Engineering student defies past, graduates with honors


By Sissi Aguila

When Michael Zecca left the Army and announced he was going to college, his mother asked, “So you’re going to be an astronaut?” A veteran and a practical man, Zecca was amused. That was something he’d said in kindergarten. After an adolescence spent barely scraping by, often homeless and on his own, Zecca just wanted a good-paying job.

fiu.eduOn Monday, Dec. 14, the Honor’s College student and McNair scholar will graduate with a 3.8 GPA and a degree in civil engineering.

Zecca has spent much of his senior year surrounded by cutting-edge NASA technology and some of the best engineers in the world at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. One of only a dozen students chosen for an internship, he worked on projects for the International Space Station.

“It dawned on me recently,” Zecca said, “becoming an astronaut is not so unrealistic. It could happen.”

Ten years earlier, NASA and a college degree seemed an unlikely trajectory for the Michigan native. When he was 15 years old, Zecca was removed from his mother’s home and sent to live in Pembroke Pines, Fla., with his father, whom he barely knew.

Zecca had difficulty adjusting to life in a middle-class neighborhood with his father, stepmother and two half-brothers after growing up poor with his mom. He spent only a few months with his new family before everything changed again. One day after school, his stepmother informed him that his father had left them and she and the boys were moving to Colorado. The 15-year-old would have to find a new place to live.

With no place to go, Zecca stayed in the family’s home until the power was cut. He then moved to a vacant house in the neighborhood where he lived for six months until it was sold.

Most of Zecca’s high school years were spent moving from one friend’s couch to another. Finally, his senior year, he settled in with his best friend and his friend’s mother. “She’s my second mom,” said Zecca. “If it weren’t for my friends, I wouldn’t be here now.”

At 17, Zecca joined the U.S. Army. He spent four years on active duty as a combat engineer building bases in Europe and helping with the reconstruction efforts in Bosnia. During his service, he earned more than a dozen awards and honors. Today he is part of the Air Force reserves.

After serving in the military for five years, Zecca, who describes himself as a practical person, knew he needed to go back to school.

“I learned all these skills in the Army,” he said. “Now I needed a college degree to get a good job.”

When Zecca first met with an academic advisor at FIU, he had no idea what he wanted to study. What he did know is that he was good at math and had years of construction experience. The two agreed that civil engineering was a good choice.

“I approached it like a job,” he explained. “I did what needed to be done. My writing and English skills were really poor so I took ESOL classes. Other students would come up to me and say, ‘What are you doing here? Aren’t you a native speaker?’ But it worked. My language skills have improved immensely.”

Zecca has excelled as an undergraduate student at FIU. He was inducted into the Tau Betta Pi and Chi Epsilon engineering societies and was awarded a position in NASA’s Undergraduate Research Program. Because of his outstanding work, he was invited to join the Honors College.

“He inspires me as a teacher,” said Juan Carlos Espinosa, associate dean of the Honors College. “I tell his story to other students to encourage them to persevere and keep their eyes on their goal.”

In 2008, Zecca became a McNair Fellow. A post-baccalaureate achievement program established in 1986 in memory of Ronald E. McNair, astronaut and member of the Challenger space shuttle crew, the McNair program encourages undergraduate students from underrepresented groups to pursue doctoral studies in science- and math-related fields by providing research, advising, counseling and networking opportunities.

He is enrolled currently in a dual bachelor-master’s program and has begun his graduate studies in water resources engineering. Ultimately, he plans to earn his Ph.D.

People often ask Zecca how he has succeeded without much guidance. He says his success comes from his ignorance. When he explains, it sounds more like optimism and ambition.

“I just don’t know I am not supposed to able to do something,” he says. “I do some investigating and always find a way.”

At this year’s fall commencement ceremony, Zecca’s mom, girlfriend and 6-month-old daughter will be in the U.S. Century Bank Arena cheering.

Zecca, who always said he’d volunteer for combat when he finished his bachelor’s degree, was true to his word. He will be deployed to Iraq next year.