About Pat McGrath, who started
the Hudson Valley Debate Union
Pat McGrath is a native North Rocklander. He grew up in Samsondale in West Haverstraw, went to St. Gregory Barbarigo grammar school (class of '74) in nearby Garnerville and North Rockland High School (class of '78), and still lives in North Rockland.
However, he has added the world to his North Rockland experience, and he started young. When he was a junior at NRHS, the local Rotary Club selected him to spend the 1976-1977 school year overseas. He was assigned to the borough of Waitara in the Taranaki district of New Zealand. Since then, he has also traveled widely, both in the U.S. and in other countries.
He holds degrees from Rockland Community College (A.A., 1980) and the State University College at Buffalo (B.A, 1982), as well as a Master's degree in Journalism (1989) from the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication at Iowa State University (now known as the Greenlee School of Communication). His M.S. thesis research on The International Knowledge of Beginning Journalism Students was presented as a paper at the 1989 annual conference of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication.
He now lives in Stony Point, so he's still officially a North Rocklander. His favorite novel is the Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov, and his favorite poet is Wislawa Szymborska, the Polish poetess who was awarded the 1996 Nobel Prize for Literature.
His favorite team is the New Zealand All Blacks, and his favorite inspirational dance is the Haka
He is owner of the most wonderful dog in the world.
