Chancellor’s choice overcomes challenges

LOCH SHELDRAKE, NY — Morgan McNerney once struggled to pass the tenth grade.

After leaving Bernards High School in New Jersey, feeling like “No one took the time to get to know me,” he moved to Livingston Manor, NY and began a metamorphosis that people from his recent past would have deemed unimaginable.

He experienced success due in great measure to several teachers at Livingston Manor who nurtured his emerging focus and intelligence. McNerney was admitted to the National Honor Society and became one of two students out of 30 to complete the Cisco computer-training program at BOCES.

Previously, at Bernards High School, McNerney played contrabass clarinet in his school marching band at Giants Stadium. The band took first place in the Eastern States Division competition.

The judges admired McNerney’s ability to handle such an unwieldy instrument without losing a step. It was a foreshadowing of much greater success to come.

Currently one of the most recognized students at Sullivan County Community College (SCCC), McNerney has become somewhat of a legend. A mainstay of the college’s computer lab, he works tirelessly to provide tech support, tutor students and keep a watchful eye on the lab.

“I pride myself in being in customer service. I know practically every student in the college,” McNerney said.

Held in high regard by faculty and students at the college for his fine academics, McNerney was recently nominated by college librarian Richard Arnold as one of two SCCC students to receive the coveted SUNY Chancellor’s Award, an honor bestowed on fine students who give of themselves to the college and to the community at large.

McNerney also works with developmentally disabled individuals at the Sullivan County Association for Retarded Citizens (ARC). He has a contract with the county to separate Coke and Pepsi cans at the landfill, and he helps his mom maintain their small farm.

Department heads selected McNerney along with MaryAnn Silverstrom to represent SCCC at the Chancellor’s Award ceremony April 19 in Albany. McNerney has been accepted at Rochester Institute of Technology for the coming year to study computer engineering. An internship with Brite Computers in Rochester awaits him.

Mike Fisher, chairman of information sciences at the college, described McNerney. “He has a seriousness of purpose and understanding that is way beyond his years. I’m very glad he’s continuing at RIT. I think we will hear great things about him in the future,” he said.

But it hasn’t always been this way.

His parents divorced when he was four and his mother was in a serious car accident. He lived with his father for 10 years. Academically challenged and suffering from low self-esteem, he moved back with his mom after junior high school.

“That’s when my life really began,” McNerney said. “She taught me to always leave a place better than I found it.” As his English teacher at Livingston Manor, this writer can attest to the fact that he did just that in high school. Undoubtedly, SCCC is a better place with McNerney’s presence.

This week’s youth in focus has risen above numerous challenges. In every sense his graduation is truly a commencement.