While watching his father attend night school to earn his degree, Richard Albreski was given a path to follow, a template of work ethic to emulate. “It would have been so easy at times to cut class and run over to State Street to catch the bus home,” he explained. Discipline and flexibility were two of the most prominent lessons he learned at Gannon.
Graduating in 1991 with a Bachelor of Life Science and Respiratory Therapy, Richard was able to experience Gannon’s conversion from a college into a university and recalls fondly the little things that make the college life so unique, even as a commuter student: “I spent hours standing in line in the gym hoping to get a punch card for that certain class. I struggled through Fortran and Cobalt computer systems. Our 8-Ball Homecoming was a soccer game. I watched MTV for the first time in the Scrounge between playing Space Invaders and foosball.”
Working in the Nash library and for the school yearbook, Richard seemed to be constantly surrounded by books but found the people he worked with to be more fascinating, stating, “[I] spent most of my time with a great bunch of students who also worked [in the library],” and believes his favorite class to be Botany, taught by Dr. O’Toole. “We took field trips to places such as Panama Rocks, Presque Isle and Union City in an RV and spent the day identifying plants and trees,” Richard recalls. “I experienced learning outside of the classroom for the first time!”
Through all of this, Richard Albreski, Jr. currently works as the director of respiratory, laboratory and radiology services for Kindred Healthcare in the Chicago market. Married to Carol M. Bailey (VMC ’85), he enjoys going to his children’s sporting events and typically ends his day with a walk around the lake behind his house.
“Your experience at Gannon is what you make of it,” he advises. “[It] will provide you with everything necessary to succeed in life; however, you must work hard, have fun, and experience all that you can!”
(Published prior to 2009. Revised June 2014.)