By Meesha Ryan
Campus News
For young twenty-somethings pushing through their undergraduate college careers, it is quite a time to be alive. Tearfully filing in and out of advisor’s offices, running to get tested for Covid before a class, and monitoring the conflict with Russia make for a tumultuous blend of the typical college student experience and a clear disruption of normalcy. Amidst all of the chaos, it can be more difficult for students to figure out what their next steps are than they anticipated, leading many to lean more heavily on the advice of the established adults in their communities.
An accomplished chemistry professor at Queensborough Community College, Kevin Kolack (pictured) celebrates his recent receipt of the American Chemical Society (NYS) award for Outstanding Two-Year College Teacher, rejoicing in the success and also taking the time to enjoy intimate connections with family: “My son bought me a t-shirt that said, like, ‘Best Teacher’…his version of the award.” Though, this is only one of many successful adventures that Professor Kolack has embarked on over the course of his life. In my interview with him, I asked questions about how he made big career decisions in his life and, arguably more importantly, how he continued to strive for happiness throughout moments of immense change. “I was always a bit eclectic,” he began, explaining that he was able to “do a little bit of everything” due to his academic inclinations that made school relatively easy for him. He sacrificed sleep and poured his efforts into various extracurricular activities: he was a member of University of Virginia’s Pep Band, as well as part of his college’s rifle team, qualifying for an Olympic training camp in small-bore rifle.
Despite this array of interests and range of skills, he emphasizes that he found himself in the same place that many people end up in their last months of college. “I didn’t know what I wanted to do after I graduated. I was an Echols Scholar at the University of Virginia which means I could take any classes I wanted and graduate, no major, but I did graduate with a B.S. in Chemistry.” He began pursuing research in Chemistry starting his sophomore year of college. He enjoyed it so much that he continued studying Chemistry in graduate school. In the middle of graduate school, he discovered acting through an “…ad in the paper about coming to New York and supervising kids at an acting workshop.” Kolack decided to participate in the workshop during his downtime in addition to taking acting classes once a week in Chicago. Incidentally, Tina Fey was also in Chicago at this time, in the process of starting her acting career!
He still felt that he did not know what work he wanted to pursue, but it was clearer to him that he wanted to both teach chemistry classes of his own and continue performing. On January 1, 1998, he moved to New York City where he worked as an actor and “taught chemistry at a ton of different schools to pay the bills.” For another 15 years, Kolack would continue down this path while life continued to progress. He got married, and thought about having a child. He considered himself to be “living the life of an adjunct [professor]” when, one day, he thought “I need to stop torturing myself.” Why drive a taxi in NYC when you hold a PhD in Chemistry? So, Kolack took a full time position at Queensborough while continuing to work as an adjunct professor at Cooper Union.
Kolack marks the achievement of full-time status at Queensborough in January 2013 as a pivotal moment for him. The impact that life beyond academia has on his students and their college experiences became more obvious. He notes that “[his] Queensborough students are challenged with a lot in their lives that most of [his] Cooper Union students aren’t.” Kolack stresses that he was also afforded great privilege in his life: “I certainly am privileged, you know, I grew up a middle class white guy, I remain a middle class white guy…straight.” Interestingly, he also counts graduating from college without knowing exactly what he wanted to do in life as a privilege in and of itself. When so much seems uncertain, one might think that it would be nice to have a clear, structured plan, but, as Kolack goes on to explain, there is a certain kind of clarity that comes with the freedom to explore one’s options. “I absolutely admire folks that know what they want to do…people that have that clarity of focus, I applaud them…but I think that they’re few and far between.” Having grown up with the influence of both his father, who had a rather direct path as an optometrist, and his mother, who worked many different kinds of jobs over the course of her life, Kolack feels that it is crucial to remember that whatever someone ends up doing with their life does not have to be what they do forever.
In many ways, this idea can be a huge stress-reliever for college students who are trying to map out their undergraduate or postgraduate years. Knowing that they do not have to know everything just yet can be incredibly helpful. When asked what final advice he might offer to a college student looking to secure their position in life, and find a sense of belonging or happiness, Kolack had this to offer: “If I knew the answer for everyone, then I would be a supreme being and the world would be a better place…’what is the secret to life?’ is what you’re really asking, maybe…Waking up every day and doing what you want to do as opposed to what you have to do is a great luxury…You want to live that way, if at all possible, and postpone – for as long as possible – the day when you’re waking up and doing things that you have to do.”
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