Every semester for my Business Marketing, Management and Communications classes, I create one big Team assignment for my students. In a Commuter College, it is a lot tougher for students to get to know one another between their studies and their jobs, so I create these projects to foster learning, creativity and especially Teamwork.
This semester I taught International Marketing. This is a tough course to teach as you always have students of various age groups and various levels of industry experience. The Spring semester was no different. This makes the class more interesting yet more challenging to teach. I still challenge them and test them to see what type of future executives they will become.
I also taught Principles of Management and International Marketing which came with their own challenges. It was the amount of people in each class and what projects would they be working on. I knew the things I wanted to work on, I just had to figure out how to frame them.
In the past, I have created these projects under the Bergecco-Parc Consulting Inc. banner, the main consulting company, the Orion Malls banner, a Mall design company and the Buscomonzefi.com banner, my Tech Division.
Each business concept does its best to be creative, forward thinking and have a thought producing presentations. I also challenge the students to top on another in their presentations and build on what they have seen others do in the past.
The Bergecco-Parc Consulting Inc. concept is an acronym for Bergen Community College Paramus campus where I work. It came to me one night around 3:00am in the morning when I was trying to figure out a project for my students to work on.
Professor Justin Watrel, CEO Bergecco-Parc Consulting Inc.
Our Corporate site (created my one of my former President’s:
This semester I attempted one of the toughest and most extensive Team projects in all the historical projects I have created, taking the listing of the Daughters of the American Revolution created for Bergen County Historical Division for the “Bergen 250”and we took it to another level.
I challenged the students to visit all the cemeteries and graveyards on the listing (using my blog if needed), find the tombstones of the veterans of the Revolutionary War and photograph them. Next they needed to create a biography of each of the veterans.
From there, they needed to create a short video of that gravesite and put it all into a QR code so visitors can find them. It was a big challenge but I knew this class could do it. There was something about the personality of this class that would make it work.
I then planned a series of field trips so that the students could visit particular sites in a more formal tour. I asked a lot of the contacts who I have met over the years to help me out, so the students could see why this project was so important to the 250th Anniversary to both our County and our Country. It took a lot to plan and execute. I gave them six weeks to do the research and create other sections of the project.
Bergecco-Parc Consulting Inc. Project Proposal:
The project came in four different sections:
A. They had to take the listing of all the veterans and their list of grave sites and play ‘detective’ to find the tombstones and then film and create the QR codes.
B. They had to create a special “250th Medallion’ that would be placed at each veteran’s tombstone to honor them on the “Bergen 250”. These pieces of art were very clever.
C. They had to create a “Farm to Table” fundraiser with three courses and an American selection of wines, one being from New Jersey. They also had to create the menu and the invitation to the event. The Teams created the menu, cost and budget to show how much they would raise for the event.
D. As an extra credit assignment, I had the Teams create a special “Halloween Tour”, with a special concession menu, tour script of the cemetery or graveyard of their choice and create the logo and advertising for it. Three of the four Teams created this.
Then I planned a series of field trips to visit the most important sites in Bergen County, some were tiny stand alone family cemeteries, some were historical sites and some were very important church graveyards with family plots.
I think this is where the students had the most fun. This is where the comradery of the class was created. As I took the Team out to many of the sites on their listings, the Teams got to see the concept of “Dark Tourism”, the desire to visit places were either bad things have happened, the site has an evil past or something to do with death. This has become a popular form of Tourism in the Twenty-First Century. (Think the 9/11 Memorial).
It was also a chance to get out of the classroom and get some fresh air and sunshine. These are some of the places our Team visited.
My Graveyard and Cemetery Team “Out in the Field”:
The first site I took my Team to was the Baylor Massacre site in River Vale, NJ, where the British had ambushed a battalion of soldiers and killed them. The site has a rather dark history from the war.
Touring the Baylor Massacre site
https://www.discoverbergencounty.com/baylor-massacre-burial-site
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baylor_Massacre
My review on TripAdvisor:
My review on VisitingaMuseum.com
My Team tour of the Baylor Massacre site
The Team tour of the site
Tour of the Baylor Massacre site
Touring the Baylor Massacre site
The irony about the site is that all my students were from Bergen County and none of them had been here before. I had taken my previous ‘Bergen 250’ class here as well as our next stop, the Haring Farm Cemetery just a few blocks away.
The Team picture at the Baylor Massacre site
We next toured the Haring Family Cemetery down the road on Old Haring Farm Road. This was one of the many examples of small family cemeteries that used to be placed at the edge of family farms, who wanted loved ones buried close by or the distance to the family church was too far away at that time.
Touring the Haring Family Cemetery
The Haring family is one of the most important and prominent Colonial families in New Jersey (and are very distantly related to me by marriage), so I felt this site was very important to visit to show the family dynamic of that era.
Our Team at the Haring Farm Cemetery at Old Haring Farm Court
https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/1974293/haring-family-cemetery
My review on TripAdvisor:
My review on VisitingaMuseum.com:
We then went on our Team lunch at Pompilio’s Pizzeria in Downtown Westwood, NJ. I feel on projects like this to build comradary and for the students to start their projects, we need to ‘break bread’ with one another and get to know each other in a relaxed place. Plus the students seem to love free pizza and Coke. This lunch has started many successful projects.
Our Team Divisional at lunch at Pompilio’s Pizzeria:
Our Team lunch at Pompilio’s Pizzeria
We all had such a nice time at lunch and feel this is the best way to get to know one another. The food at Pompilio’s is also excellent. I always host the lunch with large Cheese Pizza and Coke.
My Executive Team at our lunch
Our next Field Trip was the Old Stone Church in Saddle River at 481 East Saddle River Road in Saddle River, NJ. This is one of the oldest churches in Bergen County and in New Jersey.
The Old Stone Church at 481 East Saddle River Road in Saddle River
https://oldstonechurchonline.org
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_North_Reformed_Low_Dutch_Church
My review on TripAdvisor:
My review on VisitingaMuseum.com:
Touring the oldest part of the graveyard
This church has the most complete set of tombstones of Revolutionary War veterans and the church website has some of the most complete information on their veterans.
Our group picture at the Old Stone Church
Our next trip was to the First Reformed Church of Hackensack, the second oldest church in New Jersey and one of the most important for the Revolutionary War. Their graveyard has the most amount of Revolutionary War veterans in Bergen County.
My students outside the First Reformed Church of Hackensack at 42 Court Street
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Dutch_Reformed_Church,_Hackensack
https://dspace.njstatelib.org/items/4de999c0-1b3c-442a-867c-c3d5e3ee75e7
My review on TripAdvisor:
My review on VisitingaMuseum.com:
The historic outside cornerstones of the church with the original family founder names carved in the bricks
The family keystones
John Paulson keystone
Henry Berry keystone
Albert C. Zabrifky keystone
The Historic First Reformed Church pews and stained glass windows.
The first floor of the church and the inside pews
The alter
The view of inside of the church
The Revolutionary War artifacts
My student visit on the second floor of the church. The church’s artifacts are displayed in the cases here.
Tour of the church
The Child’s family windows
Voorhis-Lozier-Moore Windows
The Kraissi family windows
The Van Valen windows
The War years windows
The church is the second oldest church in New Jersey and one of the oldest in the country. We then walked outside to tour the historic graveyard in the back of the church. It had the most amount of Revolutionary War veterans buried in Bergen County, NJ.
Many of the veterans of the American Revolution were buried closest to the church, which was the tradition of the time to be buried as close to the church as possible. Their graves were marked by Revolutionary War medallions and American flags.
The Demarest-Voorhis Revolutionary War graves
General Poor’s grave
Albert Romin grave Revolutionary War veteran
The front part of the church by the Hackensack Green was the resting place of many of these heros
Our Team of Student Consultants picture inside the historic graveyard
It is also the resting place of General Enoch Poor, who died during battle, whose funeral was attended by General George Washington himself. We took this group picture by the General’s grave.
Our Team pictures with General Poor
Our last field trip and one of our most important was to the Old South Presbyterian Church in Bergenfield. This was the place of the Demarest family plot, which is currently under a full renovation.
The Old South Presbyterian Church and Graveyard
https://www.southchurchtoday.org
My review on TripAdvisor:
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Profile/R4960NKjustinw/mediabatch/13264450?m=19905
My review on VisitingaMuseum.com:
We worked with Melissa Naylis, who is leading the renovation of the church and master carver, Bob Carpenter, who showed us how he is restoring the graveyard. He had led one of my previous classes when we visited the graveyard for my ‘Bergen 250’ project.
Master Carver Bob Carpenter leading our tour
The South Presbyterian Church and the Demarest family plot
The Demarest family plot
Melissa Naylis starting the tour with us
The students got to learn of the important history of the grave sites and why they are an important piece of the United States founding. The were the men who fought for our freedom and the wives and families that supported the effort.
Melissa leading the tour and introducing Bob Carpenter to us
Melissa Naylis explaining the work that is being done in the graveyard
Bob Carpenter explains his work
Some of the earliest tombstones in the graveyard
Bob Carpenter explaining the renovation
Bob Carpenter talking about the Demarest plot renovation
Pastor Glen from the Old South Presbyterian Church introducing himself to the students and joining us on this part of the tour.
Talking about the care of the tombstones
Talking about care of the tombstones
We then moved to tombstone of the founder of Rutgers University for a marble carving demonstration. Bob Carpenter wanted the students to know the effort into carving into stone and brought the tools of that era and a piece of marble for the students to use. The students got a kick out of this and some really enjoyed it.
Bob explaining the work of a marble carver
Describing the process
My students giving it a try
My student Amy, carving marble
My student, Walid, carving on marble
Demonstrating the process
After the demonstration, we talked about the work of the Demarest family and their contributions within Bergen County.
The founder of Rutgers University, John Henry Goetscheus and a member of the extended Demarest family.
Our Team picture after the tour
Taking a quick tour of the graveyard after the formal tour, the Blauvelt-Kipp family burial ground
I found that being ‘out of the field’ really exposed the students to not just to visiting parts of the county they had never seen but showing them how cemeteries and graveyards are part of our culture of respect and memory. They can be looked at less as religious standpoint but as a historical value of who we are and how it part of all of our pasts.
We also looked about how these sites could play a role of building Bergen County tourism by promoting these sites as a part of the history of our country. Not just during the Revolutionary War but as part of our cultural fabric.
On April 29th, 2026, the students made their formal Presentation of the project and showed off their research of the sites and their fundraising tools to support the restoration of these sites.
Here is their work:
The Bergen 250 PowerPoint:
The Bergen 250 Website:
https://sites.google.com/me.bergen.edu/bergecco-park-consulting-inc/our-journey
The Bergen 250 Presentation Video:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ow37gAAbXF22uoae_bwix6mAseVn_TXy/view
The Bergen 250 YouTube Video:
This was an amazing project that will benefit so many people from historians to researchers to people who love the Revolutionary War and its history to family members looking for loved ones.
It is my class’s contribution as well as other future and past projects to benefit the “Bergen 250” and the rich history of Bergen County, NJ. Our County has contributed so much to not just the building of the state but of the United States as well. It was one of the best projects I ran as CEO of Bergecco-Parc Consulting Inc.
Our Executive Picture:
The “Cemetery and Graveyards” Team
Our Reception following the Presentation
Our Presentation was followed by a Q & A with many people we had met along the way from our visits “out in the field” who had come to see the final project and this was followed by our Corporate Team picture and then a reception in honor of the Student Consultants who made this important possible and come to life.
Great job Team!
mywalkinmanhattan 