Cabrini Day theme focuses on immigration

Getting along: A Live Musical Performance and Video

There are ways to cope with a crisis without using violence. That was the concept behind the live musical perfonnance and film presented by Key Arts.

Joe Patterson, orator for Key Arts, presented a film that was created from conversations given by peer medfators from the Philadelphia schools who are dealing with violence: techniques to avoid it, what it is, and why it usually gets started.

At the opening of the presentation, Patterson said, "Fighting is senseless, and nobody ever wins."

This statement introduced the remarks from the peer mediators about their resolutions for avoiding violence and the harmony of the Key Arts duet.

Techniques given by the mediators for avoiding violence include clarifying the problem, staying cool and not letting your emotions guide your decision. Listen to what the other party has to say. Negotiate an agreement, and compromise. Most importantly, if all else fails, walkaway.

-ToccaraBuckley

Coming from Bosnia to Cabrini College

How would you feel if your country were in a war, if you were forced to make a decision that could affect your entire life?

These are the pressures that Sejla Hasic-Stamps, the director of residence life here at Cabrini, faced in Bosnia eight years ago. Sejla was born in Bosnia and grew up there until the war began. She had to make an important decision of whether she wanted to stay in Bosnia or escape the war and move to another country that was safer. Sejla put her life at risk and decided to escape Bosnia. She did not want to be a victim anymore.

Sejla spoke about her experiences in Bosnia in the time of the war. The war began because Bosnia had gained independence from Yugoslavia. When it began, she was on a bus in 1992. For the next couple of months, Sejla witnessed many tragic events. She witnessed death, crime and violence. Sejla did not want to live in fear any longer, so she decided to take matters into her own hands. She, her sister and niece ran away. They first went to Croatia, where they stayed for a year. Then the Serbs attacked Croatia, so they ventured on, once again, to Italy. They no longer wanted to be in the ex-Yugoslavic territories in fear of the war following them. So, they stayed in Italy for a few years'.

Sejla did not want to stay in Italy, however. She wanted to move to the United States. She went to the U.S. embassy in Italy and asked permission to go to the United States. Sejla did not receive the support from the U.S. embassy in Italy. It was not until Cabrini College got involved to help Sejla that she received her visa to visit the United States and receive a college degree at Cabrini College.

People at Cabrini helped Sejla in so many ways. They offered her a college education, they assisted her in getting the permission to move to the United States and they supported Sejla in her rough transition period after she moved. Sejla believes that Cabrini College has given her the conclusion that the United States truly is a great country.

-ColleenConnor

The Immigration Game

There are now more people trying to immigrate to the United States than at any time in history. More than 3.6 million applications for residency were filed last year alone, but few realize the odyssey of paperwork and red tape that today's immigrants face.

Linda Collier, in her lecture entitled "Coming to the United States: Immigration Through Sponsorship," made this difficult process into a board game and invited students to play.

The game simulated immigration for those who already have a resident "sponsor" (a family member or employer willing to attest that they will be gainfully employed and not a drain on social services), but the student players quickly found out that even with the advantage of a sponsor, getting permission to live in the United States is a long, expensive and often futile undertaking. In fact, none of the players succeeded, often going broke because every time their petition was rejected, they had to pay the $500 fee again before re-petitioning.

Collier explained that authorities make the process "deliberately discriminatory" to limit the number of immigrants coming into the country. Little wonder, then, that of those 3.6 million applications, only 414,000 (12 percent) were accepted.

-Kim Gormley

Bridging the Cultural Divide

Many students wonder what the Cabrini Mission Corps really is. It an actual missionary group founded in Mother Cabrini's spirit, not just an office behind the cafeteria.

One Cabrini Mission Corps volunteer spoke. After graduating from the University of Pittsburgh last May, Lisa Grzyboski decided to join the mission as a volunteer. She had originally wanted to travel to South America for her service, but the Corps directors thought her best placement would be in New York City assisting immigrants.

The Mission Corps offers many services to immigrants such as English as a second language, finding public housing and other work. Grzyboski teaches an ESL class. She finds the work very rewarding. She met an older Chinese woman who had lived in the United States for 30 years before finally taking English lessons. After only two months, she is able to converse with most Americans.

Grzyboski said, "I think it's the people I meet that will make my mission experience." So far she hasn't been wrong.

-KatieBernson

Detention of Immigrants in American Prisons

Imagine being so scared that you cannot even speak and your fate is in the hands of an airport attendant. This is what happens to refugees trying to get into the United States.

Dr. William Westerman works with some of these refugees at Elizabeth Detention Center in New Jersey. He first started working as a volunteer with refugees when he was a grad student at the University of Pennsylvania.

"I learned just as much working with the refugees as I did in the classroom," Westerman said. "Up to the 1990's, refugees were allowed to stay in our country. But that changed in 1996 when Congress passed a new immigration law. Refugees have no rights, and if they have no VISA or passport, then they will be held in a detention center until they can prove their identity or their case is decided."

Of the two million people in American prisons, twenty thousand of them are refugees.

-CarlyJuno

Leaming From the Hunger Project

The "Hunger Project" provides a chance for students enrolled in the nutrition course to venture beyond their normal views of the world and to delve into the hunger and poverty stricken areas of Philadelphia and surrounding localities.

Selected to speak on behalf of the class, Nyetta Pendleton, Renee Lewis, Megan Lomas, Eric Kennedy and Justin Christian shared their individual experiences and stories with a standing-room- only audience in Founder's Hall Room 279 on Cabrini Day. Ranging from one-on-one encounters with lower-class citizens to working with the Metropolitan AIDS and Nutrition Affiliation (MANA) to traveling door-to-door on Cabrini's campus collecting packaged foods, the project presentations shared the unifying theme that providing assistance for the less fortunate should be a "year round endeavor," not just seasonal guilt for the hungry, according to moderator and nutrition professor Dr. Sheny Fuller-Espie.

-RichMagda The Border Experience

Last May several students from Cabrini participated in a community service project on the border of Mexico. This is the way Jeanine Laskowski, a senior, described the third-world conditions that are present in Mexico. Clean running water is rare and babies are four times more likely to die before their first birthday than in the United States because of diseases. She went on to tell of their experiences in Mexico, describing people they met and the great satisfactionthey felt as they helped build a library and care for Mexican immigrants who have nowhere to go.

-TanyaMcCausland

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Amnesty International

Amnesty International is campaigning to highlight the major issue of gun violence in our society. The statistics are shocking: there are 65 million handguns in the United States.

34,000 people where killed from firearms in homicides, suicides and accidents last year. 4,500 of these were children. That is, 10 children die each day dying from gun violence.

lfas society come to accept this as part of American life? Brian Miller, from Cease-Fire New Jersey, is one of many campaigning to reduce gun violence not only in New Jersey but also in the country as a whole.

Miller's brother was murdered six years ago when a man entered a police station in Maryland with a concealed weapon. The man shot indiscriminately, killing three law enforcement officers and critically injuring another.

Miller has taken on this mission with many others who have experienced the tragedy of gun violence. He strongly believes that there should be greater legislation on handguns and that they should be child proofed. "Every industry makes its product safe, yet the gun industry will not," he said.

He works with teachers' unions, law enforcement officers and religious groups. He also reaches out to parents and young people to encourage them to actively participate and join together to move this issue.

-Sarah Smuh

Philadelphiaand the Rest of the World:Immigration, Migrants,and Refugees

If you are not black, you are white. True or false?

According to many people in our world, this statement is quite true.

Father Thomas Betz, director of archdiocesan Pastoral Care for Migrants and Refugees, related in his seminar that many people believe that if you are Asian, Hispanic or American Indian you will marry into either the Caucasian or African-American race and eventually become one of the two.

Among other issues that Betz talked about were refugees who have come to America not because they themselves will have better lives, but because they want their children to have better lives. Many of these refugees are under 20 years old and not even prepared to have children yet. They work constantly just to get by and live on the hope that one day their children will be able to make something of themselves.

-Jana Sukala

WordsWe Bring With Us: The ImmigrantExperience

The Rev. John McNamee, a poet and pastor, and student presenters shared insightful works, family stories and poems about the immigrant experience.

Senior Meghan Merkel shared a story about a young girl and her story of immigration. The girl was lost and could not find her family. She was reunited with her family by the help of a stranger. The stranger was Mother Cabrini.

Sophomore Renee DiPietro shared a story about her own family's struggles with immigration and ultimately how they survived once in the United States.

Father McNamee read three of his original poems and tied their meanings into the theme of immigration and also to the previous presenters. He spoke not only

President Antoinette /adorola

Services of New York. The about the past stories of immigration but about those that still go on today. He said that it is nice to reflect on the past in our own families, stories, and poems but we need to be aware of what presently goes on around us. This was the message of Father McNamee's poems and talk.

-Lucy Truglio

Qvil War: The Hidden Victims of the Sudan and Burundi Wars in Africa

Imagine the feeling of not knowing where you will be in 24 hours, let alone if you will be alive or not.

The people of Sudan and Burundi deal with starvation and the effects of civil war in their everyday lives.

Kristen Schwarze, the daughter of Cabrini philosophy professor, Dr. Sharon Schwarze, risked life and limb helping the victims of the civil wars in Sudan and Burundi.

The workshop consisted of the trials and tribulations that Kristen

Schwarze underwent during her trip in Africa. She spoke of everything from the violence that she witnessed to helping the underprivileged in the countries that she visited. "It is a great way to reach out internationally," Schwarze said. She explained how the wars affect the lives of soldiers, civilians, children and wildlife.

Schwarze spoke not only about the hardships in Africa, but also about how she and everyone she worked with helped the poor by giving them food, clothing and vaccines. They also set up clinics that taught families about nutrition and keeping their families healthy.

-Cheryl Wagstaff

Prayer Service and Awards Ceremony

Cabrini Day concluded with a prayer service and an awards ceremony. The prayer service, conducted by the campus ministry, paid homage to Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini on the 150th anniversary of

ImportantAnnouncementfor FinancialAid Students with FederalPerkins Loans

her birth and the 50th anniversary of her being named the Patroness of Immigrants.

The Charles A. Mastronardi Awards for Service and Leadership were granted to seniors Chris Nielsen, Nick Luchko and Tricia Arnold and sophomore Melissa Kelshaw. These students were chosen for their outstanding contributions to campus life and service to their school and communities.

The ceremony concluded with President Antoinette Iadarola conferring the Cabrini Award to the Cabrini Immigrant Services of New York. The award was accepted by Sr. Pietrina Raccuglia, MSC, Sr. Roselle Santivasi, MSC, and Patricia Krasnausky. Sr. Roselle ended the day's activities with an emotional video depicting the struggles of a Mexican family that had immigrated to the United States. A child bad been removed from this family by a social services agency. Through the efforts of the Cabrini Immigrant Services, the family was able to regain custody.

-John O'Donnell

Perkins Prom1ssoryNotes have been distributed to student mailboxes. If you received a Federal Perkins Loan as a part of your financial aid award, then you must sign a Promissory Note in order to keep the money. The Note is your agreement to repay the loan upon graduating or leaving the college.

What You Must Do

1. Get the promissorynote from your mailbox.

2. Sign and date the promissorynote.

3. Returnone (1) signedcopy of the promissorynote to the FinancialAid Office.

You must return the signed promissory note to the Financial Aid Office before 5:00 p.m. on Nov. 10, 2000.

• Failure to do so will cause you to lose your Perkins loan funding. If you have any questions, call the Financial Aid Office at (610) 902-8420.