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Cheryl Rozinski
  • Business Administration
  • Class of 2016
  • Lansdale, PA

Cheryl Rozinski To Work for Justice

2016 May 12

Ask graduating senior Cheryl Rozinski what her ultimate career goal or dream job is, and you will get a loaded, but simple, answer - "I want to be a changemaker," she says.

The business administration major from Lansdale, Pennsylvania, is graduating from Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia with four minors: economics, theology, faith-justice studies, and justice and ethics in the law, and she is headed to New York City after graduation for a public policy advocacy fellowship with Good Shepherd Services, a youth-and-family-focused mission.

"I don't only want to serve - I want to fight for social justice," says Rozinski.

At ten years old, Rozinski began joining her parents on service outings organized through their church and was immediately hooked. "The first time I saw someone struggling with a challenge that was outside of my experience, I wanted to learn more," she says. "I wanted to make an impact," she says. Service activities and mission trips were a regular part of her middle and high school years.

The plethora of opportunities to engage service and social justice work at Saint Joseph's that first drew her to Hawk Hill. During her time at SJU, Rozinski was a weekly service intern for campus ministry and a member of the Rape Education Prevention Program. She was a student leader in the University's Winter Immersion Program to El Paso, Texas, and served as a Hawk Host and a resident assistant. This past semester, she also worked as an IT intern for Project HOME as part of a service-learning course taught by Ruban Mendoza, Ph.D., assistant professor of business intelligence & analytics.

"All students had to submit weekly journal entries as part of the course," says Mendoza. "Cheryl's were among the most honest, filled with enthusiasm and discernment."

"She has maturity beyond her years. It showed in how she communicated with peers and faculty, how she prepared for class and participated in it, how she approached her exam preparations, etc."

Academically, Rozinski has thrived at SJU. She is a member of Saint Joseph's chapter of the business honors society Beta Gamma Sigma, the national honor society for religious studies, Theta Alpha Kappa and is on the executive board of the University's chapter of Alpha Sigma Nu, the national Jesuit Honor Society.

"I loved that the Saint Joseph's liberal arts model and the flexibility of the business administration major allowed me to essentially create my own degree," says Rozinski, adding that the combination of business and social justice training she received helped create the resume she needed to enter nonprofit advocacy.

Before she heads off on her next mission and begins her career as a "changemaker," Rozinski's final act on Hawk Hill will be to deliver the 2016 undergraduate commencement address - wishing her dad were seated in the audience. Rozinski's lost her father to a hard fought battle with a rare form of bladder cancer when she was a junior in high school, an experience she has spoken about at a campus event and in The Hawk student newspaper.

"When my mom and I toured Saint Joseph's campus, not long after my father had passed, we got to the Barbelin bell tower and the Hawk Host explained that if you whisper into one side of the wall, you can hear it in the other," shares Rozisnki. "My mother turned to me and said, 'your dad would have tried that' and I immediately felt like this is where I belonged.'"

From that first day on Hawk Hill, to her last this May, Rozinski says her father has undoubtedly been with her in spirit.

"I remember he told me, 'Someday you're going to make me so proud,' and I hold that with me," she says.