AlumniFocus
Mark Olszewski ’77
by Nicholas Pronko
Mark Olszewski ’77 began to develop an interest in cameras as a teenager. Little did he know at the time that he would spend the majority of his adult life working with them. As a freshman at Cathedral Prep High School in Erie, Olszewski remembers thinking that the photos in the school’s yearbook and newspaper could be better. He was told, half jokingly, that if he could do better, he should find a camera and start shooting. So, shoot he did, for both the Prep yearbook and newspaper. And he enjoyed it so much that he became president of the school’s photo club. Later, as a student at Gannon, Olszewski also ran the photo club and took many of the photos in The Lance, the Gannon yearbook.
“I’m very proud of what the school has accomplished... I’m very grateful that I went to Gannon.” Name Mark Olszewski ’77
Professional Affiliations Member of the Society of Broadcast Engineers
Community Involvement Actively volunteers for several local schools and parishes
Family
Wife, Diane Olszewski ’83, three daughters and two sons
16
He also remembers taking apart a camera and attempting to put the many parts and pieces back together. The only part he struggled with was reconfiguring the lens. So, he turned to Doug Johnston, at the time the owner of Johnston Cameras in Erie. Olszewski and Johnston quickly formed a bond that eventually would result in the former buying the business from the latter. During the 23-plus years Olszewski owned Johnston Cameras, his many clients included the Erie Police Department. Olszewski was awarded a contract to maintain the department’s fingerprint identification system. He also worked with GE-Transportation, providing photography for the locomotive maker’s annual reports, among numerous other projects. Olszewski sold Johnston Cameras in 2000 and then lived and worked in Texas and Alabama. Later, after another Erie native working for the John F. Kennedy Space Center informed him of a video and imaging engineering position with the subcontractor InDyne, Inc. at the Center, it was time to journey to work at the Florida launch center. Olszewski now lives in Titusville, Fla., and works for Arctic Slope Regional Corp. (ASRC), a NASA subcontractor. Titusville is about 40 miles east of Orlando and about 16 miles west of Merritt Island, Fla., site of the Kennedy Space Center. The ASRC test team and Olszewski verify the performance and specifications of image acquisition equipment like video and still cameras. He also performs engineering and setup work for the cameras, also referred to as imaging systems. Specifically, he makes sure the color depth, image quality, shutter speed, and recording and timing capabilities are accurate. The systems are used to record shuttle launches and also the launches of Air Force rockets. Once the video or still photos have been captured, imaging staff at Arctic Slope Regional closely study the images and gather the initial data. Later, NASA conducts a more in-depth review and analysis. Upon further analysis, Olszewski’s affinity for Gannon, where he graduated in 1977 with a Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, has remained strong. He fondly remembers former Gannon presidents Monsignor Wilfrid Nash and Joe Scottino as well as faculty and staff like Stan Zagorski, Dr. Ken Andersen, Father Joe Gregorek, Joe Luckey, James Freeman, Father Casimir Lubiak, and Father James McCullough. “Everyone was great,” he said. “You could always confide in them about anything and they were very accessible. It was a wonderful environment. I’m very proud of how the school has continued to grow and prosper. I’m very grateful I went to Gannon.”