Two International Students Find New Life at C.W. Post

May 8, 2005 — Brookville, NY – Imagine leaving everything you know – your home, your friends, your family, your life – to start something new in a new country with the hope that things will turn out better than they had before. Such is the case for two members of the graduating class of 2005 from the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University, Kemola Webster and Almir Radoncic.

Kemola Webster has a special reason to look forward to graduation day. In addition to graduating with a B.A. in psychology, this Mother’s Day she will be reunited with her mother whom she hasn’t seen in at least three years. When Webster was 10, she and her father and grandparents left Guyana for the United States in order to pursue a better education.

“This is the biggest present I can give her for all her support and love,” Webster says. “It’s the only way I can repay her. Sure, I can give her jewelry or something of monetary value, but this is why she sent me here, this is what it is all about. The fact that I could give her this is great. I couldn’t give her more.”

A lacrosse player who resides in Elmont, Webster says C.W. Post offered her much more than just an education. “The people here are wonderful,” she said. “I don’t think I could have made it if I didn’t have such people in my life.” She forged an especially strong bond with lacrosse coach Karen McCrate. “I don’t think I’ll meet another coach like her that believes in me so much,” she said. “I’ve made such friends on and off the field.” Uncertain about her plans for the future, Webster said she may attend graduate school or try to coach lacrosse, a sport she has been playing since the seventh grade. But for now, her focus is on the two weeks she’ll spend with her mother who has never been to her daughter’s adopted homeland. “I can’t wait to show her around, where I hang out, where I go to school and where I live,” Webster said.

It is a long way from Stolac, Bosnia to Long Island, but Almir Radoncic, his parents, brother and sister made the journey 10 years ago when he was just 11. After spending 11 months in a refugee camp in Denmark, he and his family arrived in Brooklyn to meet an uncle who had traveled here three years earlier. Speaking no English, Radoncic was placed into a sixth grade class, where for a while, he struggled.  “My mother was a CEO of a wine company in Bosnia,” he said. “We went from having everything to having nothing.” While his father, a mechanic in Bosnia, labored as a porter here, Radoncic continued his education and graduated from high school. After a nine-month stint working in a bagel shop, Radoncic started attending classes as an honors student at C.W. Post with a major in political science. While attending classes, the Selden, NY resident worked as a resident assistant and in the office of Roslyn Muraskin, a professor in the Criminal Justice Department. His hard work has paid off as he is the first in his family to graduate from college.

“I worked hard because I didn’t want to let my family down,” Radoncic said. “My dad and my brother are my anchors and I couldn’t have done this without them.” Radoncic, who is graduating with a 3.51 GPA, plans to attend law school in the fall.

Radoncic and Webster will be among more than 2,200 students who will don their caps and gowns on Mother's Day, Sunday, May 8, 2005 for the 47th annual commencement exercises of the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University. The Campus has awarded more than 90,000 degrees in its 50-year history, through a broad range of undergraduate and graduate programs.