realize, you know, we're all getting there one way or another.” An inspiring message from Morgan to current and potential students? She wants anyone to know that while some things in life may make college more challenging, it is possible to succeed in more than one way. When asked what parts of her life journey she looks back on with pride for getting through, Morgan said: “I would say starting college, getting married, having a baby, getting divorced, graduating college, all while raising your baby and then getting a job. So yeah, it was a doozy. But I’m on the other side, my goodness.”

Morgan and her fiance are both fierce Tolkien fans. Can you recognize which book the paragraph titles of this article came from?

Morgan's life extends outside the lab, of course.

“I love reading… I want to read, but then my [Nintendo] Switch is in my hands and I’m playing Spiritfarer,” Morgan joked during her interview. Morgan shares her love of reading and video games not only with her son Noah, but also her fiance, Winston. Described by Morgan as “the nicest person I’ve ever met in my whole life,” the two initially bonded over the Lord of the Rings series. Morgan smiled as she spoke, saying “[Winston’s] fantastic. He’s great to Noah, and that’s the most important thing. Noah and him love each other. And now we’re fixing up a house together, [this] random boy I met a few years ago [and me].”

The Last Stage

Morgan did have some parting words of advice for students who find themselves struggling.

“Of course, being on the other side, I’m like, ‘Keep going, no matter what.’ Literally no matter what you’re thinking, ‘cause I know it's hard. Like oh, it is so hard. And also give yourself credit, and a break… but it is doable. And it is very worth it. ” But perseverance is only a part of a coping strategy. Morgan also recommends getting help when it’s needed, especially in regards to mental health.

“I know I have ADHD [and] I just have horrible anxiety. I started medication in June, and can not tell you how much it has changed my life,” Morgan shared during her interview.

“I do my job better, ya know? I can talk to people about issues, or reach out to professors with questions for lab, or ask permission to go do something for the environmental labs. Like before, it was just... I couldn’t. [So the change is] awesome.” Her parting words on the subject?

“If [taking medication] makes you feel better or… feel better, feel happier, simple as that, or want to go out and do things and be more comfortable doing things, do it.”