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2023 Homecoming Grand Marshals Celebrate Education Abroad

As the �鶹ӰԺ State Florence program celebrates its 50th anniversary, members of the first class from �鶹ӰԺ State to study in Italy serve as grand marshals in the 2023 Homecoming Parade.

By: Bethany Sava, BS ’12 

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This year’s Homecoming theme, It’s a Flash World, celebrates the global presence of �鶹ӰԺ and the many members of the university community who have contributed to its international focus over the years.

Although �鶹ӰԺ State now has more than 200 programs in 60 countries, its education-abroad tradition took root more than half a century ago in 1972, when a small group of architecture students from �鶹ӰԺ State traveled to Florence, Italy, to study over spring quarter.

To commemorate the 50th anniversary of �鶹ӰԺ State’s education abroad in Florence, the university invited members of that first class to serve as grand marshals in the 2023 Homecoming Parade. Ten members accepted the invitation and rode on floats alongside Todd Diacon, PhD, �鶹ӰԺ president, and two representatives from Florence: Fabrizio Ricciardelli, PhD, director of �鶹ӰԺ State Florence, and Miriam Daquino, student life coordinator and donor outreach manager.

One of the grand marshals, Gary Gologorksy, BArc ’73, from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, says his time studying abroad impacted him on a fundamental level.

“The European experience changed my life and my approach to architecture,” says Gologorsky, who notes that it was his first time traveling abroad. Using the trains, exchanging money and learning how to communicate without being fluent in another language helped him become comfortable with foreign travel, he says. “Once you get that comfort level, you realize you can do almost anything.”

“The European experience changed my life and my approach to architecture.”—Gary Gologorsky, BArc ’73

Gologorsky has many fond memories of his time abroad. After the spring quarter concluded, several students chose to spend additional time traveling before returning to the United States. He made a pact with some fellow students to bike from Copenhagen to Paris and catch a plane home from there, although they wouldn’t be traveling together. When Gologorsky returned to the �鶹ӰԺ Campus in September and caught up with those friends, he made an unexpected discovery.

“I was the only one who did the trip!” he says. “We were supposed to do like 15 to 40 miles a day, but it was pouring—and once you’re wet, you can’t get more wet. So, I did 135 miles the first day, and I did another 100 miles the second day. I think it took three weeks.”

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Henry “Hank” Reder, BArc ’73, Chesterland, Ohio, was not able to return to the �鶹ӰԺ Campus as a grand marshal for Homecoming, but he shared some memories of his time in Florence during the first trip in 1972 and later in 1982—when he was teaching architecture courses at �鶹ӰԺ State and returned to Florence with a group of students. 

Reder recalls that in 1972 his small group of architecture students travelled with just one professor, Michael Fazio. He says they learned how to integrate 15th century architecture with contemporary architecture. They also heard lectures from architects at Superstudio, a somewhat radical group founded in Florence in 1966, who used architecture to make political statements.

The architecture students back then didn’t have computers, cell phones, pocket calculators or many of the modern conveniences that today’s students would have during such a trip. In fact, Reder and his fellow students had to find their own places to stay during the quarter abroad. If they needed materials to work on a project, they had to navigate the city and find drafting equipment, paper, T-squares, etc.  

For Reder, the education-abroad trip was transformative on a personal and professional level.  

“It opens your eyes not just to design but also to people, to different cultures,” he says. “You have to understand how other people think; that not everyone thinks like you. You have to understand their motives, backgrounds and cultures and how people work together in groups.”  

Reder cultivated a deeper appreciation for architecture by seeing history up close. “We were able to see San Miniato, and they let us in to see some Roman excavations there,” he says. “To see history like that and learn from it, you realize cities are alive. They grow and live. It’s not about tearing down what’s there; rather it’s about growing with it.”

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