Leadership at Cabrini Alumni affairs holds the

by Alexis Strizziere assistant features editor CI

This semester, Cabrini College is hosting a new training program entitled Leadership with Heart sponsored by The Wolfington Center for Service & Leadership. The program, dedicated to educating the heart through community service, runs from Jan. 29 through :tvlarch21. The program will take a hands-on field-based format, with five required sessions. Developed by Mary Laver, Coordinator of Community Outreach and Partnerships, the pilot program was designed in response to student interest concerning community service.

The program was developed in response to the enormous amounts of energy and dedication there is towards reaching out to the surrounding community stemming from Cabrini's well-known Education of the Heart service program for all freshmen. With the help of students, teachers, faculty, Campus Minister Steve Albero, Jessica Morgan and the outreach staff of Saint Joseph's University, Mary Laver has developed this program to train leaders for the community through service. "There is so much interest from Cabrini students, especially the sports teams, to do more community service then just the required day of freshman year," said Mary Laver. "Seeing all of this energy and knowing that Cabrini College is known for training leaders for the community through its education, why not train leaders through community service," said Laver.

Intended to energize and prepare students for community service, this new program takes place inside of a classroom first to teach students about the role they will have through community service and what they will learn. "We are trying to teach the students such things as 'why are these people homeless' and 'why are these people starving' so they can better understand and appreciate the extent of their service," said Laver. "I think it's a great idea to include classroom learning first because you learn so much more about why you are going to help at a soup kitchen or a trauma ceriter instead of just going there, doing your service and leaving," said Karen Boni on, a student involved with the new leadership program. It is more than just classroom experience however, you learn how to apply what you know and what you have learned.

The program began with an orientation to Leadership on Jan. 29 with HEART: heal what hurts, educate, act, reflect, thank and transform. HEART is intended to help those participating in the program to learn how to link what they will learn here with what they will do in the world. Consisting of rougWy 20 students, the group will par take in their first real community service project this Saturday, Jan. 16.

"I am pretty positive of this program. It really does teach people to get out there and do something for your community and devefop your skills. It also helps to broaden community learning as well," said Benion. "One of our main focuses with the program is to allow students to organize and motivate themselves to open up to skills that everyone has. It is so important to recognize your skills as well as others' skills if you want to be an effective leader," said Laver.

Supposing this pilot program is a success, where will the college go from here? "I am eager to move forward with this program," said Laver. Laver also mentioned that in the end she hopes to have four components to the program so that a student who attends the college for the full four years will be able to go through levels of leadership development. This introductory pilot program right now will be offered both semesters next year and possibly a second step program will be developed.

"Eventually I believe the college will offer this program as an actual academic credit. The leadership program would be worth one credit and work towards being part of a certificate program in social justice or leadership for service in addition to a students major or minor on their transcript," said Laver. This combination of academics and service would be the first compqnent of the program. With encouragement from Dean of Academic Affairs Kate O'Connell, Laver is looking to expand Leadership with Heart to a full-blown leadership certificate program within the next school year.

Asses Together

by Tanya McCausland staff writer

While in college, many students have one thing on their minds, graduation and getting the perfect job. Students often do not think about how they can help their school after they graduate and how involvement with their school does not have to end after they receive their diploma. The Alumni Association makes it their priority to keep alumni connected with each other and their school.

The Alumni office is located on the second floor of the mansion. There, Alumni Affairs Director Martha Dale, Alumni Association President Jamie Miller Prince and two student liaisons Lisa Simonetti and Linda Cylc work to make sure current and future alums of Cabrini have a chance to stay connected to the school.

Dale describes four particular goals for the association. They work to keep all alum connected to Cabrini, make them aware of activities and events that students are'partaking in, maintain the important friendships made during college and enforce the importance of being proud of their alma mater.

Often students complain about the letters that they receive in the mail asking for donations, even though they have not graduated yet. Dale and Miller Prince want to assert that although donations are very important to the college alum can also volunteer and get involved in many ways to support Cabrini.

Miller Prince graduated from Cabrini in 1984 as a history, political science and social science major. She said, "Cabrini was an enriching. experience for me and took me from being a nai've, lost, innocent kid to an adult." She wants to stress the importance of staying connected with Cabrini after graduation througH donations, volunteering and fundraising. "Get involved," she said. "It's your school and you can still influence it even after you graduate."

All Cabrini graduates are automatically part of the association. Also students who only attended for one year or have only taken a few classes may still be members. Alumni can volunteer at Alumni weekend, the Mansion Gala, as board of directors and class agents. They can host an alumni reception, do career mentoring and take part in many other events and councils.

The Alumni Association gives out scholarships to students and awards to distinguish alum for community service and recognize their achievements. They also take care of those reunions that no one wants to miss. Coming in 2003, the Alumni Association will be opening Alumni Central, a website, with Career Seivices to link students with alumni. The plan is for alum to post their resumes and contact information on the site for students to access. Students will then be able to contact the graduates to ask them questions about their career and steps that they took to get there.

Cylc, a junior and Simonetti, a senior are student liaisons for the Alumni Association. It is their job to build communication between the undergraduates and alumni of Cabrini. They try to increase student awareness about the association and try to cultivate leadership. There are many boards and counsels within the associatiQn that alumni are involved in. The Alumni Board of Directors is a board of 18 members from a wide range of graduation years who take charge of programming, scholarships and fundraising. The Continuing Education Board is for non-traditional students and the Alumni Recruitment Counsel looks out for prospective students. During senior year, current students who show leadership and dedication are recruited by the Alumni Association to be Class Agents. They also create a link between their graduating class, other alum and undergraduates. The Alumni Association gives students the chance to give something back to the school that gave so much of itself.

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Essay Contest for College Students

Offered by the Ayn Rand Institute

Topic: Ayn Rand's Novel Atlas Struggled

Deadline: Sept. 16, 2002

First Prize: $5,000 Cash Award

For more information: go to www.aynrand.org/contests/ or contact the Financial Aid Office at x8423.

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