Alumni make service a full-time job after graduation

The phone rings. Your Loyola senior starts talking about plans that include no job search, no grad school applications, and an annual income that’s less than the flat-screen TV you installed in the dorm room in August. Should you panic?

Not necessarily. If those plans involve a full-time service commitment for a year or two, you can swallow hard, start asking questions, and know you’re not alone. Many Loyola parents discover their seniors feel drawn to programs that require far more energy and passion than a typical job, take them to a part of the country—or the world—they have never experienced, and demand a greater sacrifice on their part than learning to write a rent check. And the service offers a natural extension of their Jesuit education that prepares them for the future.

Recent Loyola graduates who are engaged in full-time service experiences make it clear that this is not a year or two off before joining the real world.

After an hour listening to crowing roosters, Margaret Orazio, ’08, starts her day at 5:20, boiling water for a bucket bath. With no electricity or running water in her thatched hut in Botha-Bothe, Africa, she cooks breakfast—either eggs or cornflakes with powdered milk.

“My furthest school that is still in ‘walking’ distance is a three-hour walk. Sometimes I will get a lift from a car or truck that is going by, but where I walk there are often no cars…only donkeys and horses!” she writes from Africa.

Orazio had wanted to join the Peace Corps since a middle school teacher—a former volunteer—told her that he could take a bath with just a bottle of water. “I was hooked,” she said. “The Peace Corps gives me the chance to travel, meet new people, learn about culture and work in education. It is my dream job.”

Orazio serves as site-tutor for Lesotho College of Education, a teacher training school. She observes teachers, holds workshops, and acts as a traveling teacher, lecturing in religion and music. She serves 80 students who teach at 53 schools.

Every year, as Commencement approaches, many Loyola seniors make a similar decision to Orazio’s, choosing to spend a year or two working in a full-time service position. With the emphasis Loyola places on service during college, students’ interest in the programs isn’t surprising—and Loyola’s Center for Community Service and Justice helps students identify available opportunities. In addition to the Jesuit Volunteer Corps (JVC), students accept positions with organizations including Teach for America, the Peace Corps, the Colorado Vincentian Volunteers, and an array of others throughout the country—and the world.

As a Loyola student, Maura Toomb, ’08, was a magnet for service opportunities. She participated in Spring Break Outreach and Encounter El Salvador, volunteered at Best Buddies, St. Ambrose’s afterschool program, and the Beans and Bread homeless resource center, and served on Loyola’s Community Service Council.

After graduation Toomb decided to put her law school plans temporarily on hold and committed to a year of full-time service through the JVC.

“The values of JVC—simplicity, community, spirituality, social justice—really spoke to me,” said Toomb, a client advocate with Bethel Public Defender Agency in Bethel, Alaska, where she assists parents who have had children taken into state custody.

Although some students are still discerning their post-graduate path, some of the seniors choosing these opportunities have a career in mind, but want to engage in full-time service first.

Dylan O’Shea, ’08, had already signed a contract with JPMorganChase’s investment bank division before starting his senior year. He learned more about Teach for America (TFA) through volunteering at Loyola. A recruiting representative told O’Shea that JPMorganChase had a corporate partnership with TFA and that he might be eligible for a two-year deferment.

“I was instantly intrigued by the organization,” said O’Shea, who is teaching ninth grade U.S. history at Northwestern High School in Baltimore. “To them I wasn’t just another applicant but a potential teacher who could help impact our students’ achievement.”

Through her work for the JVC Southwest in San Francisco, Lorraine Cuddeback, ’08, realized she wanted to pursue a Master of Divinity degree.

“It's something I would not have thought of pursuing until I started working with so many campus ministers and graduate students here at the Ignatian Solidarity Network,” said Cuddeback, who has accepted an offer from the University of Notre Dame. “Pursuing a Master’s of Divinity will allow me to engage in the scholarship I find interesting, while still gaining practical, pastoral skills.”

Choosing a full-time service experience after graduation is not the equivalent of taking a year or two off after college. Many of the organizations offer graduates work experience before they invest in graduate school or launch their careers. Some programs also defer loans and offer health insurance.

As a finance major, Devin Bulger, ’08, felt he had learned to focus on the best ways to invest money to make more money. But he also had what he calls “a desire to find out what is truly important to me in life.” He chose a faith-based program, the Colorado Vincentian Volunteers, where he works as a case manager for a crisis center, Denver Urban Ministries.

“I don’t think that money is bad thing, and I definitely want to be secure in my life, but I also knew that money wasn’t the only thing that was going to bring me fulfillment. I wanted to volunteer to reinforce the values that I hold and make sure that I wasn’t going to be sacrificing those values in my professional career for money.”

Because simple living is part of the Colorado Vincentian Volunteers experience, Bulger is living on a limited income. “I have $75 a month to go wild with!” he said. “Basically it means being very creative in how I entertain myself.”

Prayer has become a key part of each day for Dayna Pizzigoni, ’08, in her work for Maggie’s Place, a home of hospitality for homeless, expectant women in Arizona.

“We rely heavily on God's guidance and strength for our community,” said Pizzigoni, who serves as a case worker, community coordinator and director of volunteers for the Tempe, Ariz., location. “Every day, we are called to open our door to all who want to support us and to open our hearts to the moms and the babies for whatever support they need—a small favor of holding a baby while the mom is in the shower or a spontaneous trip to the ER or conversation about a crisis.”

Nkechi Asoluka, ’08, felt compelled to find a full-time service option where she could make a difference when she saw statistics of how few minority students were entering colleges and universities after high school graduation.

“I help seniors overcome the many barriers they may face that prevent them from attending two-year and four-year colleges and universities, whether it be financial, social, or economical,” said Asoluka, who chose the Loyola College Advising Corps, where she serves as a college advisor in Baltimore City schools. “Coming from an urban community myself, I knew the impact positive messages can make.”