SHARON Graduating senior: 77-year-old receives high school diploma

The Hermitage man received a diploma he didn't have time to earn before going to war.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR SHARON BUREAU
SHARON, Pa. -- It took him 58 years, but Albert Dzurinda finally has graduated.
Dzurinda, 77, now living on Parkdale Avenue in Hermitage, asked Sharon City School Board on Wednesday for a high school diploma.
Superintendent Richard Rossi said Dzurinda never completed his education at Sharon before he enlisted in the Navy in 1943 and went off to fight in World War II.
He asked Dzurinda to give the board some justification for securing a diploma, and the Navy veteran complied.
He showed the board a series of log books he has put together, one depicting his speaking engagements with high school juniors and seniors in recent years, another on his 33 months in the military and two other "envelope books" that followed his specific naval exploits.
Drawings: The latter two were filled with full-size letter envelopes on which Dzurinda made colored drawings of events, including battles in the Philippine Islands, New Guinea and elsewhere.
He's working on a third depicting events related to the Cold War of the 1950s and '60s with the Soviet Union.
Dzurinda, who is retired from the Westinghouse Electric Corp., said he did all the research and drawings after his discharge from the Navy.
He said he got involved six years ago in speaking to high school classes about his collections and wartime experiences, and he advised those at Wednesday's meeting to get their high school diplomas while they are young.
"I waited 58 years, and I don't know if I'm going to get it yet," he said.
He didn't have to wait any longer.
Rossi promptly recommended that he get his diploma, and Dom Russo, a retired teacher and board vice president, did the honors, noting the body of work Dzurinda displayed was more worthy of a college degree than a high school diploma.
Complaint: The school board heard a complaint from Jane Pettitt of South Myers Avenue, the parent of a Case Avenue Elementary second-grader who said that her child has been bullied, harassed and assaulted by other pupils and that school officials seem unable to deal with the problem.
Her daughter has just shrugged off the matter, but Pettitt said she has heard similar complaints from other parents, and she offered some suggestions. Case Avenue should have a "hands off day" for second-graders and should start a bullying and self-esteem class, she said.
The school should have a suggestion box for pupils, she said.
William Dunsmore, Case Avenue principal, said after the meeting that the building already has a suggestion box and holds a "no hands" day at the beginning of each school year in which pupils pledge to keep their hands off one another all year.
He said there haven't been a lot of complaints, but all those received have been resolved to the satisfaction of the parents and pupils involved.
Russo advised Pettitt to continue working with the building principals on the issues facing her child.