May 05, 2011
John Wilson ‘11CPS has helped almost 1,000 Bread &
Life clients obtain legal identification, giving them access to
basic social services, employment and other opportunities. Fellow
Ozanam Scholar Kaitlyn Miller ’11TCB, who is also enrolled in the
five-year
B.S./M.S. Degree Program in Accounting, has developed a
strategy to allow microfinance organizations serve greater numbers
of needy applicants.
They are among the 31 outstanding students who belong to the Ozanam Scholars
Program’s first graduating class. The Scholars will receive
their undergraduate degrees on May 15 at the University’s 141st
Commencement Exercises.
Launched in 2007, the Program is designed to enable carefully
selected students to combine hands-on community-based service,
global education, scholarship and research. As part of the
Program, students are required to produce capstone projects that
propose sustainable solutions for global poverty and social
injustice issues.
The Scholars featured here exemplify how the Program’s unique
paradigm is meeting and even exceeding the University’s
expectations For example, in addition to John and Kaitlyn’s
ground-breaking contributions, Megan Chadzutko ’11SOE and Molly
Cronin ’11P are also responsible for capstone projects in their
respective fields that improve the lives of the
marginalized.
Megan has designed a new, cost-effective, method that has proven
effective in teaching vocabulary to at-risk students, while Molly
has made a convincing case for the importance of
incorporating personal contact and social therapy to boost the
well-being of nursing home patients.
Noting that the Ozanam Program exposed her to diverse at-risk
student populations she would not have otherwise encountered, Megan
is grateful for the expertise she has gained in her field. “Thanks
to my Ozanam experiences I have been accepted by a very selective
master’s program in literacy and I have landed a highly desirable
teaching position for next year,” she said.
Kaitlyn also credits the Ozanam Scholars Program with giving her
the competitive edge that helped her get a coveted summer
internship at PriceWaterhouseCoopers.
For her part, Molly found that she was so impacted by the Program
that she has decided to devote her professional career to serving
the disenfranchised. “The Ozanam Program has permanently instilled
in me the desire to help those who are most in need,” she said. She
plans on looking for a physician’s assistant position in emergency
care in the Bronx after she graduates.
John, who will be going to law school in the fall, will be
taking with him a valuable lesson gleaned from his capstone study.
“I now know that systemic change cannot be accomplished from the
outside,” he said. “To make a difference, you first have to
personally know and understand the community you are trying to
help.”
“John epitomizes what an Ozanam Scholar should be,” said Andrew
Ferdinandi, Ph.D., who was John’s capstone mentor. “He is
motivated, dedicated and emotionally mature and committed to the
University’s Vincentian
values.”
“We are extremely proud and excited by the work of every member
of our graduating class,” said
Darren Morton, Associate Vice President of Student Affairs and
Director of the Vincentian
Institute for Social Action (VISA). “ The Ozanam Program is an
essential component of VISA which was created to incorporate
scholarship and service into the University’s Vincentian
mission.
“Our Scholars’ capstone achievements illustrate the critical
role the Ozanam Scholars Program will play in helping the
University become known as a leading resource for alleviating
global poverty and social injustice,” said Fr. James
Maher, Executive Vice President for Mission.