Video by Maddy Worley, Jess Tennett and Pat Smith
As the school year comes to an end, the Cabrini family prepares to set the 2017 graduating class off into the world. The young men and women of tomorrow are going to be set free into a world they can seize for their own, each and every one of them leaving their unique mark.
On May 21, 2017, the young men and women that were once Cabrini students will turn into Cabrini alumni.
With the graduation of the seniors, the world will gain some of the greatest people a university has to offer and Cabrini will lose the teens that have grown into adults on its campus.
“On the early morning of May 21 at commencement, I will be enjoying every moment, every second of this huge accomplishment of my life,” senior educational studies major Jena Marinelli said.
Jena Marinelli is a senior who has made the most of her time at Cabrini. She is a member of the Delta Alpha Pi International Honor Society, an orientation leader, a member of CAP Board and LeadStrong.
Having Commencement right around the corner, the seniors are left to wake in their years and memories at Cabrini.
“I’m going to miss all the small moments like enjoying the long talks with my friends and roommate in the resident halls and in the classrooms, escaping from my reality and going to the library to do some homework, planning events with DAPI (Delta Alpha Pi International Honor Society) or CAP Board,” Marinelli said. “I’m going to miss the warm, sunny days to the cold dark nights where I just got walk around this beautiful campus.”
Senior Amber Dietrich said, “I have been ready to be finished with school, as it has been so crazy and hectic but as the days go on, I am starting to have a true feeling of sadness with the idea that ‘the best four years of my life’ are over – it’s a bittersweet feeling being able to start a new chapter of my life but sad to be able to close such a great one.”
Dietrich is a student ambassador and a four-yer softball player.
Not all of the graduating seniors will be leaving Cabrini in their rear-view mirrors. Senior Ben Roda will be returning as a student in the Cabrini’s master program.
“I’m excited but also nervous to start the Master of Accounting Program at Cabrini,” Roda said. “But, being in the program will let me be on the soccer team for another season. so, that;s something I can look forward to.”
Dietrich also plans to continue her education, after graduation.
“After commencement, I’m going to graduate school at the University of Pennsylvania to study Nonprofit Leadership with a certificate in Higher Education with the possibility of having a full-time job. I’m still in the final interview process,” Dietrich said.
Marinelli has a summer job lined up for her entrance into the “real world.”
“I happy to announce that although it only a summer job, it’s still a job and opportunity for me to get my foot in the working world,” Marinelli said. “I’ll be working at Marple Newtown School District in the ESY Program as working as an Autistic Support/Life Skills, and hopefully, this will lead into a full time in the fall!”
No matter what the seniors have planned post-graduation, they are driven with bright futures.
“I would love to see my internship wit Grant Thorton turn into a full-time job,” Roda said.
Cabrini has been their home for the past four years and the current seniors are sad to say goodbye.
“I’m going to miss the sense of community and togetherness that I get on a day to day basis – having the support and resources that I’ve been given on a day to day basis. Whether it was through my major, the athletics department, the living and learning communities, admissions or any other office on campus – I’ve been given the sense of that I am never alone and that I’ll always have someone rooting for me in my corner,” Dietrich said.
“I think I’m ready to graduate but not give up the college experience just yet,” Roda said. “I just can’t believe four years went by so quickly.”
No matter where the seniors go Cabrini will always be a place they can call home.
“I feel that every memory (yes, every memory big and small and even the memories that put a huge smile on my face to the moments where I just wanted to yell at the top of my lungs.) Each memory that I’ve spent on the campus will always have a special place in my heart,” Marinelli said.
