December 20, 2016
The inaugural Difference Makers certificate ceremony on December 5 was attended by 80 people including 29 students from Staten Island’s Susan E. Wagner High School and their parents at the Staten Island campus to celebrate the completion of a detailed academic service-learning project led by Dr. William Reisel, Tobin professor of Management. “The model I used is based on high-level AS-L projects normally reserved for sophomores and seniors from the Tobin College,” he explained. “This is the first time I piloted the concept with high school students.”
Difference Makers is part of the Staten Island leadership’s civic engagement strategy directed by James O’Keefe, Ph.D., Vice Provost, Staten Island campus, and Robert Fanuzzi, Ph.D., Associate Provost for Academic Affairs and Director of Civic Engagement, Office of the Vice Provost. The provost has made civic engagement a cornerstone of the campus’s growth. Difference Makers, an innovative program funded by a Vincentian Institute for Social Action (VISA) Sinatra grant, links St. John’s mission of service to local high school students.
The high school students raised $846 donate to Central Family Life Center (CFLC)’s after-school-tutoring program. CFLC is a nonprofit organization with strong community partner ties to St. John’s Staten Island campus. The students also produced a body of research to design a plan for delivering online tutoring services to young children in the CFLC program. Rev. Demetrius Carolina, Ed.D., CFLC’s Executive Director, accepted the donation at the event, which was also attended by Staten Island civic and business leaders.
During the evening ceremony, Lynn Stravino, St. John’s Academic Service-Learning Director, and Carline Bennett, St. John’s Ozanam Scholars Program Director, as well as Dr. O’Keefe and Dr. Fanuzzi, stressed the importance of the University’s Vincentian mission as high school students prepare for college and future careers. “Many of the students wrote to me after the ceremony stating how good they felt by being a part of something that makes a difference. This sort of Staten Island activity is what makes St. John’s—Saint John’s,” said Reisel.
Related News
Alumnus and Adjunct Professor Credits St. John’s upon Book Release
Minkyu Kim ’24Ph.D. earned his doctorate in Curriculum and Instruction from T he School of Education at St. John’s University. He currently teaches English at Stuyvesant High School and serves as an...
Business and Law Graduate Programs Ranked in U.S. News & World Report’s Top 100
In just-released rankings by U.S. News & World Report of the 2026 Best Graduate Schools, the part-time Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.) program in The Peter J. Tobin College of Business and the St. John’s University School of Law are listed in the top 100 and noted for their excellence and achievement.
St. John’s University Announces Commencement 2026 Honorees
St. John’s University will hold its Undergraduate-Level Commencement Exercises on Sunday, May 18, at 10 a.m. on the Great Lawn. The Most Reverend Richard G. Henning, S.T.D., D.D. ’86SJC, ’88M.A., Archbishop of Boston, MA, will serve as this year’s speaker and be conferred an honorary degree during the ceremony.