Aristotle once said, “the greatest virtues are those which are most useful to other persons.” Laura Gorgol, Cabrini College’s new campus minister, has used these virtues in many different ways. Gorgol attended a college where they believed in the virtues of spirit, intellect and purpose that still stay with her today. These virtues are the reason she chose St. Joseph’s University. During her college years, she became interested in service and became an active volunteer.
After graduating, she worked for a year along the Texas-Mexico border as a service worker. Following her experiences there, it was brought to her attention that Cabrini College was in search of a new Campus Minister. Since being hired a month ago, Gorgol has continued to pass on her virtues of spirit, intellect and purpose.
“I loved St. Joe’s, it was a great place to go to school,” Gorgol said. While at St. Joseph’s, she was a biology major aspiring to become a doctor. She thought that medicine was a meaningful way of doing service. St. Joseph’s University, just like Cabrini College, is a religious affiliated college that demands many virtues of its students. Of these virtues is high accomplishment, intensifying intelligence, an expansion of understanding and good interpretation of communication. These virtues are instilled in the students to form both a good moral and spiritual character as well as to teach the students lasting pride.
After Gorgol graduated from St. Joe’s as the valedictorian of her class, she continued her service by joining an organization called, “Los Ninos,” on the United States-Mexican border.
Los Ninos is a, “non- profit organization that works along the U.S.- Mexican border with a mission to improve quality of life by creating opportunities for children and their families to realize their human potential through participation in the development of their communities. Over six hundred high school and college-aged students participate in this program that believes that sustainable communities with healthy children are the foundation of a strong civil society.”
Gorgol was Assistant Director of the Development Education through Service-Learning Programs at Los Ninos. Gorgol hosted student groups from all over the United States, built schools and participated in educational and cultural activities to educate people about immigration and the realities of the United States-Mexican border.
Gorgol chose Cabrini because of the school’s strong belief in service as well as her faith. It is because of her love for working with college students that she chose a campus ministry position instead of a church position. Gorgol thinks that college is a good place to start and learn. She believes that, “college students have an unbelievable capacity to give.” She also believes that, “our education isn’t for ourselves, it’s for others.”
Gorgol believes she has had taken part in many activities that prepared her, and will continue to let her perform her duties as Campus Minister. “In college, I did many things, like becoming a Residence Advisor, running retreats and being an orientation leader.”
Gorgol is a big advocate of student run programs and plans to set up many here at Cabrini. She wants to have a first and senior year retreat, a search retreat as well as helping out with 7 p.m. Mass. Gorgol is helping with Up till Dawn, Hunger and Homelessness, School of America’s Watch programs in addition to helping setup a, “Race, Class, Faith, and Justice” film series. She is also working on Outreach Saturdays and is planning programs with the RA’s. Gorgol hopes that this will better the school’s environment by contributing and promoting the core values in every activity that is held.
Gorgol also wishes to promote the Catholic identity of Cabrini to all students. She thinks students should have time for spiritual growth coupled with activities to help others.
Gorgol wants members of the campus to be involved in the activities she’s planning. Students will receive information about these programs through flyers, emails, voice-mails, mailbox notices, or by visiting the Wolfington Center, located next to Jazzman’s Caf
