{"id":9416,"date":"2021-05-20T10:44:53","date_gmt":"2021-05-20T14:44:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/?p=9416"},"modified":"2021-05-20T10:48:29","modified_gmt":"2021-05-20T14:48:29","slug":"jesuit-educated-graduates-provide-shelter-and-support-in-local-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/2021\/05\/20\/jesuit-educated-graduates-provide-shelter-and-support-in-local-community\/","title":{"rendered":"Jesuit-Educated Graduates Provide Shelter and Support in Local Community"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>This article was originally published in the May 2021 edition of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ajcunet.edu\/may-2021-connections\/2021\/5\/12\/saint-peters-thematic\">Connections<\/a>, a publication of the Association of Jesuit Colleges &amp; Universities (AJCU).\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p>A Jesuit education is one that infuses principles set forth by St. Ignatius of Loyola into every aspect of educational life\u2014from academics, to student activities and beyond. Whether Â鶹ÊÓƵ\u2019s University students realize it or not, all of their experiences with the University are rooted in the characteristics of Jesuit education: <em>cura personalis<\/em> (care for the whole person); formation of people for and with others; and <em>Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam<\/em> (AMDG: the motto of the Society of Jesus that means \u201cfor the greater glory of God\u201d).<\/p>\n<p>One particular example is how the Jersey City community, in which Â鶹ÊÓƵ\u2019s is located, is benefitting from the University\u2019s Jesuit-educated students and alumni, who are doing their part to prevent homelessness in their community.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_9418\" style=\"width: 510px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/blogs.dir\/230\/files\/2021\/05\/Image-1.jpeg\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-9418\" class=\"wp-image-9418\" src=\"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/blogs.dir\/230\/files\/2021\/05\/Image-1.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"536\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-9418\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>Samantha Martinez-Mendoza was presented with The Magis Award for her interest in social justice and gender studies at the Â鶹ÊÓƵ&#8217;s University Michaelmas Convocation in 2019. Pictured from left is David Surrey, Ph.D., professor of sociology, urban studies and anthropology; Devin Heyward, Ph.D., director of gender and sexuality studies; Samantha Martinez-Mendoza &#8217;20; and Joseph McLaughlin, Ed.D. \u201977, professor and chair of sociology and urban studies.<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n<p data-wp-editing=\"1\"><em><strong>Cura Personalis<\/strong><\/em><br \/>\nSamantha Martinez-Mendoza \u201920 started at Â鶹ÊÓƵ\u2019s as a nursing major, but felt a little lost when the program wasn\u2019t what she expected it to be. Martinez-Mendoza knew she wanted to help people, but wasn\u2019t sure how to do that if she wasn\u2019t a nurse.<\/p>\n<p>She was unsure of what her academic future held, until she met a Â鶹ÊÓƵ\u2019s faculty member whom she refers to as \u201cher angel:\u201d David Surrey, Ph.D., a professor of sociology, urban studies and anthropology. Dr. Surrey helped Martinez-Mendoza to realize her passion for helping others, and which academic programs could help her to achieve that goal. Last year, she graduated with a bachelor\u2019s degree in sociology with minors in gender and sexuality studies, and anthropology.<\/p>\n<p>Martinez-Mendoza truly experienced <em>cura personalis<\/em> during her time at Â鶹ÊÓƵ\u2019s. She wasn\u2019t just another student who slipped through the cracks, but was given the support and encouragement she needed to succeed. This experience helped her to excel and make a difference in her career today. She currently serves as a housing case manager for the United Way of Hudson County (UWHC), a community-based, non-profit organization that has improved the lives of the most vulnerable residents in Hudson County, New Jersey. UWHC serves the basic needs of economically-insufficient individuals by providing them with food, clothing and shelter. Martinez-Mendoza makes sure to give all of her clients the care and personal attention they need, similar to what she experienced as a student at Â鶹ÊÓƵ\u2019s.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>People For and With Others<\/strong><\/em><br \/>\nCassandra Iverson \u201914 embraced service from the very start of her time at Â鶹ÊÓƵ\u2019s. She participated in every campus ministry community service project she could find, such as Midnight Runs, in which volunteers engaged in late-night relief efforts to provide local homeless with food and clothing. She volunteered as a \u201cJunkyard Dog\u201d and spent days cleaning the streets of Jersey City. She also spent her time working in The Campus Kitchen at Â鶹ÊÓƵ\u2019s, a program that takes unused food and repackages it into healthy meals to feed those struggling with hunger.<\/p>\n<p>Iverson even took a two-week service trip to Quito, Ecuador with the Â鶹ÊÓƵ\u2019s Global Outreach Team to work for the Working Boys Center (WBC), a Jesuit ministry that supports working boys and girls and their families. When she was interviewed about her trip in 2013, she explained, \u201cOne of my paths may lead me \u2013 quite happily \u2013 back to the WBC as a year-long volunteer or, perhaps, to another organization for others.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Eight years later, this quote proved to be true because Iverson continues to make a tremendous impact on others, now in the Jersey City community. She currently serves as the secretary of Rebuilding Together Jersey City, a non-profit home rehabilitation organization.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBeing a part of Rebuilding Together Jersey City is one way that I can do my part in helping my fellow men and women in the community to really live in safety, comfort and independence,\u201d said Iverson. \u201cWe have a focus on veterans, the elderly, and families. It is really important to me that these members of our community are taken care of when they need it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam<\/strong><\/em><br \/>\nKaryn Barrera \u201921 will be graduating this May with a degree in sociology and anthropology. She laments that she was not able to participate in every student activity and service project that she would have liked to throughout her college career, due to other pressing priorities.<\/p>\n<p>While Barrera was focused on being a student, she was also tasked with working to help support her family, especially her younger sister. Now that she is coming to the end of her career at Â鶹ÊÓƵ\u2019s, she has found herself in an unexpected role in which she continues to put others first. Barrera currently serves as an intern and caseworker for the UWHC. She has been specifically hired to help house individuals who have become homeless as a result of the pandemic.<\/p>\n<p>While this wasn\u2019t the exact path Barrera had in mind with her major, she is very proud and humbled in her new role. She explained, \u201cEach day you get ready for work or school and worry about not having the right shoes or the right bag, but working in this role truly opens your eyes to see that some people don\u2019t even have access to the most basic resources. I am here to help these individuals who were lost get back into society.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Â鶹ÊÓƵ\u2019s takes great pride in what these Jesuit-educated students accomplished during their college careers and the impact they continue to make in the community in which the University serves.<\/p>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This article was originally published in the May 2021 edition of Connections, a publication of the Association of Jesuit Colleges &amp; Universities (AJCU).\u00a0 A Jesuit education is one that infuses principles set forth by St. Ignatius of Loyola into every aspect of educational life\u2014from academics, to student activities and beyond. Whether Â鶹ÊÓƵ\u2019s University students [&hellip;]<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":9418,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3,5,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9416","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-current-students","category-faculty-staff","category-future-students"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Jesuit-Educated Graduates Provide Shelter and Support in Local Community - News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/2021\/05\/20\/jesuit-educated-graduates-provide-shelter-and-support-in-local-community\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"aboyer1\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/2021\/05\/20\/jesuit-educated-graduates-provide-shelter-and-support-in-local-community\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/2021\/05\/20\/jesuit-educated-graduates-provide-shelter-and-support-in-local-community\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"aboyer1\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/0e6cac7c1e5bde0788515bdfe0adea4b\"},\"headline\":\"Jesuit-Educated Graduates Provide Shelter and Support in Local Community\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-05-20T14:44:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-05-20T14:48:29+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/2021\/05\/20\/jesuit-educated-graduates-provide-shelter-and-support-in-local-community\/\"},\"wordCount\":1013,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/2021\/05\/20\/jesuit-educated-graduates-provide-shelter-and-support-in-local-community\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/230\/files\/2021\/05\/Image-1-e1621521879148.jpeg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Alumni\",\"Current Students\",\"Faculty Staff\",\"Future Students\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/2021\/05\/20\/jesuit-educated-graduates-provide-shelter-and-support-in-local-community\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/2021\/05\/20\/jesuit-educated-graduates-provide-shelter-and-support-in-local-community\/\",\"name\":\"Jesuit-Educated Graduates Provide Shelter and Support in Local Community - News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/2021\/05\/20\/jesuit-educated-graduates-provide-shelter-and-support-in-local-community\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/2021\/05\/20\/jesuit-educated-graduates-provide-shelter-and-support-in-local-community\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/230\/files\/2021\/05\/Image-1-e1621521879148.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-05-20T14:44:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-05-20T14:48:29+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/0e6cac7c1e5bde0788515bdfe0adea4b\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/2021\/05\/20\/jesuit-educated-graduates-provide-shelter-and-support-in-local-community\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/2021\/05\/20\/jesuit-educated-graduates-provide-shelter-and-support-in-local-community\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/2021\/05\/20\/jesuit-educated-graduates-provide-shelter-and-support-in-local-community\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/230\/files\/2021\/05\/Image-1-e1621521879148.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/230\/files\/2021\/05\/Image-1-e1621521879148.jpeg\",\"width\":822,\"height\":518},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/2021\/05\/20\/jesuit-educated-graduates-provide-shelter-and-support-in-local-community\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Jesuit-Educated Graduates Provide Shelter and Support in Local Community\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/\",\"name\":\"News\",\"description\":\"Go forth and change the world.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/0e6cac7c1e5bde0788515bdfe0adea4b\",\"name\":\"aboyer1\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/83c38344265f37f211e472c0fecfda8ec3655d6d98a6d1e32f6291e1293ab759?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/83c38344265f37f211e472c0fecfda8ec3655d6d98a6d1e32f6291e1293ab759?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"aboyer1\"},\"description\":\"Employee\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/author\/aboyer1\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Jesuit-Educated Graduates Provide Shelter and Support in Local Community - News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/2021\/05\/20\/jesuit-educated-graduates-provide-shelter-and-support-in-local-community\/","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"aboyer1","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/2021\/05\/20\/jesuit-educated-graduates-provide-shelter-and-support-in-local-community\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/2021\/05\/20\/jesuit-educated-graduates-provide-shelter-and-support-in-local-community\/"},"author":{"name":"aboyer1","@id":"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/0e6cac7c1e5bde0788515bdfe0adea4b"},"headline":"Jesuit-Educated Graduates Provide Shelter and Support in Local Community","datePublished":"2021-05-20T14:44:53+00:00","dateModified":"2021-05-20T14:48:29+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/2021\/05\/20\/jesuit-educated-graduates-provide-shelter-and-support-in-local-community\/"},"wordCount":1013,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/2021\/05\/20\/jesuit-educated-graduates-provide-shelter-and-support-in-local-community\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/230\/files\/2021\/05\/Image-1-e1621521879148.jpeg","articleSection":["Alumni","Current Students","Faculty Staff","Future Students"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/2021\/05\/20\/jesuit-educated-graduates-provide-shelter-and-support-in-local-community\/","url":"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/2021\/05\/20\/jesuit-educated-graduates-provide-shelter-and-support-in-local-community\/","name":"Jesuit-Educated Graduates Provide Shelter and Support in Local Community - News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/2021\/05\/20\/jesuit-educated-graduates-provide-shelter-and-support-in-local-community\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/2021\/05\/20\/jesuit-educated-graduates-provide-shelter-and-support-in-local-community\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/230\/files\/2021\/05\/Image-1-e1621521879148.jpeg","datePublished":"2021-05-20T14:44:53+00:00","dateModified":"2021-05-20T14:48:29+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/0e6cac7c1e5bde0788515bdfe0adea4b"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/2021\/05\/20\/jesuit-educated-graduates-provide-shelter-and-support-in-local-community\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/2021\/05\/20\/jesuit-educated-graduates-provide-shelter-and-support-in-local-community\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/2021\/05\/20\/jesuit-educated-graduates-provide-shelter-and-support-in-local-community\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/230\/files\/2021\/05\/Image-1-e1621521879148.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/230\/files\/2021\/05\/Image-1-e1621521879148.jpeg","width":822,"height":518},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/2021\/05\/20\/jesuit-educated-graduates-provide-shelter-and-support-in-local-community\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Jesuit-Educated Graduates Provide Shelter and Support in Local Community"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/","name":"News","description":"Go forth and change the world.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/0e6cac7c1e5bde0788515bdfe0adea4b","name":"aboyer1","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/83c38344265f37f211e472c0fecfda8ec3655d6d98a6d1e32f6291e1293ab759?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/83c38344265f37f211e472c0fecfda8ec3655d6d98a6d1e32f6291e1293ab759?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"aboyer1"},"description":"Employee","url":"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/author\/aboyer1\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9416","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9416"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9416\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9425,"href":"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9416\/revisions\/9425"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saintpeters.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}