Editor’s Note: This article has been updated for accuracy. The initial article said that Matalucci got his BA in German from Rowan. It has been updated to reflect that Matalucci got his BA from Wake Forest University, with a teaching certificate from Rowan. 

Kipp Matalucci applied to Nashotah House in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, after graduating college with the idea of becoming an Episcopalian priest.

Being raised Episcopalian and having an interest in religion and the unseen, this seemed to be his calling. This wasn’t a long-lived dream, however, as he promptly left after only a few months of living a monastic life of work and prayer, and also breaking up with a person he cared deeply for.

“I was depressed, and sharing a room with my little brother again,” Matalucci said.

It seemed all hope was lost. But there were a few options. He could either go back to Nashotah House in the fall and try again, being able to skip the admissions process, or he could try something else.

“Gee, I wonder if I could go to Glassboro State College and get a teaching certificate,” Matalucci said.

With a Bachelor’s degree in German from Wake Forest University, and a love for the language and culture going back to his first trip to Germany at 16 years old, he decided that getting a certificate from what is now Rowan University and becoming a teacher would be a logical path.

Now 73, Kipp Matalucci is a respected German professor at Rowan, and with a career in teaching language at high school and college levels for over 45 years, he’s never looked back.

Gaining respect from colleagues and students alike, he taught at Gateway Regional High School in Woodbury, New Jersey for 34 years and at Rowan for around 20 years. He was president of the South Jersey chapter of the American Association of Teachers of German (AATG) for four years.

“He’s very thoughtful, responsible, meticulous, and prepared,” said Dr. Edward Smith III, the Coordinator of German and Matalucci’s boss at Rowan. “His demeanor is kind and understanding.”

Ethan Wenger, a senior history major, found that Matalucci “wants all of his students to pass his classes and succeed in life.”

Wenger took two of his German classes.

“He really wants to know his students in terms of their strengths, weaknesses, and just to know us in general outside of our studies,” Wenger said. “He takes our lives outside of college into account, and does not hold anything against us if we have to delay a quiz or have to miss a lecture in an emergency situation.”

Matalucci believes in structured, but personalized and spontaneous teaching, intertwining culture, food, language, and media. At Gateway Regional High School, where he taught German for most of his career, he has learned a lot about the role of a language teacher.

“The cultural aspect of language learning is in some ways even more important than the language itself,” Matalucci said. Since most high school students were just taking the language to graduate, “they probably don’t remember too much about German, but hopefully they remember something about German culture.” 

He hopes to give his students at least a little of what he was able to get from his high school German teacher in Penns Grove, Mrs. Cote. Through her teaching and a trip, Matalucci took with his class to Germany and Austria in 1967, he fell in love with German culture and language, and by extension, many different cultures and languages after that.

Matalucci enjoys weaving stories into his lectures, taking his experiences, and turning them into lessons.

The stories range from spending Christmas with a family he had just met in Estonia to watching Soviet soldiers march through Treptower Park in Berlin for the last time in 1994. His stories can be from anywhere, given that he has studied language and traveled in Norway, Germany, France, Russia, and Peru among many other countries.

Peru specifically holds a special place in his heart. He traveled to the country for two months to study Spanish and hiked the Inca Trail with his nephew. Little did he know he would become a godfather.

“Yuri was the guide,” Matalucci said. “And by the end of the excursion, he said ‘I’d like to improve my English, as a guide it’s important.'”

Wanting to improve his Spanish, Matalucci agreed to have coffee with Yuri every once in a while.

“We became very close friends. Before the month was up, his daughter, Luz, was being christened,” Matalucci said. 

Yuri would go on to ask Matalucci to be Luz’s godfather.

As a teacher of language and student of the world, Matalucci believes that “in introducing students to the culture in all its variations, eventually this fundamental value of language learning sets in a respect for people’s differences.” 

The biggest lesson he’s taken is that traveling, meeting people, and teaching opens new worlds and horizons for everyone involved.

“I’ve had students tell me about that,” Matalucci said. “I opened up this new world for them that they didn’t even think existed, as Mrs. Cote did for me.” 

Expanding on his world opening up, he said, “The world…doesn’t revolve around us. It’s a big wonderful world. I guess I’ve been wanting to get out there since I was at least 16.”

After his attempt at becoming a priest fell by the wayside, Matalucci found that he probably would’ve ended up becoming a teacher anyway if he had stayed at the Nashotah House. 

“I think I would’ve gotten a PhD and spent my career teaching theology, teaching college,” Matalucci said. 

With a fulfilling career of teaching almost behind him, Matalucci hopes to “travel as long as I can.” In that spirit, he plans to travel to Egypt in the future to visit a friend, and he is currently auditing an Arabic class to prepare.

“It would be nice to be able to say something rudimentary in Arabic to [my friend’s] wife or his or her parents, should I meet them during my visit,” Matalucci said.

If he couldn’t travel anymore, he would be happy with remembering and writing the memories he’s collected through his experience over the years.

For comments/questions about this story DM us on Instagram @thewhitatrowan or email features@thewhitonline.com