Science BS/MBA Student Succeeds On and Off the Ice

While one Penn State Icers player may have made a science out of scoring, it was his lifelong interest in the field of science that brought him to Penn State to study both science and business while playing for the Penn State ice hockey team. Marek Polidor, a junior from Imperial, Pennsylvania, is one of the top leading scorers for the Penn State Icers. In addition to playing hockey and taking two classes, Marek has a full-time business co-op at Innovation Park where he is gaining experience to eventually enter a corporate setting of a science-based business.

Marek has been playing hockey since he was six years old. Although he first attempted the goalie position, he now plays the forward position in every game. “I’ve been going to ice rinks since before I could walk,” Marek said. He comes from a huge hockey family, including his older brother who played for the Air Force Academy. In addition to his hockey interest at a young age, Marek has also liked science since he was a child.  He said science has just always clicked with him, which is why he came to Penn State to study it. “Science is what I find interesting. I didn’t think twice about it,” Marek said.

Marek is part of a unique five-year program called the Science BS/MBA Program, in which he will earn a science degree with a graduate degree in business administration.  Along with taking classes to fulfill the program’s requirements, his responsibilities at his business internship include writing digital stories about the companies and people at Innovation Park and creating videos that showcase the companies. “I recently did a story about Salimetrics,” Marek said, “It is a new idea where companies can test saliva instead of doing blood work.”

Marek said he has been meeting a lot of interesting people along the way, “One person even took me up in his red bi-wing stunt airplane, and I got to do barrel rolls stalls high above State College.”

Since Marek fills his days with his full-time co-op, classes, and at least 20 hours of hockey during the season, he said time management is second nature to him. “I feel like I don’t get as stressed as other people do when things start piling up,” he said, ”It honestly comes natural to me because I’ve been balancing hockey and school since I was young.”

Growing up, Marek played for many teams in leagues all around New England because his focus was on travel hockey.  Even in middle school and high school, he was constantly traveling to Detroit, Chicago, Buffalo and Toronto, just to name a few, with his elite AAA Hockey team, The Pittsburgh Hornets. After graduating high school, Marek went straight to the Eastern Junior Hockey League to play for the Green Mountain Glades of Vermont, which also frequently traveled to games.

Traveling has been a major part of Marek’s life since he was a child through playing hockey, visiting family in Prague almost every summer growing up, and going many other places across the world. He said he could also see traveling in his future. “I’ve backpacked in Europe for a month and have been to a lot of countries,” Marek said, “While I’m young, I think I’d enjoy traveling for business and working internationally.”

Although Marek had been gaining experience in hockey on various teams since he was six, he faced some adversity when he came to Penn State following one year of junior hockey. “I got cut my freshman year, and it was kind of rough. I didn’t really know if should try out again,” Marek said. “One thing led to another, and I tried out again. Now I’m in the line up every game and getting a lot of ice time.”

Marek said his number one goal was to commit to preparing to try out again, which included working out and practicing his hockey skills. He said it took a lot of hard work in the summer, but it all was worth it to make the team. He said throughout his life, his work ethic has been the main reason for both his hockey and academic successes. He said, “Work ethic is huge. It definitely carries over on both sides.”

Get more information on the Penn State Science BS/MBA program here.