Science enthusiast has many interests

Steven Albanese always knew what he wanted to do in life, at least the general field. Engineering runs in the family. His father, Marc, works for Structure Tone, an engineering firm, and his brother, Michael, is studying engineering at Manhattan College. An exceptional senior at Holy Cross, Steven plans to study biochemical engineering next year.
Ever since he was little, Albanese was into science. When others were playing with GI Joe's, he was reading National Geographic. He is now an avid reader of Popular Science.
&#8220I guess it's just because there's an appeal to science that I can't find anywhere else,” he said. &#8220Science is something that catches my eye, catches my mind, and makes me real interested. Reading Charles Dickens is not interesting to me, but reading about new jet turbines and biotechnology is really fascinating, how people can create these amazing complex machines from a simple idea.”
One day he hopes to be working for a pharmaceutical company, developing new products that could help others.
However, Albanese is not one-dimensional - far from it. He plays guitar (Albanese plays heavy metal and classic rock primarily), is on the varsity golf team, goes cycling in his free time, and helps in the community.
Furthermore, he's a certified religious education teacher certified by the Brooklyn/Queens Diocese. He has taught fourth graders Theology the last three years. It started when he was required to perform the community service as an eighth grader.
&#8220Once I started teaching I fell in love with it, and I worked my way up to becoming a full-fledged teacher,” he said. &#8220It's fun. It has its troubles with rambunctious kids, but I really enjoy it.”
He's also spent time at his local YMCA as a camp counselor in past summers. During his sophomore year, no one would hire him because he was too young, so Albanese took a job there as a volunteer.
&#8220It was an interesting challenge,” he recalled. &#8220I got to see why teachers tend to be angry. It was a real learning experience for me. Now I understand how to work with people, to try to make everyone win out in the end.”
Last summer, Albanese got the experience of a lifetime when he took part in a cultural exchange program, going abroad in Europe for a month, traveling through France, Austria, Switzerland and Italy. &#8220I learned so much about history and foreign culture,” he said. &#8220It's not like the history where you sit in a classroom and learn it, this is hands on stuff.”
Of the many experiences, the Bayside resident helped with a cancer fundraiser in Austria and traveled the salt mines in Germany.
With an impressive 4.38 grade point average, boosted by AP classes in political science and physics and college-level courses in calculus and English, the hard-working Albanese, 17, has one of the highest averages at Holy Cross. &#8220He's a worker,” Marc Albanese said. &#8220He gets good grades, but he works at getting good grades. A lot of kids, it kind of comes to them. He puts in a lot of time and a lot of effort.”