Post date: May 14, 2012 12:43:49 PM
USA-Janitor Graduation -- 52-year-old janitor graduates from Ivy league school with honors
CCTV BEIJING - After 12 years of balancing studies with his full-time job, a Columbia University janitor finally walked across the stage on Sunday as he graduated with honors from the Ivy League school.
Gac Filipaj, now 52 years old, donned a cap and gown to graduate from the prestigious New York City-based institute with a bachelor's degree in classics.
For Filipaj, the degree comes after years of late nights studying in his Bronx apartment, where he opened his books after his night shift as a cleaner on campus. Before exam time or to finish a paper, he would stay up all night, then go to class in the morning and then to work.
"I had to come to work here, then go back home and I arrive home after midnight and I studied during the night," Filipaj said. "All the time like that, constantly, except the summer time, when I did day classes."
In 1992, Filipaj, an ethnic Albanian, left Montenegro, then a Yugoslav republic facing a brutal civil war, for New York City, where his uncle offered him shelter while he worked at a restaurant.
"The first barrier is the language, because I didn't speak the language before," said Filipaj, who could only speak Albanian when he first arrived.
Filipaj later found a job as a janitor at Columbia University. As a school employee, he was eligible for the university's tuition-exemption program that allowed him to take classes for free.
"And then it's not that easy to find a job. But I got very lucky that I worked here, I've been working here. So the job gave me a tuition exemption, otherwise I don't know if I would be able to (finish my studies)," Filipaj added.
Part of his pay still goes back to his family in Montenegro.
Filipaj will be back at work after Wednesday's university-wide commencement, and he said he hopes to enroll in graduate school.
"I would like to stay working here to find a better job here and to go to school here. If I can't make that, then I will look for other options," he said.
More downloads available at http://newscontent.cctv.com
For any questions please call +86-10-63969499, or email [email protected]. If you want to learn more, please go to the CCTV website at http://newscontent.cctv.com.
© Copyright CCTV. The content in this story, including video and script is provided by China Central Television (CCTV) and is copyright CCTV. Thomson Reuters does not guarantee the accuracy of, or endorse the views or opinions given in, this package. THIS STATEMENT SUPERSEDES ALL OTHER STATEMENTS RELATING TO COPYRIGHT ATTACHED TO THIS CONTENT.