Mom Celebrates Mother’s Day By Graduating From C.W. Post

May 8, 2005 — Brookville, NY — For some college students, just getting to class and finishing all their assignments is challenging. But for Hicksville resident Patricia Sferrazza, a 47-year-old mother of two, studying competed for time with her two jobs and family. So when she graduates with a B.S. in Social Work from the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University this Mother’s Day, she’ll have much to celebrate with her husband, Michael, daughter, Susan, 13, and son, James, 22.

“I told someone that if I thought about my schedule of the past few years, I wouldn’t be able to do it,” said Sferrazza. “I just do it.”

She entered C.W. Post wanting to learn again. “It was a wonderful experience to be in class again, and see a whole new world opening.” She chose to pursue a degree in social work after taking a social work class with an inspiring professor. “I thought, ‘I want to be just like her.”

Her family supported her balancing act. Her son especially understood her schedule; he is an engineering student enrolled at New York Institute of Technology. She and her daughter did homework side by side. Her husband investigated the spousal college support program at his union.

Besides her schoolwork, Sferrazza worked as an administrative assistant for a transportation company and as a counselor in the residential program for homeless and at-risk children at Family and Children Associates. For the past year, she’s also interned two days a week at Silvercrest, a nursing and rehabilitation center—a position she might continue even after graduation. She’s also thinking about graduate school. But, for now, she’s just excited about finishing her degree. “I think the day will have an extra special meaning for my daughter,” said Sferrazza. “She’s seen me struggle some times and she’s seen me tired. But I did it.”        

Sferrazza 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.