Ukrainian girl enters Merchant Marine Academy (12/31/78)

Ukrainian girl enters Merchant Marine Academy

KINGS POINT, N.Y. - Susan H. Stuban of Seymour, Conn., is the first Ukrainian American girl to enter the United States Merchant Marine Academy here. The 18-year-old is a member of the class of 1982.

Miss Stuban, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Stuban, both Connecticut Ukrainian community activists, is one of 22 women freshmen at the academy who will train to be deck and engineer officers for the Merchant Marine.

Miss Stuban was born in Seymour in 1960. She attended the Ss. Peter and Paul Ukrainian Elementary School in Ansonia and graduated from Seymour High School with honors in June.

As a pupil at Ss. Peter and Paul's, Miss Stuban was active in physical fitness, volleyball, Ukrainian folk dancing, choral singing, and she played the piano and bandura in the "Obriy" ensemble.

At Seymour High School, Miss Stuban was a member and secretary of the National Honor Society, was a reporter for the school newspaper, and played in the high school band and orchestra. She was also secretary of the French Club, the American Field Service and her class.

Miss Stuban also served as class representative, was a member of the Minstrel Choir and was active in track and volleyball.

She received first and second place awards in the Voice of Democracy and American Legion Oratorial contests. Miss Stuban was also included in the 1977 edition of Who's Who Among American High School Students and she will appear in the 1978 edition of Who's Who in Music.

In the Ukrainian community, she was a member of the junior sodality and was president of the choir of Ss. Peter and Paul. She graduated in 1976 from the New Haven School of Ukrainian Subjects and was a member of Plast in that city.

Her interest in Ukrainian culture led her to attend special classes in embroidery and "pysanka" decoration. In the past few years, Miss Stuban along with her family conducted many classes in "pysanka" decorating for different civic organizations and in the past 10 years she appeared in over 150 shows across the state.

Her older brother, Steven, is a junior at the United States Military Academy at West Point, N.Y.

Miss Stuban and her family are members of UNA Branch 23 and 67.

"It's a great opportunity if you can take the discipline," Miss Stuban told Pauline Lounsbury of The Evening Sentinel, a Connecticut Valley newspaper. "You have to be able to take orders."

An article about Miss Stuban's experiences at the academy appeared in the December 6 edition of The Sentinel. Below are excerpts from that article.

"Some of the students don't like that. But if you can keep your sense of humor, it makes life a lot easier," Miss Stuban said.

She said she did not think that the women were discriminated against at the academy, although she admitted that not all the women in her class felt that way.

She said some of them have complained about incidents which she thinks were only minor and did not warrant the criticisms.

"Some of the midshipmen don't like the idea of having girls in their class. But I think if we are able to meet the academy's standards and do the work, why shouldn't we be allowed the same opportunities that the boys have?" Miss Stuban said.

First for women

"I guess it's kind of hard for some of the faculty - the older men who have been around for a long time - to picture a girl doing the same jobs that for so many years were done only by men."

The Merchant Marine Academy was the first federal academy to break the all-male and accept women.

The graduating class of 1978 was the first in the history of the academy to have women - eight of them - in its ranks.

Miss Stuban was enthusiastic about the job opportunities for academy graduates.

"Job far outnumber the graduates each year," Miss Stuban said, "with salaries commensurate with the job responsibilities." She said one of the women who completed her training in June was given a job by a shipping company at a salary of $40,000 a year.

As for her own future, Miss Stuban said she planned to sail for at least six years after she graduates. She also intends to continue her studies in either admirably law or management.

Job guaranteed

Miss Stuban said she was made aware of the possibilities of a college education at the academy when she attended a College Fair while a student at Seymour High.

She explained that her decision to apply to the academy was influenced not only by the fact that she would receive an excellent college education at no cost but she would also be practically guaranteed a job after graduation.

Recalling her first two weeks of "book training" at the Merchant Marine Academy early in July, Miss Stuban said those days were "practically nonstop."

"We were up every day at 5:40 a.m. Everywhere we went we heard orders like 'square the corner' or 'our gig line is off.' At first I had no idea that those orders meant."

But it didn't take long for her to learn the nautical terms used at the academy - to know that "squaring the corner" referred to a maneuver to change direction, or the "gig line" referred to the rows of buttons on a uniform.

The pace has slackened somewhat now but there is still a full day of classes, drills, study and the like.

Classes include such subjects as calculus, physics, navel science, nautical science, marine engineering and machine shop.

She said one of the high points for her class, was a day-long trip recently on the school ship, Kings Pointer.

"Everyone got a turn to steer the vessel," she said.

In spit of a busy schedule, Miss Stuban a former member of the Seymour High School band, still finds time to plan in the academy band. Thanksgiving dinner for the Stuban family in Seymour was delayed because the band appeared in the Macy's Christmas parade that day in New York.

| Home Page |