staff photographer
by Mike Bevelaqua
staff writer
Jenna Mancini has been extremely busy since attending Cabrini College. She has been accepted into the Kappa Delta Pi education honors society and has secured a Cabrini College Achievement Scholarship. Her true passion, however, resides in teaching special education.
Mancini’s sixteen-year-old sister is severely handicapped, which is a major part of the reason she calls special education her passion. She believes her sister is what inspired her to go into a career helping handicapped children.
For the past two winters Mancini assisted a student with cerebral palsy during lunch twice a week. Though extremely busy, she found time to tutor an eighth grade student with attention deficit disorder over the past year. She also volunteers at the Bryn Mawr hospital delivering food trays and flowers to patients. These hours of devout volunteering have not gone unnoticed.
In 1999, Mancini was awarded the Scholarship for Academic Competence and Sincere Concern for Others. Also in 1999 she was bestowed a Service and Leadership Award. Both the National Service Foundation and Philadelphia Office for Mental Retardation has recognized Mancini for her 500 hours of community service. Among these honors she has also been named one of the top 20 teen activists in the Philadelphia Archdiocese and received the Champion of Caring Award from the Memorial Commission for Six Million Jewish Martyrs.
On campus Mancini is in the student government association, Cabrini Choir,the vice-president for the Council of Exceptional Children and a retreat leader for Campus Ministry. She also donates her time as a peer educator and is a member of the Pennsylvania State Education Association. In the spring of 1999 Mancini took the opportunity to go on an Applachia Community service trip to East Bank, West Virginia.
This West Philadelphia native has recently been accepted to Boston University’s graduate school in special education, which is extremely exciting because only 20 students are chosen. This next year will consist of teaching special education and graduate school part-time for this bright devoted young student.
