With graduation right around the corner, many people are getting their gowns and outfits ready to walk across the stage. But media and communications major Richard McKenzie is planning two graduations: his and his five-year-old daughter Averi’s.
“That would be a treat,” McKenzie said. “For both of us to graduate, me in May and her graduation is scheduled for June.”
McKenzie originally started his college career at Alfred State College as a veterinarian major but transferred to SUNY Old Westbury in 2014 after deciding to completely change his career.
“I was actually in my junior year before I transferred,” McKenzie said. “And kind of started all over in a sense.”
As McKenzie was starting his entire school career over, he found work at Appellate Advocates, a non-profit law firm based in Manhattan, working there for nine years.
“It wasn’t like it was something I was pursuing,” McKenzie said. “I was a temp agent, and I ended up temping for that law firm, and they actually liked the way I worked and the way I carried myself.”
McKenzie eventually became a paralegal for a full year before deciding to continue his education at SUNY Old Westbury as a media and communications major.
“I’m not an individual that likes to leave things unfinished,” McKenzie said. “And having started college and not completed it really bothered me in one aspect of my life, and I never truly gave up on pursuing or obtaining my degree in a sense.”
McKenzie has never been alone; his girlfriend of sixteen years and his daughter have helped push him forward and pursue his goal.
“She’s also another driving force for why I would want to say I want to complete my degree,” McKenzie said about his daughter. “I want to be a positive role model and example for her to see that ‘my dad doesn’t give up on things.’ And it kind of will fuel her in a sense in the future to not give up on certain things in life.”
Long days have been a major issue for McKenzie, keeping him away from home more often than not.
“My classes are from 8 a.m. till 8 p.m. and my internships are in between that,” McKenzie said. “So, I technically don’t go home at all.”
McKenzie’s motivations of fatherhood stem from his own childhood experiences, only having his mother and mostly absent father.
“Not having him around consistently, not having him there at my good times . . . really shaped me,” McKenzie said. “It made me understand my emotional reactions to it; it made me think more logically about a lot of things in my life.”
And while long days have kept McKenzie separated from Averi more than he would like, he does not let that stop him.
“My time is not going to waste to anything because I’m pursuing my degree,” McKenzie said. “And in the long run it’s going to benefit my daughter and my family if — when, not if — when I do obtain this degree in the next five weeks.”
