C.W. Post 57-Year Old Summa Cum Laude Graduate; Time is On Her Side 

May 8, 2005 — Brookville, NY — Westbury resident Maria Scheidel’s travels have taken her to locations as varied as Canada, Turkey, Greece, Russia, Italy, England, Germany, Egypt, France, Switzerland, India, Australia, Japan, and Scotland. Although she traversed a meandering path to her B.A. in English from the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University, the 57-year-old summa cum laude graduate has found the journey to be one of a never-ending thirst for knowledge and fulfillment.

In what seems to Scheidel another life, she rode, trained, and showed horses with her husband. It was her passion. As she puts it, “We literally ate, drank, sweated and loved horses.” It was an incredibly expensive lifestyle and one that could not last. The conclusion of this phase of her life left Scheidel feeling an overwhelming emptiness. She made it her mission to fill that void with another challenge.

It was this very drive that launched Scheidel into her academic career. “I was annoyed that I could not speak another language fluently,” said Scheidel. In the spring of 1999, she took a class in Italian at Nassau Community College. So began Scheidel’s new passion: learning.

Full-time study at Nassau Community College followed and Scheidel’s 4.0 G.P.A. garnered her a full academic scholarship to C.W. Post in 2003. It was at this juncture that her interests in travel and other cultures married up with her love of English literature.  

In a move that is unusual for an adult student, Scheidel has logged an amazing four

semesters abroad. “I’m always trying to encourage students to take advantage of study abroad programs,” said Scheidel. “It’s a great way to learn to relate and better understand different people and cultures in unfamiliar settings that are out of the range of your safety zones.”

“One of the reasons that I chose Post is that you can study abroad for the same cost as attending school in the United States,” Scheidel noted. She studied at London’s Regents College for the fall 2003 and the spring 2004 semesters through the C.W. Post Study Abroad Program. There she indulged her love of English literature and all things Shakespearean. 

Fall 2004 saw Scheidel embark on a new life adventure when she experienced China through Long Island University’s Friends World Program. Its purpose is to educate students through a course of study that encourages cross cultural understanding. She saw the other side of China — from the countryside to a communist party member’s residence — and she learned Mandarin Chinese in a 12-week private language tutorial. Scheidel’s trip home was viathe Trans Siberian Railroad from Beijing to Moscow and all through northern China, Mongolia and Siberia.

Now that she is finishing her B.A., Scheidel is looking ahead to graduate school and earning a degree in Teaching English as a Second Language. But first, there is a special journey that she and her brother are taking with their dad: a trip to Italy’s Reggio Calabria to visit the place where her grandfather is buried.

Maria Scheidel will be one of 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.