Carlino Family Donates $25,000 to College for Scholarship Honoring Parents
November 18, 2015
The Hudson Valley Community College Foundation has announced a new scholarship in memory of Anthony Carlino '55 and his wife, Marilyn, made possible by a gift of $25,000 from the family.
The Anthony '55 and Marilyn Carlino Memorial scholarship, established by the couple's son, Michael, and his wife, Stephanie, will award $1,000 annually to a student in the Electrical Technologies: Electronics Associate in Applied Science (A.A.S.) program or the School of Engineering and Industrial Technologies. The family decided to pay tribute to their parents with the creation of this endowed scholarship fund following Anthony's death in 2014.
"Hudson Valley Community College and its Foundation are, first of all, extremely grateful to the Carlinos for their generosity and for their consideration of our students," said Drew Matonak, president of Hudson Valley Community College. "We join them in their hope that the story of Anthony and Marilyn will inspire not only the students who benefit from the scholarship, but also other donors who might want to similarly recognize the importance of education and family."
In 1955, Anthony Carlino received an Associate in Applied Science degree in Electrical Technology from Hudson Valley, then called Hudson Valley Technical Institute and housed in a former shirt factory building in downtown Troy. A member of the first graduating class of the newly opened institute, he went on to have a successful career with General Electric in the Spacetrack Space Surveillance Network program. He also worked on the Apollo Lunar Module (originally called the Lunar Excursion Module or LEM).
His work with GE required extensive periods of national and international travel and several moves. Prior to getting his degree, Anthony served in the United States Army for two years and was honorably discharged in 1953.
"My father was proud of his degree and always felt that it provided him a career opportunity that would not have been possible otherwise. With this scholarship, we want to help a student in the same program to have the academic and career success my father had. One of the factors affecting grades is worry over money for tuition, so it is our hope that this award will relieve that stress for a qualified student," Michael and Stephanie Carlino said.
The couple's wish to also honor Michael's mother recognizes the support she gave her husband as he pursued his career ambitions. "My mother functioned as an army wife, given the travel and relocating my father's job demanded. She held the family and home together singlehandedly much of the time. She was a strong woman, who knew what she was getting into, took life for what it was, and never complained," said Michael Carlino.
A Family's Tribute: The Anthony '55 and Marilyn Carlino Memorial Scholarship
In 1954, Anthony Carlino was a young man, barely 24 years old and just out of the United States Army after serving two years. He was looking to make a good career for himself. Armed with a high school equivalency diploma—having quit school to work and later join the army—he enrolled in the Electrical Technology program at the newly opened Hudson Valley Technical Institute. Then housed in a former shirt factory building in downtown Troy, the institute would eventually move to the top of Vandenburgh Avenue, expand significantly, and be renamed Hudson Valley Community College. Anthony graduated the following May, among the institute's very first graduating class, and the Associate in Applied Science degree that he received opened job opportunities for him that would not have been possible otherwise.
And so, upon his death in July of 2014, his son Michael and Michael's wife, Stephanie, thought it only fitting to establish a scholarship in Anthony's name to help current Hudson Valley students find the same success he had at college. The scholarship, to be named the Anthony '55 and Marilyn Carlino Memorial Scholarship, also honors Michael's mother for the support she gave her husband as he pursued his career ambitions.
In agreement with Michael's brothers, Nick and Matt, the Carlinos endowed the scholarship with $25,000 from the inheritance, (Marilyn died in 1996) and agreed to help its continued growth through an annual contribution to the fund from the extended family.
While aimed at a student in the Electrical Engineering Technology: Electronics (A.A.S.) program, the Carlinos have also opened the scholarship to any student in the School of Engineering and Industrial Technologies if someone in that specific program is not qualified. And, while the applicant must be in good academic standing, they are not necessarily looking for someone with an impressive GPA.
Stephanie, who as a real-time captionist for the National Technical Institute for the Deaf at Rochester Institute of Technology attends classes and transcribes class lecture and discussion for deaf students, sees firsthand how money worries can affect a student's academic performance. "Our goal is to really help a student by relieving some of the stress about being able to pay college tuition. This scholarship is for a student who's doing OK academically and just needs an extra boost of funds," she says.
Anthony was proud of his degree and proud of what he did with it. Originally from Albany, where he has family still, Anthony began his career in 1955 with General Electric near Syracuse, just two months after graduating from Hudson Valley Technical. In subsequent years the family would move all over the country with GE. In his later years, he and his family would return to Syracuse to live.
His job often required frequent travel, with long periods of time spent overseas, including the Philippines, Turkey, Japan, and the Aleutian Islands—all to garner and share knowledge and skills. "The overseas assignments provided a financial boost to my father's salary and he was always careful with our money," explains Michael. "We all understood the necessity for dad to be away."
Among his more significant assignments, Anthony worked with the Apollo Lunar Module, and in the Spacetrack Space Surveillance Network program. "My dad got a great education and solid skills in college and expanded on that in the work world," says Michael, a computer consultant. He chuckled with pride, telling how his dad sat down one afternoon and effortlessly wrote a FORTRAN code for computing bowling scores.
Marilyn, say Michael and Stephanie, "knew why Anthony worked as he did." "She knew the opportunities would not be there without the travel and the many relocations." And so, she adopted a role similar to that of an army wife, standing behind her husband's career choices, bonding with and watching out for other GE wives in the same position and basically taking care of family and home on her own. "She was a strong woman, who knew what she was getting into, took life for what it was, and never complained," says her son.
It is with great pride that the Carlino family has created this endowed scholarship fund, and they hope that the story of Anthony and Marilyn Carlino will inspire not only the students who benefit from the scholarship, but also other donors who might want to recognize the importance of education – and family.
Naturally, the words of wisdom Michael and his brothers always heard from both their parents was to stay in school and get a degree. Then seek out and take advantage of all the opportunities that degree provides for you. It is with great pride that the Carlino family has created this endowed scholarship fund, and they hope that the story of Anthony and Marilyn Carlino will inspire not only the students who benefit from the scholarship, but also other donors who might want to recognize the importance of education – and family.