To kick off our new alumni series, we interviewed an already impressive college student, Daniel Gershkowitz. As a member of the class of 2014, he had much to convey as a Manhasset alumnus and is now a student at Villanova University.

As a high school student, Daniel valued the Architectural Drawing elective and claims that Mr. Johnston was his greatest role model and favorite teacher. This class helped kindle his interest in the structural integrity of bridges. He was also a part of the crew and tennis teams, Vice-President of the National Junior Honor Society, and a dedicated peer responder.

An aspiring structural engineer, Daniel has immersed himself in the actual designing of bridges at Villanova and is grateful for the large structure lab for bridges on campus. After losing his house in the past, Daniel hopes to one day rebuild his old house using his skills as an engineer.

One of Daniel’s most notable activities to date is the Villanova Engineering Service Learning (VESL). The semester-long program helps developing countries by building a past Villanova student’s design, in Daniel’s case, a water tank. Daniel was assigned to the Darien region in Panama over October break and traveled with a group of five students for a week. He stayed with a priest to build the water tank, which was essential to the area. Daniel has also submitted one of his designs in hopes that a student next year will use it in the VESL program. He also mentioned that VESL is only one of the many community service programs available at Villanova, testifying to the large role of volunteering there.

Daniel claims that Villanova is the perfect school for him. In his words, the high praise for Villanova is true. He states that Villanova has an extremely open student body that tries to build a wholesome community and is filled with the highest caliber professors who care more about their students than their own research.

Although Manhasset will always be Daniel’s home, he states that Villanova has become a “home away from home” and that the atmospheres of both places are very similar. The university certainly lives up to its meaning of “new town” or in Daniel’s case, “new home.”