From US college janitor to classics graduate

14 May 2012 Last updated at 05:00 ET Help

After years of mopping floors and taking out rubbish at Columbia University in New York, a janitor has swapped his overalls for a cap and gown to collect his bachelor's degree in classics.

Gac Filipaj, 52, left Montenegro in 1992, then a Yugoslav republic facing a brutal civil war.

As a Columbia University employee, he did not have to pay for the classes he took over 14 years in ancient Latin and Greek.

Calling the ceremony ''the best moment in my life so far,'' he now plans to study further.

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