The Cabrini community came together on Tuesday, Nov. 12, in celebration of Cabrini Day, an annual event to honor the heritage and mission of Cabrini’s namesake, Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini.
The event’s 2019 theme, Food Matters, came to life in student-created multidisciplinary academic presentations raising awareness of issues related to food. Groups competed to win monetary prizes they would award to charities aligned with their individual topics. The winners were:
Large Group
First place: The Path out of Hunger: Poor Families Finding Solutions Around the World
ECG 100 LC 4; faculty mentor is Jerry Zurek, PhD
Second Place: What Does She/He/They Eat? Connections between Gender and Food
PSY 358 class, Psychology of Gender; faculty mentor Maya Gordon, PhD
Individual/Small Group
First place: Food Insecurity: The Impact of Hunger on Students with Disabilities
Shannon Agnew and Alexis Caputo; faculty mentor Mary Budzilowicz, MEd
Second place: Jamaica: Capture and Release?
Michael Moraschi, Rachel Seymour, and Niamah Washington; faculty mentors Nick Rademacher, PhD, and Nancy Watterson, PhD
Honorable Mentions
Applications of Discrete Mathematics in Agriculture
Juan Castro-Caro; faculty mentor is Hossein Shahrtash, PhD
Rethink Your Drink
Taylor Dimmerling and Stephanie Judkins (’21); faculty mentor is Maria Elena Hallion, PhD
An Investigation into the Non-GMO DNA of Beets
Margaret Anarfi, Leslie Hernandez, Brittany Osman, and Rachel Virtue; faculty mentor Anna Blice-Baum, PhD
Continuing the theme, the Wolfington Center provided a Cavs Corner lunch voucher for all faculty and staff as well as students who use the Cabrini Cupboard. They enjoyed a range of Sodexo’s specialty dishes highlighting the company’s social justice efforts including halal beef, plant-based stir-fry, sustainably raised seafood, and other budget-friendly and fair-trade options, served by volunteers from the Cabrini community.
Outside the Caf, diners could visit a photo booth promoting use of delicious “ugly” fruits and vegetables, buy Cabrini’s new reusable take-out containers, and learn about the Cabrini Swipes Out Hunger program that will provide students who usually visit the Cabrini Cupboard with Cavs Corner meal swipes.
The afternoon also featured a student awards presentation in which students received awards for their commitment to leadership and service.
Pierce Family Fellows
Rakayat Alam (’21), Fabiola Alfred (’21), Rocio Gonzalez-Rojas (’21), Stephanie Judkins (’21), Amanda Lynn (’21), Joy Patel (’20), Daisy Rodriguez (’20), and Chardanay White (’20)
Mastronardi Awards
Guadalupe Mendez (’20), Joy Patel (’20), Aislinn Walsh (’21), Chardanay White (’20), and Ariana Yamasaki (’20)
Student Disability Awareness Award
Selena Scialfa (’20) and Mary Pawlicki (’20)
Nerney Leadership in Community Service Award
Katherine Alvarez (’22), Jessica Dube (’22), and Ana Canchola (’21)
After the award presentations, Atif Bostic, Executive Director of Uplift Solutions, offered the keynote address: Uplifting: From Food Desert to Food Hero. Uplift Solutions addresses the social determinants of health through the development of community-centric and community-informed business assets.
Bostic joined the national nonprofit organization in 2015 with the goal of increasing access to food by decreasing deficits in healthcare, finances, and employment. Noting that more than 21 percent of Philadelphians live with food insecurity, he suggested that the audience of faculty, students, and staff ask themselves, “What does your life and everything you do add up to?”
“Every day I’m working to put myself out of business,” he continued. “That’s what it’s about. How do we move forward to make the world better?”
The Cabrini Day programming concluded with a faculty panel discussion moderated by Wolfington Center Director Raymond Ward, PhD, and Associate Professor of Graduate Education Michelle Szpara, PhD. Four faculty members—Carolyn Reilly (’90), Psychology instructor; Marie Elena Hallion, PhD, Chair and Associate Professor, Health and Exercise Sciences; Cynthia McGauley (MEd’11), Laboratory Manager and Chemical Safety Hygiene Officer; and Ina Galer, Teacher Education instructor—shared their perspectives on Integrating"‘Food Matters" across the Disciplines: Implications for Systemic Change.
For photos from Cabrini Day 2019, check out the Cabrini Day 2019 album on Cabrini’s Flickr.