Frankel Testimonials

About Me

I was born Edward Charles McGraw right here in Syracuse, to the greatest two individuals to ever walk this earth. Leaping quickly forward, I graduated from high school in the top five percent of my class of 600 or so, with a major in fine arts. I was (and still am, I think) a gifted artist and was awarded countless merits throughout high school for these talents. After graduation I enrolled in the art program at Onondaga Community College, in Syracuse. I studied surface pattern design under a hands-down amazing professor, artist, and person, James Cody, yet after a few semesters I decided that a degree in art was not a necessity for a job in that field, should I ever decide to take that path. I decided to follow another passion of mine for which a degree was necessary—finance.

I transferred to Syracuse University as a junior, with a 3.9 GPA. Since then I’ve maintained a GPA above 3.95 and have received many scholarships and academic distinctions, including a Chancellor’s Scholarship, membership in the NSCS, Phi Theta Kappa, and the National Dean’s list. I am also a member of MENSA, the international high IQ society. Since January I have been the treasurer of a local non-profit library, where I manage the financial and accounting affairs for $1.5 million in assets. I adore the culinary arts, film, and imported beers. I read theoretical astrophysics books in my spare time (forgive me if this is beginning to sound like a pompous dating ad!), and am learning Russian and the violin. I am also an avid outdoorsman and nature philanthropist (when I’m not broke from paying tuition).

This last point brings me to the final and perhaps most distinctive portion of the story. My parents were never in the position to assist me financially, and I have been working since 1998 on the graveyard shift (11pm-7am) of an automotive plant in Syracuse to pay my way through school. Tuition is outrageous, as you all know, and while brutal manual labor in 110-degree heat is not the best way to spend an evening (or 1,000 evenings), it is the best catalyst I know to encourage someone to finish college. I had actually left college for a while, convinced at age 19 that $60,000 was all the money I would ever want. Yet for months at a time I worked in excess of 70 hours a week in that stinking hole, and the reality of spending 40 years in a place like that began to take its toll, and I have since used that place primarily to fund my education, and to buy a few really awesome toys when I’ve got a bit of cash left over.

Reflections on the Frankel Experience

Three students, the best of the best, fly down to ‘the city that never sleeps’ on an all-expense-paid trip to meet with a cavalcade of financial gurus, while being wined and dined at the swankiest private clubs by a multi-millionaire Syracuse alumnus who each day shows that he truly cares about our (the students') futures. Who wouldn’t love this gig?

I must admit here early on that I never, despite my omnipresent ego, counted on being picked for this trip. It was open to all students, graduate students included, who I felt would surely be picked over me, a junior with barely 20 SU credits under my belt. Yet I am proof that everyone interested should try for this opportunity, despite their hesitations. I was unclear as to what the trip actually entailed until I won—though as this is a new program that was understandable. Hopefully this journal will provide others with the kind of information I lacked before applying for the program.

Lack of information, however, had no negative effect on my enjoyment of the trip. I should say first off that this was not a scouting session, and for that I was glad. I am a glutton for knowledge, and the amount I garnered in those three days was prodigious to say the least. I had never been to the NYSE floor and was wholly unfamiliar with the full process, lingo, and makeup of the exchange, and this trip was enlightening in those respects. In addition, our discussions with the variety of characters we met helped bring to life the truly vast number of avenues open to graduates in the financial field.

Being a hopeless lover of New York, and having a lifelong fantasy of becoming the kind of successful man that Stuart Frankel represents, I learned through this trip that those dreams can become reality—with perseverance, determination, and a little good timing. The many other SU alumni we met on the trip have found real success beyond graduation as well.

I really do not want to give too much away about the trip, so that future winners still enjoy some surprise and to permit those in charge to alter the program without creating false expectations based on past itineraries. I will close by saying that this has been the most rewarding extracurricular experience during my tenure at Syracuse. Mr. Frankel and his family are truly wonderful individuals, and I feel I am a better person for having graciously received their generosity on this trip. While that may sound presumptuous after only three days, I know this is the truth.