Three Friends to Graduate With Great Jobs

Three NJIT seniors have been friends since kindergarten -- a bond that has helped them to excel beyond all measure.

The three friends attended the same elementary school and the same high school. After they graduated, each applied to and was accepted at the Albert Dorman Honors College. They’ve been classmates, essentially, their entire lives. And their entire lives have essentially followed parallel paths.

At NJIT, they all picked the same major -- mechanical engineering -- and for the last four years they’ve been inseparably close: they’ve commuted together, studied together, taken classes together and eaten meals together. Their lasting friendship has been a great source of strength and stability for them. But come May, they will graduate from NJIT, and for the first time in years their lives will take separate paths. Each, however, is safely on a path to professional success.

Steve Greendyk has a job at Stryker, a leading medical technology company in New Jersey, where he’ll design spinal implants. He has a near perfect grade-point average, and the Newark College of Engineering recently named him the Outstanding Senior in mechanical engineering.

Jacob Nieuwenhuis has a similarly lofty GPA and a job awaiting him at W&H Systems Inc., a material handling company in Carlstadt, N.J. He worked two successful internships at the company, at the end of which he was offered a full-time job.

Kevin Prol doesn’t have a high GPA, he has a perfect one: a 4.0. He has a job working for his family’s greenhouse business, Van Vugt Greenhouses, in Pompton Plains, N.J. and he also intends to find a job working as a humanitarian engineer. His father, who works as a grower for the business, graduated from NJIT in 1988 with a degree in civil engineering. Kevin has already begun doing what he loves best -- helping others. He spent two summers in Latin America doing humanitarian work. For his good work, the Albert Dorman Honors College recently gave him its 2015 Outstanding Service Award.

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Individually, the three are impressive. But when they work together as a team, they’re unbeatable. Last month, for instance, they competed in a robotics contest sponsored by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. A total of 21 teams from universities such as Purdue, Marquette and the University of Michigan competed in the contest. Yet Steven, Jacob and Kevin (working with Jonathan Larrazabal, another talented senior who majors in mechanical engineering) took first place. They won a $500 prize and a travel subsidy to Houston, where they will compete in the finals.

“We work together dynamically as a team becuase we’ve been together so long,” says Jacob.“It’s just like in high school when we did projects together for physics.”

When they were little, though, they sometimes competed. Jacob recalls the time in sixth grade when all three qualified for the final of the geography bee.

“It meant everything to win that bee and all three of us qualified for it,” Jacob says. “But Kev and I got down to the final rounds and he ended up winning. I was so upset. I remember being mad at him for a really long time. Silly right? We’re good friends now, so I guess I got over it.”

Kevin doesn’t recall the geography bee, but he does remember a play date with Jacob that same year that ended disjointedly. The two had met after school to work on a history project. After a while they took a break to play wiffle ball. Jacob hit the ball and Kevin tried to field it. But he tripped, fell from an embankment and broke his arm.

“I guess Jake got back at me for winning the bee because my bone was cracked and I was in a cast for six weeks,” says Kevin, smilingly.

Bones heal quickly; friendships last forever. Over the years the three have stayed close, and have always been among the top students in their class.

At NJIT, they remained at the top of the class. They all commuted to campus from their hometowns -- Kevin lives in Pompton Plains, Jacob in Wyckoff and Steve in North Haledon. And when they got out of class they’d often meet in the skywalk in Fenster Hall. They’d sit together at a table and, with the natural light washing over them, hash out their equations. They attribute their strong work ethic to their Dutch heritage; their high school, moreover -- the Netherlands Reformed Christian School in Pompton Plains -- prepared them well for the rigorous curriculum at NJIT.

The three challenged themselves intellectually from the moment they arrived at NJIT. As freshmen, for example, they took Calculus II. People cautioned them that Calc II was dauntingly difficult. But they were undeterred. They signed up anyway.

Yet as the semester progressed, it became abundantly clear that they weren’t doing well: They were doing phenomenally well. On the first common exam, Steve and Kevin both scored 100s, with Jacob close behind. It was a stellar performance, and one not lost on their teacher.

“I remember when our professor was handing back our exams,” recalls Kevin. “He stopped to ask us what high school we attended. He was flabbergasted at our scores. I was happy because he was the best professor we’ve ever had. He demanded respect from his students and you could tell he respected us in return.”

Though that was four years ago, and thousands of students ago, Professor Rudy Kelly remembers that common exam and the three Dutch boys who aced it.

“Yes, it was some time ago but I recall the three amigos -- Kevin, Steve, and Jacob,” Kelly recently wrote in an email. “They were like bright, shining lights in my class - very intelligent, very pleasant. They were not like freshmen at all, but rather more like well-schooled scholars with a natural work ethic. I was impressed with the way they pursued the difficult problems of Calc II with zeal and curiosity. I never had a doubt that all three would be successful, and I won’t be surprised if they become a news items someday for an unusual accomplishment.”

This story is just that -- a news account of their unusual accomplishments -- and given the talents the three possess, this might be the first of many such news accounts.

Jacob, for instance, will make his mark at W&H Systems, which helps companies design their warehouses and distribution systems, from the conveyor belts that move products to the software programs that control robotics systems. It’s a great job and he can’t wait to start. “I interned there twice and love the work I’ll be doing,” he says.

Steve Geendyk will start his career at Stryker. He already had an internship at the company’s spine division, where he helped design surgical instruments. He did so well on the internship that he was offered a full-time job. Starting in May, he’ll join a team that designs spinal implants, a device that could help millions of people regain mobility.

“I commuted to NJIT with Jacob and the three of us are really close and our families are also friends,” says Steve. “That’s been a great blessing. Looking back I can say that the rigorous courses I took at NJIT’s Honors College prepared me for entering my professional career. The classes also helped me develop a mindset to persevere and pursue opportunities.”

If Kevin one day makes news, it won’t be for helping himself: It will be for helping humanity. Two summers ago, he spent two weeks in Bolivia, helping a village restore a community building. He enjoyed the experience and when he arrived home he sought a second humanitarian internship. He read a story on the NJIT homepage about William Pennock, an Honors College student who had spent a summer volunteering in Ecuador. Kevin contacted the nonprofit Pennock had worked for (Reach Beyond) and was later offered an internship in Ecuador. That summer was a blessing to him; for it was when he found his calling in life.

“Our assignment for Reach Beyond was to work alongside the people as engineers, not as tourists,” says Kevin. “We lived as they did. We ate their food, drank their chichi and tried to fit in. The work we did there included digging trenches, capturing springs, building solar towers and water towers and laying pipe. None of the villages had electricity or any type of machinery, so all the work that we did had to be done by hand and with primitive tools. This was an incredible challenge, in that all of the pipe and other supplies had to be flown in on small airplanes, requiring many flights per project. It was an incredible experience to see the people there turn on their running water for the first time in their live. My time there was an invaluable experience. I really hope to return again sometime in the future to continue my work there.”

Though he might spend time abroad doing humanitarian work, Kevin says he’ll always stay in touch with his two old friends -- Jacob and Steve.

“We have been together for so long, and have done so much together, I am sure that we will always remain friends,” adds Kevin. “I wouldn’t be where I am today without Steve and Jake pushing me to persevere and I’m sure they would say the same about all three of us.”

By Robert Florida