In June 2017, Hugo and Leonor Krawczyk celebrated their third Macaulay Commencement. The couple’s two daughters, Noa ’12, Liat ’09, and son Nir ’17 are all graduates of Hunter College. They told us what Macaulay has meant to the family throughout their twelve-year relationship with the College.
We first heard about Macaulay (or CUNY’s Honors College as it was called at the time) in 2004 during a fortuitous encounter with an acquaintance on a train trip to NYC. Liat was a high school senior at the time researching college options. As we learned more about the Macaulay program, it was clear that this was a dream opportunity. After a visit to Macaulay in which four senior students talked about their experiences, we were completely “sold” on the program.
The free tuition was not an insignificant consideration but it was the College and the people behind it that made Macaulay an obvious first choice.
We were particularly excited about the clear commitment to excellence through initiatives like the Opportunities Fund for academic and educational experiences as well as the impressive student diversity.
Twelve years and three children later, there is no doubt that this was the best decision of our lives. One just needs to look at the countless amazing things our kids did during and after Macaulay to see what a magnificent opportunity Macaulay was and still is for our family.
We have been a Macaulay-centered family for the last 11 years with the Brookdale dorms serving as our second home. Our children’s academic and social life and the uncountable activities and opportunities they were part of have been an essential part of our lives.
We, particularly as immigrant parents, have learned a lot from their studies and experiences.
And seeing the children almost every weekend, at home or in the city, is simply priceless!
Our children were fortunate to have excellent professors at Hunter that not only taught them their subjects but were inspiring figures in their professional and personal development. Nir also praises enormously his current Macaulay advisor, Vasiliy Arkanov, who he says is extremely knowledgeable and thorough and goes out of his way to guide and help (including video counseling when Nir was in Spain during his study-abroad semester).
We are the luckiest family in the world for having had the privilege of sending our three kids to Macaulay. They received an excellent education in the classroom and outside.
Opportunities that neither they nor us would have dreamt of. Opportunities that shape a life.
Being exposed to the incredible ethnic, racial, cultural, economic, spiritual and life-experience diversity that makes up the CUNY student body and the soul of NYC itself is an invaluable experience that has helped our children become the curious, thoughtful and open-minded adults they are today. In Macaulay not only do you get a debt-free education, you also get a priceless education!
