STATE COLLEGE, Pa. – No, Eric J. Barron and recent Penn State grad Anthony Zocco are not in constant communication, but are there many other people doing more to expand and maintain Penn State than these two? Allow me to explain.
(Photos by Marissa Zocco)
Sure, figuratively, Mr. Barron is a mastermind behind the growth and restoration of the Penn State community, but who is actually literally building it? That is where Anthony Zocco comes into the equation as a Project Engineer for Alexander Building Construction.
From a young age, Zocco paid attention to Penn State football dating back to the Joe Paterno era. It was a school he always cheered for in football, and when it came time for his own college experience, there was no other institution he wanted to go to more.
As a kid growing up in Brockway, he was football-obsessed, and for good reason. Growing up, his father, Frank, was the Head Football Coach for the Brockway Rovers. Through his love of football, it made sense to root for the local college team when turning on the television on Saturdays. While it wouldn’t be Zocco suiting up for his Nittany Lions for 12 games a year, he did the next best thing by becoming a student himself in the Penn State College of Engineering.
Early in life, his parents realized his detail-oriented mindset when working on various projects either for school or around the house. He had a passion for building and creating things which made a career in architectural engineering a logical fit.
“I wanted to do the two-plus three program, which means to do two years at one school before transferring to University Park,” Zocco explained. “Behrend is where I went for my first year and I realized I had to do a one plus four program. I went to State College from a small town, but I quickly realized that the campus can feel pretty small once you get into classes within your major.”
For Zocco, he studied in one of the more difficult majors Penn State offers, as the program only graduates 60 to 80 kids on average every spring semester. The major requires a minimum of a 3.0 grade-point average to be accepted after four semesters, something that many have difficulty doing or deciding they want to commit to, as there are many intense classes in such a short time.
However, for Zocco, he saw a vision for himself working in the construction industry. Today, he is living that vision for nearly eight months; he has been working as a Project Engineer for Alexander Building Construction out of their State College office. His time with the company started in 2019 as an intern at the company’s Harrisburg office, but he was always hopeful there may be an opportunity to work out of the State College location. At that, he was hopeful about beginning his career in the project engineering realm.
“I did not like always having to sit at a desk per se to design everything,” said the Brockway native. I was always a really detail-oriented person who was good with math and helping to figure out problems with a team. Working with a team was also something I enjoyed and seeing an entire process of making something.”
As a project engineer, Zocco does a lot of the things that often go unseen or are not thought about in making a concept a reality in construction. He helps onboard subcontractors who are day by day restoring or building something, makes sure the project is on budget and everyone involved is getting paid, builds timelines for when the goals along the way should be completed, and he makes sure material lead times are on schedule for installation.
As seen, not every day can be the same for someone who has duties that vary as much as he does. However, he would not have it any other way as the role he is in right now will eventually allow him to become a Project Manager and even a Project Executive in the future.
Zocco is a part of projects on the Penn State University campus that continue to allow it to flourish and expand. His colleagues at the company are involved in projects such as commercial construction and even working on projects that help to upgrade and expand hospitals like Mount Nittany Medical Center in State College as well as Beaver Stadium, the home of Penn State football. With building such large structures, projects can take years to complete, but it allows Zocco to use his interpersonal skills along the way.
“I enjoy talking to different people,” he said. “Working with people is something I enjoy and I think I am a pretty solid communicator. I have my independent time, but I also have the privilege of getting to go to these job sites to see the progress being made and talk to other people involved.”
It has not always been an easy road because, in the middle of his eighth semester, COVID-19 forced his education to be altered to online delivery. In a field as applied as architectural engineering, it made group projects difficult for the Jefferson County native. Regardless, it challenged him and his classmates to find alternate solutions, something the real world shows people continuously.
Through it all, the Penn State Architectural Engineering faculty did their best to help provide the best experience they could. For this and for helping to guide him to choose Alexander to begin his career at, Zocco appreciates them. Working for Alexander off and on for a few years has also allowed him to meet some skilled project managers who he hopes to be like someday soon. But most of all, his parents Lisa and Frank, along with his sister Marissa, were also the crucial support system he needed in order to endure ten semesters of intense and advanced learning.
“My parents really pushed me and helped me get through things that I sometimes wanted to quit on,” he said. “It was hard, AE (architectural engineering) was really hard. I just credit my parents for being the ones who pushed me to become who I am today.”
Growing up in the small-town environment of Brockway has done its part in shaping Anthony Zocco into the professional and worker he is today. He did not have to go far in order to begin his working career, as in 2021, he got back inside Beaver Stadium to watch his Nittany Lions take the field again. This is not nearly the end of the road but only serves as the beginning of Anthony Zocco, helping to grow Penn State uniquely.
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