One Professor Changed His Life. Now This Owl Is Giving Back.
Today, Seth Herzon, CST ’02, is an organic chemist on the faculty at Yale University, but his path wasn’t always clear to him. In fact, he struggled so much in school as a teen that he nearly didn’t attend college. It wasn’t until one Temple professor took him under his wing and challenged Seth to realize his own potential. Now, he’s creating similar opportunities for future students through his own support of Temple.
By Eddy Kosik
Seth Herzon, CST ’02, is currently an organic chemist on the faculty at Yale University, but he will be the first to admit that he struggled in school as a teenager.
“I was not a very good student,” he said. “I didn’t know how to go about learning. I would get piles of work, go home and just be overwhelmed. Then I’d close the books and go outside.”
In his senior year of high school, his parents enrolled him at Valley Forge Military Academy, a boarding school outside Philadelphia. That change might have sent other young people into a spiral, but for Seth, the structure proved to be exactly what he needed. Every night, students had a mandatory two-hour study period, confined to their rooms with the door open.
Dr. Grant Krow, LAW ’78, a former professor of chemistry at Temple University. He died in 2015. Seth created the Grant Krow Memorial Scholarship in his honor. (Photo: Jessica Bender Krow)
Dr. Grant Krow, LAW ’78, a former professor of chemistry at Temple University. He died in 2015. Seth created the Grant Krow Memorial Scholarship in his honor. (Photo: Jessica Bender Krow)
“I’d sit there, looking at these texts, not knowing how to go about studying, but thinking: this is all I’m going to be doing for the next two hours, so I might as well try to figure it out,” he said. “Having that structured time enabled me to learn how to learn.”
After graduating from Valley Forge, Seth spent a semester working at Pizzeria Uno in Center City before applying to Temple, where his mother, Alice Herzon, CLA ’79, had previously attended, and his father, Dr. Frederick Herzon, taught political science. He did not have a clear vision of what he wanted to major in.
“My father read a lot of popular science books, and had given me a book called Life Itself [by Robert Rosen], which is all about cell biology. I thought, ‘that is pretty interesting— why don’t I do something like that?’ The guidance counselor recommended the biochemistry track.” It wasn’t until Seth’s sophomore year, when he took an organic chemistry class with Dr. Grant Krow, LAW ’78, that something finally clicked.
“I heard all of this chatter among the students about Professor Krow, that his course was just the hardest among the organic chemistry sections,” Seth said. While other students avoided the class, Seth sought out the challenge. “I signed up and just loved it. He had a towering command of the subject and was an incredible teacher.”
Before the end of the semester, Seth approached Krow about joining his lab. Krow said yes. “From there,” Seth said, “everything just kind of snowballed.”
Reflecting on his life, Seth said he has had key mentors at every stage where he took a major step. Krow was one of the first.
“I have warm memories of Friday afternoons where he would bring me into his office at three in the afternoon, and we’d sit there talking and going through papers until six or seven at night.”
At the time, much of the material went over his head, he admits, but he was beginning to make connections and forming a bigger picture of the field.
“Right off the bat, I felt like I was being treated like a graduate student,” Seth said. “I felt like a valued member of the team, and I wanted to live up to that. That was a big motivator for me.”
Krow was not just a role model in the classroom, but in life.
“He was athletic—he biked all the time. He was thoughtful. He cared about people. He was passionate. He was very much a father figure for me in science as I was starting out. I don’t think it is an overstatement to say I would likely not be where I am had I not crossed paths with him.”
Dr. Grant Krow, LAW ’78 (Photo from Legacy.com)
Dr. Grant Krow, LAW ’78 (Photo from Legacy.com)
Speaking about what Temple did for him, and continues to do for students like him, still moves Seth. “Temple provides opportunities to students who aren’t coming from an elite high school and who can fill a six-page CV before their senior year,” he said. “It provides opportunities to students who haven’t reached that point yet the chance to take off.”
Seth isn’t just remembering his own journey. Many of the students with whom he attended Temple were on similar journeys. “These weren’t students born with parents telling them that they needed to be doctors. These were students who decided to be doctors and followed that path. Temple put those paths on the table for them.
“Temple provides opportunities to students who aren’t coming from an elite high school and who can fill a six-page CV before their senior year. It provides opportunities to students who haven’t reached that point yet the chance to take off.”
“I think a high school student that has a clear career path mapped out is the exception to the norm. Most students don’t have that kind of vision yet. Nor should they, in my opinion. College is about probing different fields and discovering where you can contribute, and Temple provides that opportunity.”
Seth and Krow stayed in touch over the years, exchanging papers and updates on their work, until Krow passed away in 2015. “He was always positive and very supportive as I started my own career,” Seth said.
Now a professor himself, Seth has a deeper appreciation for how remarkable Krow was as an educator.
“Sometimes I have undergrads in my lab whom I hardly know because I just don’t have time to sit down with all of them,” he said. “That’s a defining difference at Temple. Temple is such a great school because it’s big enough to have a full menu of options, but the faculty will also spend time with you and invest in your development.”
Seth Herzon, CST ’02, second to the right, and his colleagues at Yale, where Seth is the Milton Harris ’29 Ph.D. Professor of Chemistry. (Photo courtesy of the Department of Chemistry at Yale)
Seth Herzon, CST ’02, second to the right, and his colleagues at Yale, where Seth is the Milton Harris ’29 Ph.D. Professor of Chemistry. (Photo courtesy of the Department of Chemistry at Yale)
When Seth decided to give back to Temple after finding success in his own career, Krow immediately came to mind. He gifted $50,000 to endow the Grant Krow Memorial Scholarship, which provides financial support for undergraduate or graduate students in the Department of Chemistry, with preference for those conducting organic chemistry research.
“I just hope that it creates opportunities,” Seth said. “Maybe there’s a faculty member considering taking an undergraduate into the lab for the summer, and that student needs a stipend to make it possible. Maybe this fund can help make that happen.”
He hopes the scholarship will allow more students to fully immerse themselves in organic chemistry. After all, that’s what Krow did for him.
“There were many, many moments when things could have gone sideways,” Seth said. “It’s a wonder sometimes how I made it. Grant [Krow] funded me out of a grant so I could work over the summer and get a stipend. It wasn’t much— barely enough for Skittles and beer— but it got me through.”
“Temple is such a great school because it’s big enough to have a full menu of options, but the faculty will also spend time with you and invest in your development.”
Now, Seth tries to provide that same kind of transformative experience for his own students.
“We talk about mentorship in terms of specifics: how to give a presentation, how to write a paper, how to navigate academic challenges. But at its highest level, mentorship can be career-changing,” he said. “It can expose students to research directions they don’t even know exist. That’s what I try to offer my undergraduates: an opportunity. ‘Here’s what we’re doing. We’re trying to build this big molecule. Want to help? Great! This is where you should start.’”
Even now, Seth still looks for opportunities to learn. When he turned 40, he began playing guitar. For the first two years, he made little progress. Then he found a new instructor. “He’s amazing,” Seth said. “He sits with me, he’s patient and he talks me through the minutiae even though I drive him crazy.”
In the end, he just needed to find the right teacher.
The Grant Krow Memorial Fund provides financial support for an undergraduate or graduate student with a major in the Department of Chemistry, with preference for a student who is conducting organic chemistry research. Join Seth in transforming lives and investing in the next generation of Owls!
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