Ivy League school janitor graduates with honors
For years, Gac Filipaj mopped floors, cleaned toilets and took out trash at Columbia University.
A refugee from war-torn Yugoslavia, he eked out a living working for the Ivy League school. But Sunday was payback time: The 52-year-old janitor donned a cap and gown to graduate with a bachelor’s degree in classics.
As a Columbia employee, he didn’t have to pay for the classes he took. His favorite subject was the Roman philosopher and statesman Seneca, the janitor said during a break from his work at Lerner Hall, the student union building he cleans.
“I love Seneca’s letters because they’re written in the spirit in which I was educated in my family — not to look for fame and fortune, but to have a simple, honest, honorable life,” he said.
His graduation with honors capped a dozen years of studies, including readings in ancient Latin and Greek.
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Amazing. The real life Good Will Hunting.
(via infoneer-pulse)
I’ve been giving serious consideration to developing a course for this program.
Click on the link to listen to the following program:
What does treating a patient with a stigmatized illness teach a physician about treating all illness? Dr. Abraham Verghese, professor for the theory and practice of medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine, joins host Dr. Martin Samuels to discuss the effects of stigmatized medicine on the physican-patient relationship, and other topics.
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