Huntington Sisters to Graduate from C.W. Post

May 8, 2005 — Brookville, NY — When Caterina (Cathy) and Maria Salerno reminisce about the times and memories they have shared, one experience that is certain to stand out will be the day they graduated as part of the Class of 2005 at the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University.  “Our mom is pretty excited,” said Cathy. “It will be a fun day with friends and family,” said Maria, 21.

The pair, who grew up in Queens but now live in Huntington Station, are first-generation Americans, who spoke Italian as their first language and are the only girls in their family to graduate from college, which they are extremely proud of. They are 13 months apart in age, and have always been known as “the twins.” “It’s hard for us to prove we aren’t twins when we are graduating at the same time,” said Cathy, 22.

Despite sharing only one class during the four years they spent on Campus and not being able to carpool because of conflicting schedules, the pair always made time for each other while they were on Campus, hanging out with mutual friends and taking lunch breaks together. “I’ve always been close with her,” said Maria, “and in many ways this has made us closer.” 

Cathy, who will be graduating with a B.S. in Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, is a member of NSSLHA, the National Student Speech, Language and Hearing Association. She’s applied to graduate schools and hopes to start working toward her master’s degree early next year.

An honors student, graduating with a B.S. in accounting, younger sister Maria said she originally decided to apply to C.W. Post because Cathy, who had already been attending the school for a year, liked it and encouraged her to go. Maria will be receiving the C.W. Post College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Prize for Excellence In Italian in a ceremony held the day before commencement.

As the sisters begin their way on different career paths—Cathy will be working as an assistant in the evaluations department at Bilinguals Inc. Child and Parent Services in Huntington Station and Maria at Ernst & Young in Melville—the two will miss the immediate access they had to each other while on Campus. “If class was cancelled I could call her and meet up or if I was in a bad mood it was nice to know she was there,” said Cathy. “She obviously knows me better than anyone.”

Cathy and Maria 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.