University Student Senate President

The class of 2024 entered St. Joe’s at an unprecedented time, meeting one another’s masked faces in residence hall lounges, interacting only for a moment in the hallway or after class and eating meals while six feet apart from one another in Campion Dining Hall. I need not remind you of the days of “Zoom University,” quarantining in dorm rooms or dreadful texts from a friend saying they were being sent home. The covid-19 pandemic will always be a defining aspect of our college career. But we coped with the ever-changing procedures, all the while forging strong relationships and partaking in formative experiences.

We have come a long way in the past three years, but just as we entered St. Joe’s in unprecedented times, this academic year marks a historic period of change at the university. It is time for the class of 2024 to lead and to ensure that the mission of St. Joe’s continues.

Since becoming the Student Body President in May, I have been asked many times, “What are your goals for the year? What changes should we expect?” Plainly, my goal is to be a resource for the students of St. Joe’s, someone who can help grapple with day-to-day life. For students whose dorm window currently overlooks a construction site, for the new president of a student organization who is tasked with rebuilding club membership after years of neglect, for students in the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy who are concerned about their identity and the future of their campus landmarks, for transfer students from Cabrini University who are still navigating what it means to be a Hawk, expect to find passionate allies in the Student Senate, willing to work with you.

I campaigned on the idea of unity, seeking to foster a feeling of belonging for all St. Joe’s students, regardless of their location on Hawk Hill, in University City or at Lancaster’s Pennsylvania College of Health Studies, which will join us later this academic year. We are one institution. We are united under the ideals of Jesuit education and by the belief that “The Hawk Will Never Die.” In the year ahead, I aim to help strike the balance of retaining our unique traditions and fundamental values, while still opening ourselves to new ideas.

Despite the class of 2024’s troubled start, our legacy will be marked by passionate support for students and groundbreaking expansions, paving the way for generations to come.