Paul Hilton was honored for his unselfish contributions to improving his community. He played a key role in developing alumni events at Rowan University.
Winslow Township resident Paul Hilton loves his alma mater, Rowan University, and serving his community. Since the 1983 graduate started volunteering with the Rowan University Alumni Association in 2010, he has played a key role in developing alumni events and was recognized for his contributions at the Camden County Freedom Medal Ceremony.
Hilton, 56, was one of 11 Camden County residents honored for their unselfish contributions to improving their community. The award is presented to civic leaders who demonstrate the ideals and actions that reflect the principles of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
When Hilton started volunteering, he served on the first Rowan/Glassboro State College Black Alumni & Friends reunion committee.
“I saw there was a need to engage and get black alumni back to campus,” he said.
They had the first black alumni reunion, an indoor barbeque, and more than 300 people came. All the proceeds went to a scholarship fund.
“To make sure it wasn’t a fluke, we did it again in 2011,” Hilton said. “We had less people come, but we raised more money toward the scholarship fund.”
Hilton became a member of the Alumni Association Board of Directors in 2013 and was responsible for organizing various programs events, including networking events for students.
When it came time to start planning for the 2016 reunion, Hilton wanted to do things differently and make it bigger. He and his committee moved it to homecoming weekend and had events going on all weekend.
“It started on Friday with a meet-and-greet session,” he said. “We had alumni and faculty come and made it a good networking event. We invited current students to come so they could meet alumni and talk to them and get an idea about what real life is after college.”
Saturday, they hosted a tailgate before the football game, and during the day, they had a jazz soiree and other entertainment.
Sunday, they hosted a breakfast and had a guest speaker give encouraging words.
“It was a great weekend,” he said. “As a result of those events, I would say close to 2,200 alumni came, and we were able to raise even more money for two scholarships — the William H. Meyers Scholarship Fund and the Dr. Gary Hunter Scholarship Fund.”
Hilton said he is forever grateful for what Rowan provided him, and he will do whatever he can to give back to the community that gave him so much.
“I have a passion for Rowan because they gave me an opportunity to get a quality education and utilize that education for a living so I can have a family,” he said.
His community service work goes back before he started volunteering with Rowan. He is a member of the Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, which does service projects for the community and schools, he said. He also serves on the Winslow Township Board of Education and volunteered on the Winslow Drug and Alcohol Alliance Service.
Hilton said community service runs within his family, and his wife Angelique and son Matthew, a senior at Rowan, volunteer with him. Part of the reason why he volunteers is because he wants to lead by example for Matthew.
“I just have a heart to give back,” he said. “You can talk to your child about stuff, but when your child sees you actually doing what you talk about, I think it speaks louder than words. I’m still trying to be that visible example. I always say I’m going to do service work while I can, as long as I can. The motto in my household has been, ‘always a commitment to service,’ which my family has done a lot of these things, so I give them a lot of credit.”
