Two Degrees, One Family: Father and Daughter Share Special Graduation Day

May 8, 2005 — Brookville, NY – Usually, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. But don’t tell that to Henry Ciapas and his daughter Catherine. Dad is receiving an M.S. in Applied Mathematics at this year’s C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University graduation while Catherine will garner a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Computer Graphics. Asked where his daughter got her artistic talent, Ciapas is quick to admit: “Not from me!”

The 57-year-old Wantagh resident’s journey to his M.S. degree has been 33 years in the making. When Ciapas graduated from Brooklyn College in 1970 with a B.A. in Math, teaching jobs were difficult to come by. “This was during the Vietnam War and service deferrals were offered to those who taught, making teaching jobs a rare commodity,” said Ciapas. Instead, he embarked on a career in insurance and became a vice president and actuary for New York Life in the city. Having retired from that position in 2003, Ciapas prepared for his first love and his second career: teaching mathematics.

The same year that he retired, Ciapas earned his Master’s in Education from Molloy College. Armed with his license to teach middle and high school students, he entered C.W. Post with the goal of first earning a M.S. in Applied Math. “Teaching is something that I always wanted to do,” said Ciapas. “Seeing the bright light of understanding shine in someone’s eyes, at the moment they first truly grasp a topic they’ve been struggling with, provides a feeling of accomplishment like no other in the world!”

By the time Ciapas enrolled at C.W. Post, his daughter was an art major in her junior year. Asked about her father’s influence on her choice of major, Catherine said that her interest in marketing and advertising came from her dad. “I got my business sense from my father. That, and the importance of being organized.”

Catherine said that her parents always encouraged her interest in art by taking her to museums and enrolling her in weekend art classes. “If my parents had a sense that I enjoyed something, they totally encouraged me,” said Catherine.

In addition to carrying a full-time course load, Catherine interns two days a week at Millenium Web, a web design firm. She hopes to travel and expand her training in web and multi-media. Her dad, meanwhile, is in the process of sending out resumes to Long Island schools in his quest for a position teaching math.

Undergraduate and graduate ceremonies overlap so graduation day at C.W. Post may prove to be a challenge to the Ciapas family. “I’ll just go to part of my ceremony, so I can be there for all of Catherine’s.”  That’s what fathers do.

Catherine and Henry Ciapas 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.