Cabrini Spirit award honors public safety officerDo

By Jen Wozniak
December 4, 2008

The Cabrini Spirit Award, awarded annually on Cabrini Day, honors someone who exceptionally demonstrates Cabrini’s core values of respect, vision, community and dedication to excellence.

Last year the Cabrini Spirit Award was given to Joe Baker, Cabrini’s mailroom clerk.

This year, for the first time ever, a public safety officer won the Cabrini Spirit Award.

Michelle McCabe was presented with the award at a ceremony held on Cabrini Day, Nov. 13. “I didn’t expect to win,” McCabe said. “I went to support the nominees and represent the department.”

McCabe was surprised when her name was announced as this year’s winner. “I was shocked, thrilled and deeply honored,” McCabe said of receiving the award. “I’m still so excited about it.”

Whoever meets McCabe can tell that she is a genuinely nice person who is enthusiastic about her love for Cabrini and her job. It was three years this past June that McCabe has been working at Cabrini as the midnight shift supervisor.

She works from either 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. or 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. and visits all of the residence buildings on campus, allowing her to meet many students.

“She is always really nice and especially helpful when we have a situation to deal with,” Shannon Santangelo, senior math and accounting major and resident assistant, said.

“I really try to respect the students. I really care about them and their safety while they’re here getting their education,” McCabe said.

McCabe also said that she has a deep respect for co-workers and visitors as well. She enjoys when visitors and families come in the summer and she gets to meet them and tell them about Cabrini.

McCabe feels right at home at Cabrini and connected to the students and campus, demonstrating that sense of Cabrini community. On Cabrini Day, President Marie A. George emphasized in her speech that McCabe’s popularity and respect from students and faculty is evident.

Public safety officer Tom McPhee said that he thinks McCabe won the Spirit Award because “she went above and beyond the realm of the job.”

“She goes through lots of training, classes and seminars. She is very dedicated and works over time if needed,” McPhee said.

McCabe said that she is very happy to be a part of the public safety department at Cabrini.

“I really do love working here and working in the public safety department. Everyone from the director to captain to sergeants are supportive and have a high concern for the students while they’re here. We share the same vision and passion for safety, which makes the job easier.”

McPhee agrees. “We all get along and have a good shift, and she plays an important part in that. She’s great to work with.”

Since McCabe has been at Cabrini for three years, she feels exceptionally close to the graduating class this year.

They were freshmen when she started her job here, and the friendships she established with some of them throughout their time here will make this graduation ceremony more emotional than the others she attended.

“This graduating class is really important to me,” McCabe said.

She said that she already misses some of the seniors living off campus that she no longer gets to see all the time.

McCabe lives in Broomall, Pa. with her husband Ed, daughter Elizabeth and son James. In her spare time she likes to read, walk, pray and vacation with her family in Longport and Atlantic City, N.J.

McCabe said that she would like to do more volunteer work in the future, and that she is motivated by George and her theme of “Service Beyond One’s Self.”

McCabe’s enthusiasm and dedication for Cabrini have been evident, and she strives every day to do her best to make sure things run smoothly on campus and that the students are safe.

She is greatly honored to receive the Cabrini Spirit Award, and looks forward to the years ahead under the leadership of George.

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Jen Wozniak

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