What happens when an alumnus from the G.I. Generation compares notes with a recent graduate from the Millennial Generation? Some social scientists say these two groups seem to have the most in common even more than the Millennial have with their own parents, the Boomers.

Meet Richard Pool, born in Greenville, SC, in 1923. He received a B.S. in civil engineering in1942 and is a distinguished professor emeritus in the USC College of Engineering and Information Technology. We asked him to think back to his days as a Carolina student.

Meet Priscilla Larkin, born in Columbia in 1983. A Carolina Scholar, she received a B.A. in classical studies in August 2005 and plans to attend seminary and then medical school for a possible career in medical missions.


What was your early home life like? How would you describe the parenting style in your family?

Richard Pool: Mother was the disciplinarian. She would get out a switch and switch you good if you needed it. I sold The State newspaper on the streets of Columbia to help make a financial contribution to the family. It was the Depression and there was no money. But we werent aloneno one had money. When I was ten, my family moved out to a farm in Kershaw County. We farmed and my father also became a civil service employee checking up on cotton statistics in the county.

Priscilla Larkin: My dad is a professor at the Lutheran Seminary here in Columbia, and my mom has a masters degree in history, although she has always stayed home to raise my older brother and me. We went to church regularly as a family. My mom encouraged us to read and read to us every night. We always had dinner together; even with both of us playing sports and having busy schedules, my mother made certain we always had dinner together. I used to chafe at that but now Im really thankful for that. We always talked openly and I never felt pressured by my parents, never felt pushed by them. Ive always motivated myself.

RP: My home life as a child was very similar to Priscillas. Mother cooked and we had good meals together. We went to church every Sunday. I won the county spelling championship a couple of times. Daddy taught Sunday School, Mother was always around to look after us. I was a member for the football and basketball teams at Blaney High School. The town of Blaney, S.C., later had its name changed to Elgin.


Did you live on campus?

RP: I lived on the Horseshoe in Legare College, which was called Tenement Three when I first moved in. I didnt know my roommates: we got put in a room and there we were.

PL: I lived on the Horseshoe, too, but in three dorms: Maxcy, Thornton, and Rutledge. I knew my roommate from middle school and through a church youth group.


What activities you were involved in as a student?

PL: I was a member of The Honor Society, where we tutored at boys and girls clubs; youth ministries, I started a Shakespeare club on campus, volunteered at clinics and hospitals. I worked every summer, including one summer at the USC School of Medicine. I guess thats not much, but I always went to my classes and that takes time. Well, I did skip one class during my last month of classes. I was feeling rebellious.

RP: I was president of the American Society of Civil Engineers my senior year and a member of the Clariosophic Literary Society all four years. I had a couple of paper routes my freshman year to help pay for college. I played basketball with a church league, and I went to as many Carolina baseball, basketball, and football games as I could. Boxing was a big sport on campus then and I liked to go to boxing matches. During my last three years on campus, I worked on the NYA (National Youth Administration) program as a paper grader and general flunky for Professor Sumwalt.


How did you learn about the news?

RP: We read The State newspaper. We didnt have a radio, and of course television didnt exist then.

PL: I read newspapers and watch national television news.


What were your biggest pressures as a student?

RP: My biggest pressure was making enough money to get through school. There werent many scholarships back then. The students I knew were a pretty congenial group. Freshmen hazing was pretty commonplace back then, but about the worst thing I was made to do was get on top of a table and sing some silly song.

PL: Im very thankful for my scholarship, because it let me concentrate on my studies and I didnt have the added pressure of finding money for college. I surrounded myself with people who were Christian so I havent experienced peer pressure. Its where you put yourself that determines the pressures youll face.


What were your college costs?

RP: When I was a senior in 1942, it cost $400 an academic year to live on campus and go to school. This included tuition, books, board, and meals in the cafeteria.

PL: This past year was my senior year, and tuition plus fees were $6,600 a year.


Whom did you admire?

RP: I had a great deal of admiration for Professor Reuben Johnson, an engineering professors who I thought was a very talented professor. I also admired Professor Robert Sumwalt. He hired me to work as his assistant. He was a real go-getter and was instrumental in getting funding for buildings on campus, such as McKissick Library (now Museum), which was built while I was a student. Years later, he also brought me back to campus as an engineering professor and I taught at USC for nearly 40 years.

PL: My grandfather is my hero. He was born in 1918 in Oklahoma, and he took great care of my grandmother who had early-onset Alzheimers Disease for nearly 25 years. I never heard him complain; I never heard him say he wanted to leave. He loved her and cared for her throughout her illness. To see that commitment and that faithfulness was inspiring.


Reflect on the major events of your times Pearl Harbor and Sept. 11.

RP: I was a senior at Carolina in 1941 when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. I listened to the radio with lots of other students as FDR (President Roosevelt) talked about the bombing and about declaring war. Plenty of my fellow students left campus for military service. I never heard one person protest the war when I was at school. The Navy came around in the spring of 1942 and offered commissions to engineering students who could pass the physical exam and graduate that spring. In this manner, I became a naval officer.

PL: The events of Sept. 11, 2001, happened just after I started my freshman year, and I started reading The Wall Street Journal around that time. I read it daily now; students can get free copies at the Russell House during the school year. Even though USC is a more conservative campus, there is a general anti-war feeling on campus, or at least not a pro-war feeling. On campus, only the more-vocal people speak up against the war. I dont know anyone who is serving in Iraq right now.


When you were a student, what did you and your friends think about the future?

RP: We knew that we had to live through World War II, which had begun, and that after it was over we would look to the future and hopefully be able to be profitably employed using what we learned at USC.

PL: This year, especially, I have been thinking about what I should do next and talking with a lot of my friends and fellow classmates who are at the same point in life. The general sentiment I have been hearing from almost everyone is that we all want to do something meaningful by working with people. This is not just from pre-med majors I know but also from English majors, business majors, etc. Im planning to go seminary for a year, and Im considering medical school after that, possibly pediatrics. Case Western University School of Medicine is holding a spot for me in their fall 2006 entering class. I want to eventually practice mission medicine. I have heard very few people talk about wanting to make a lot of money or become famous or something like that. I think we share this with the GI Generationa purposeful sense of wanting to help people.