John Marcik, 50-year-old Verizon Operating Engineer, to Fulfill Dream
of Completing a College Education at C.W. Post

Brookville, NY – When John Marcik marches to the sounds of pomp and circumstance on Sunday, May 14, he will fulfill a long-held goal. Marcik, an operating engineer for Verizon, will receive his bachelor of arts degree in history. In addition, Marcik will be honored on May 13 with an Academic Excellence Award, one of C.W. Post’s highest honors.

As part of his studies, John completed a research internship at the Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, NY. There, Marcik studied the educational activities currently offered for visiting school children and assisted the museum with the management of its collection of historic navigational instruments. The culmination of his work at the Academy was the creation of a proposal for improved learning activities for children who visit the Merchant Marine Academy.

Marcik, a 50-year-old resident of Whitestone, Queens, has been an operating engineer for nearly 20 years. For 13 years he worked for the U.S. Postal Service, and for the past six years he has worked on heavy equipment including air conditioners, heating units and refrigeration for Verizon communications company.

Marcik said that his wife and his supervisors at Verizon have been supportive of his educational endeavors. He has worked classes into his schedule and maintained full-time employment.         

“Twenty years ago, while working in construction, I’d pass by the gates of C.W. Post imagining how wonderful it must be inside,” Marcik recently said in a thank you note to his professors. “It seemed a bastion of knowledge, with its sturdy brick and stone structures and aged oak, ash, and maple trees… I never dreamed that one day I would actually attend, let alone graduate, from such a place.”

Marcik will be one of more than 2,300 students who will graduate on Mother's Day, Sunday, May 14, 2006 at C.W. Post’s 48th commencement. The Campus has awarded more than 92,000 degrees in its 51-year history, through a broad range of undergraduate and graduate programs. The Class of 2006 includes 949 baccalaureate degree candidates, 1,376 master's degree candidates, 16 graduates receiving the Psy.D. in clinical psychology and three receiving the Ph.D. in information studies. This year, C.W. Post’s commencement ceremonies also include graduates from Southampton College and the Southampton Graduate Campus of Long Island University.