News & Events
Philip Wong Named 2007 Valedictorian
Nobody has mastered multi-tasking better than Philip Wong. In addition to preparing his valedictory speech for New York City College of Technology's (City Tech) June 5 commencement, he is getting married on May 26 and after graduation will take the GMAT (Graduate Management Admission Test) for entrance to business school. On top of all of this, he continues his full-time job as senior executive support specialist at Charles Schwab & Co., Inc., in Manhattan, studies martial arts (he's a fifth-degree black belt), travels the world exploring its cuisines and dabbles in cooking.
Wong, 32, who earned a bachelor of technology degree in computer systems technology from City Tech in January, managed to maintain a grade point average of 3.99 out of a perfect 4.0 on his way to graduating at the top of the Class of 2007. When he sits with the other dignitaries on stage at the Theater in Madison Square Garden, he will finally have some moments to allow his accomplishments to sink in.
His grueling schedule for the past few years would wear out most people, but Wong says cheerfully, “This is part of the grand plan.” While attending City Tech, he arrived at work daily between 7:30 and 8 a.m., and after a long day, took the subway from Wall Street to Downtown Brooklyn for classes, sometimes as many as four nights a week. He sacrificed weekends to homework, and survived many sleepless nights with “just a lot of coffee. Me and 'Juan Valdez' did really well together!”
Wong’s situation was especially demanding because of his field. “Technology is never 9 to 5. Work always came first, because that’s what pays the bills. But you have to manage your responsibilities on both fronts, because that’s what you signed up for,” he says.
He praises the faculty, especially Professor Russ Griemsmann (now retired), for helping him to navigate the tough moments. “Sometimes there were emergencies at work and I had to miss class. Because many of my professors had full-time jobs and taught at night, they understood. They had experienced firsthand when things go very wrong, and you have to drop everything and be there. That was one of the great things about the professors; they were definitely willing to work with you.”
For his college internship project, Wong won the Colgate-Palmolive Award. He created a web-based tool that could search the entire course catalog and pull information into his own database. Explains Wong, “You could go to the website and search the catalog by professor, specific class time or other factors, and then ‘drill down’ to more specifics in each search.” He wrote the program in PHP language and used MySQL for its database side.
“It sounded like fun at the time. I thought it would be a small project, but it turned out to be bigger than my own expectations,” he admits, claiming he lacks time management skills. “It took about three months, on top of my regular schedule, but I was able to finish it on time.”
Wong’s drive to excel stems not just from the emphasis his parents, originally from the Canton Province in China, placed on a college education. In fact, he left Hunter College before finishing his sophomore year because, he says, “My heart wasn’t really in being a computer science major. I just went through the motions.” His parents were disappointed, but the Internet boom beckoned him. He rose to senior network engineer and Blackberry administrator at Deutsche Bank in Lower Manhattan when another force propelled him into taking charge of his life.
Wong was working on the seventh floor of 4 World Trade Center when the towers were hit on 9/11. “The floor started shaking, lights started flickering. People on my floor who had been facing the two towers came running; everyone headed for the one exit, leaving their coats and cell phones charging on their desks.” The sight stayed with him. “We saw the first tower burning and witnessed people jumping from both towers.”
As with so many other New Yorkers, the experience, Wong says, “definitely changed my life. You realize that things can change in the blink of an eye. It made me realize what I wanted and what I needed to change. It was a good kick in the behind to move forward and go back to college for my bachelor's degree.” Wong applied to City Tech and began to work towards his “grand plan” of climbing the corporate ladder.
He credits City Tech with helping him land his position at Schwab last summer, partly because his courses often required group projects. “You had to work with people who had life experience and people who didn’t. It was always a collaboration, and trying to figure out what peoples’ strong points were helped me with project management. The experience puts you ahead of other candidates because you have those tools.”
At work, he regularly exercises project and people management skills, as his primary responsibility is “anything top-tier management needs.” His team of three supports the VIPs of US Trust, keeping all their computers, mobile devices, Blackberries and laptops running.
For Wong, his accomplishments so far aren’t enough. “Getting my degree and graduating was the goal of this trek. Being valedictorian was the icing on the cake. But once you realize there’s more to it than this, you want to try for the next level.” He is intent on gaining admission to New York University’s MBA program, and subsequently “chasing down the three-letter title: CEO (Chief Executive Officer), CIO (Chief Information Officer) or COO (Chief Operating Officer).” His philosophy: “Go for the top, and if you miss a little, you’re not that far off.”
After a career in top management, says Wong, he may want to attend culinary school. The idea of adding more to his full schedule doesn’t faze him. “As long as you’re willing to push yourself and you have that drive and passion, everything will fall into place --maybe not as you planned, but very nicely.”
5/14/07
