Marshall Memorial Fund - Archive

2022-2023 Marshall Fund Recipients

  • Emma Coonan '26, Laura Hofmann '26, Corinne Cheong '26, Eliza Simpson '26, and Viola Kim '26 were awarded funds to put on an Easter egg hunt for youth connected to Pernet Family Health Center. The students, as a part of their CBL Montserrat course, "Worcester Stories" (taught by Prof. Sarah Luria) are working with Pernet throughout the semester to do a mapping project of the Green Island Neighborhood. The mapping project will help to tell the story of the neighborhood and its people. The Easter egg hunt is one way for the students to connect with the residents. Students will also be participating in clean-up projects at Pernet, as well as present their mapping project at the Academic Conference and at Pernet at the end of the year. Their professor, Sarah Luria was also awarded funds to provide lunch at the event.

  • Jamil Davis '23 was awarded funds to purchase supplies to support his student teaching this year at South High Community School. Supplies include materials for a hygiene curriculum Jamil is creating and teaching in the spring, which will then be available for other teachers to implement in future classrooms. Jamil became connected to South High through the Teacher Education Program.
  • Cayla Friedman '26 and Grace Doherty '26 were awarded funds for a field trip for Clark Street Elementary School students to come to Holy Cross for the day. The students will receive a tour from Admissions and eat in Kimball. Cayla and Grace became connected to Clark Street through their CBL Montserrat courses ("Inclusion and Pop Culture" taught by Prof. Hayley Stefan and "Flourishing" taught by Prof. Neal Lipsitz).  
  • Yadary Gutierrez '23 was awarded funds for an end-of-semester bowling outing for students in Ascentria Care Alliance's Unaccompanied Refugee Minors program and Holy Cross CBL students who volunteer with the program. The end-of-semester activity will be extra-special this year, as it will be the first time since 2020 Holy Cross students and Ascentria students will meet in person! Yadary became connected to Ascentria through her role as a CBL Intern (Yadary currently serves as one of the Ascentria Care Alliance volunteer coordinators). 
  • Valentina Maza '23 was awarded funds to purchase winter clothing items to supplement El Buen Samaritano's (EBS) winter clothing drive. Valentina became connected to EBS through her role as a CBL Intern, as Interns visited EBS during the Intern training retreat. Valentina also organized a winter clothing drive through the CBL Intern Program to collect items to go along with the items she plans to purchase with Marshall Funds.
  • Hannah Moore (Cantor Gallery Fellow) was awarded funds to support a collaboration between the Cantor Gallery, Prof. Amanda Luyster's (Visual Arts) Intro to Visual Arts CBL course, and Worcester Public Schools' AP Art History students. Prof. Luyster's students and the WPS students will work together to create a scavenger hunt activity to accompany the upcoming exhibit, "Bringing the Holy Land Home: The Crusades, Chertsey Abbey, and the Reconstruction of a Medieval Masterpiece." Prof. Luyster is co-curating the exhibit. The scavenger hunt will be debuted at the exhibit's family day in February. 
  • Lindsay Riordan '25 was awarded funds to purchase supplies for an end-of-semester celebration of the TimeSlips program at St. Mary Health Care Center. TimeSlips is a creative storytelling program meant to engage people who experience memory loss. Lindsay has been leading a group of Prof. Beard's current Montserrat students and St. Mary Health Care residents in TimeSlips throughout the spring semester. Lindsay first became connected to TimeSlips and St. Mary through her own participation in TimeSlips when she was a first-year student in Prof. Beard's CBL Montserrat course. Lindsay became a certified storyteller to be able to lead the group this year. The end-of-semester celebration will feature story boards created by the storytellers and a social. 
  • Megan Yee '25 was awarded funds to facilitate a flower pot decorating event for residents at St. Mary Health Care Center. Megan became connected to St. Mary through her role as a CBL Intern. Volunteering at St. Mary on a weekly basis has helped Megan to learn about the residents' interests, including gardening. This event will also help other St. Mary volunteers get to know the residents better, as Megan plans to include additional volunteers in the decorating.

2021-2022 Grant Recipients

  • Julia Bonnist '22 was awarded funds to purchase a class book set of the play, "Twelfth Night" for her students at Claremont Academy. The set of books will be rotated amongst 80 students, and Julia and her supervising teacher will deliver lessons to engage the students in discussions about the play. Julia was also awarded funds for a community dinner for Claremont students and staff to accompany the screening of the documentary, Alaskan Nets. The documentary tells the story of a high school basketball team in Alaska's only Native Reserve and their quest to win their first state title in more than 30 years. The documentary screening and dinner will provide a much needed opportunity for Claremont students and staff to gather and build community. Julia is student teaching at Claremont through the Teacher Education Program. 
  • Jocelyn Buggy '22 was awarded funds to create hospitality tea baskets for Afghan families that the Welcoming Alliance for Refugee Ministry (WARM) is helping to resettle in Worcester. Jocelyn states in her application that hospitality is central to Afghan culture as it represents a foremost social and religious obligation. Gifting the families with these tea baskets can enable them to practice hospitality in their new community. Jocelyn and other SPUD Community Organizers will also create a social media campaign to stimulate important, timely conversations surrounding cultural responsiveness in promoting the wellbeing of refugees in Worcester. Jocelyn first became connected to WARM through SPUD.
  • Dora Calva '22 was awarded funds to purchase art supplies for Ascentria Care Alliance's Unaccompanied Refugee Minors Program. The supplies will be used to create art during tutoring sessions with Holy Cross students. The art pieces will be worked on throughout the semester and then presented at an end-of-semester art show where Ascentria students and Holy Cross students can finally gather in person (they have been virtual since March of 2020). Dora has been connected with Ascentria through CBL and the CBL Intern Program since her first year at Holy Cross.
  • The students in Prof. Hsu's (Classics) Spring '22 CLAS 199 CBL course, "Refugees in Ancient Myth and Today" were awarded funds to support newly arrived Afghan refugees. Specifically, the funds will assist with Ansaar of Worcester's efforts to provide culturally appropriate food for individuals and families, as well as their efforts to support the families who have welcomed new babies since they have arrived in Worcester. The students in Prof. Hsu's course are working on various projects all semester to support the Afghan refugee community in Worcester. 
  • Diana Chavez Cruz '24 was awarded funds to purchase coats for El Buen Samaritano's annual winter coat drive. El Buen Samaritano is a social services organization that provides food services, English classes, immigration assistance, and more to Worcester community members. Diana became connected to El Buen Samaritano through her Fall '21 CBL course, "Filmmaking in Spanish," where she served as a member of a film crew to make a film for the organization. The film helped to tell El Buen Samaritano's story and share about the impact El Buen Samaritano is making in Worcester. 
  • Julianne Esteves '22 was awarded funds to purchase bereavement books for families being supported by Notre Dame Health Care's Pedi Pals program, a program that supports children with life-limiting illnesses and their families. Julianne was also awarded funding to purchase frames that can be used for legacy projects Pedi Pals works on with families who have lost their child to illness. Julianne became connected to Pedi Pals through the CBL Intern Program.
  • Prof. Bridget Franco (Spanish) was awarded funds to host a luncheon for students and community partners involved in her Fall '21 CBL course, "Filmmaking in Spanish." Through the course, students break into film crews and work with a community partner to produce a film that the partner can then use however they see fit (for marketing, storytelling, and more). This semester, the class worked with four partners, The Assumption Center, El Buen Samaritano, MSDA (Medicaid|Medicare|CHIP Services Dental Association), and REACH (Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health). The students premiered their films for the community partners on December 13th and all shared in a celebration together to discuss the films and review the semester. You can find all of the 2021 short films, as well as productions from prior years on Bridget's filmmaking showcase. Congratulations to Bridget and her students for another successful "Filmmaking in Spanish" course!
  • Mariem Girgis '22 was awarded funds for art and bracelet making supplies for the WPS Transition Program. The art supplies will be used each week to create a Worcester skyline mural and the bracelets will be used to make friendship bracelets to symbolize the relationships being built between WPS Transition students and Holy Cross CBL volunteers. Mariem volunteers with the WPS Transition Program through her Spring '22 CBL course, "Health, Culture, and Social Justice in Latin/x America."
  • Paige LaMalva '24 was awarded funds for supplies to support LATN 102 students in their work to teach basic Latin to Worcester youth. Students from Latin 102 are volunteering with Worcester East Middle School, City View Elementary School, and the Marie Anne Center. The Latin students work in small groups to deliver Latin content to the Worcester youth through games and activities. 
  • Giovanna Messina '22 was awarded funds to purchase a class set of the graphic novel, "White Bird: A Wonder Story." Giovanna plans to teach the novel to her sixth grade students at  Worcester Arts Magnet School. Giovanna is student teaching at Worcester Arts Magnet through the Teacher Education Program.
  • Morgan Vacca '23 was awarded funds for supplies and art instruction by the Worcester Creative Hub for the WPS Transition Program. Morgan volunteers with the WPS Transition Program through her role as a CBL Intern where she coordinates other WPS Transition Program CBL volunteers. Each week, WPS Transition Program students come to campus and partner with HC CBL students to share time together and take part in educational and social activities. In the spring, they are going to work with Worcester Creative Hub for several weeks so that participants can take part in art-related activities. 

2020-2021 Grant Recipients

  • Catherine Bopp ‘23 was awarded funds to purchase art and school supplies for the Assumption Center Mentoring Program. The supplies will be used during Zoom mentoring sessions between HC students and Assumption Center kids to provide more meaningful engagement with the kids’ academics and extracurricular activities. Catherine first became involved with Assumption through CBL. 
  • Zoe Caponegro ‘21 was awarded funds to purchase a class set of books to aid her in her student teaching in Hudson, MA through the Teacher Education Program. Having a physical set of books will enable her students to have reliable and accessible learning materials, as well as give them a much-needed break from screens. The books will focus on culture and identity to help facilitate important conversations for her students. After this year, the books will be housed with TEP so that students in Worcester-based classrooms can use them in the future. 
  • Sly Dwyer ‘21 and Emma Grugan ‘21 were awarded funds to purchase basketballs for students at Nativity School of Worcester. Sly and Emma will also be collaborating with the HC men’s basketball team to provide the Nativity students with videos of the basketball teams running plays. The team will also Zoom with Nativity students to discuss the sport. Sly and Emma became involved with Nativity through SPUD.
  • Sue Hunt (Associate Director, Government and Community Relations) was awarded funds to purchase grocery gift cards for families from Chandler Elementary Community School. Typically, HC cooks and serves a Thanksgiving meal for Chandler Elementary; the gift cards will enable HC to maintain their partnership with Chandler Elementary this holiday season. 
  • Raphaella Mascia ‘21 was awarded funds to purchase a bench for Cookson Field, a 19-acre park near Holy Cross that serves as a retreat for both Worcester residents and HC students. Raphaella will also work with the Worcester Public Works and Parks Department to clean up Cookson Field. Raphaella is an environmental studies major and is writing a College Honors thesis on the ecological state of Cookson field. 
  • Meghan O’Keefe '21 was awarded funds to provide a donation to support Music Worcester’s fundraising for the Worcester Black Heritage Juneteenth Festival and for the creation of the Major Taylor Museum. Meghan became involved with Music Worcester through her music class, “Music, Performance, and Community.”
  • Prof. Megan Ross (music) was awarded funds to provide stipends to local hip hop artists who will participate in live-streamed interviews to showcase the life and art of local hip hop practitioners to Worcester community members. The interviews will be streamed on Megan Ross’ Montserrat class’ instagram page, as well as will be available in recorded format to the Worcester Public Schools. Prof Ross is also working collaboratively with HC alum, Che Anderson ‘11 from the City of Worcester and the National Hip Hop Congress to share the interviews more widely.
  • Morgan Vacca ‘23 was awarded funds to purchase art supplies for WPS Transition Program’s virtual art class, “Art: Self Expression.” The supplies will enable HC CBL volunteers and WPS Transition students to more fully engage in the class. Morgan first became involved with WPS Transition through her CBL Intern role
  • Delaney Walch ‘24 was awarded funds to help support two panel events focusing on health care for young adults with disabilities. The first panel event will feature panelists who have disabilities. The panelists will share some of their health care experiences with future health care providers (Holy Cross pre-health students and UMass Medical School students will be invited to attend the panel). The second panel will feature health care providers who have experience providing care to young adults with disabilities. The health care providers will answer questions that young adults with disabilities have about receiving health care and their rights as patients. Holy Cross and UMass Medical School will partner with the Worcester Public Schools Transition Program and with the EPIC (Empowering People for Inclusive Communities) Program for these panel events. Delaney first became involved with WPS Transition through CBL in her Montserrat course. 

2019-2020 Grant Recipients

  • Tolu Akinosho '20 and Gianna Kefalas '21 were awarded funds to purchase supplies, transportation, food, promotional materials, and t-shirts for the PyCoding Academy. PyCoding Academy is an afterschool program intended to expose Worcester high school students to computer programming. The academy aims to establish fundamentals of computer programming, taught in Python, for students who are potentially interested in pursuing a career in Computer Science or in a related field. PyCoding is coordinated and directed by five Holy Cross students, as well as a faculty advisor, Prof. Gareth Roberts (Mathematics and Computer Science). To help start PyCoding Academy, Tolu was awarded Ignite Funds in 2018. Read more about the Ignite Fund and how it helped Tolu start his academy.

  • Elena Arciprete ’20 was awarded funds for school supplies for students at Burncoat High School. These supplies will enable Elena and her supervising teacher, Lauren Suprenant ’16 to better implement their lesson plans and help their students reach their educational goals. Elena is currently student teaching at Burncoat High School through the Teacher Education Program.

  • Prof. Renée Beard (Sociology) was awarded funds to purchase supplies for the TimeSlips program that some of her students from her spring course, “Aging and Societies” will be participating in for the community-based learning component of the course. TimeSlips is a nationally-recognized intergenerational program that brings together people with memory impairment who are staying/living in residential care facilities with high school and college students in a shadow puppetry workshop series. Students from Prof. Beard’s class will be working with residents at St. Mary Health Care Center and St. Francis Rehabilitation and Nursing Center. They will meet with the residents twice per month and put on a performance with the residents and the end of the semester.

  • Hannah Benson ‘20 and Caitlin Grant ’21 were awarded funds to purchase gardening supplies for the Worcester Public Schools Transition Program. The supplies will enable WPS Transition students to work with Holy Cross students who work on the Holy Cross community garden and learn about what it takes to care for a garden. Hannah and Caitlin are the CBL student leaders of the CBL Spanish student group that works with the WPS Transition Program every Wednesday at Holy Cross.

  • Rachel Checo ’20 and Deyanira Gomera ’20 were awarded funds to purchase supplies and food to put on a college awareness panel for students in the African Community Education (ACE) program. Rachel and Deyanira are working with ACE this semester as a part of their CBL project-based course, “Seeking Justice.” Rachel also volunteered with ACE in the fall and was recently featured as the spotlighted volunteer in ACE’s weekly newsletter. About Rachel, ACE shared, “ACE has been lucky to have Rachel's presence at the After-School program since October 2019, she's very passionate and goes above and beyond as a volunteer!”

  • Prof. Ara Francis (Sociology) was awarded funds to provide two dementia trainings for students in her Montserrat course, as well as Prof. Renee Beard's (Sociology) Montserrat course. Students in both Montserrat courses will be serving as hospice volunteers in the spring semester with six hospice organizations: Jewish Health Care Center Hospice, New England Hospice, Notre Dame Health Care Center, Rose Monahan Hospice Home, Salmon VNA Hospice, and St. Mary Health Care Center. As a part of their orientation to become hospice volunteers, the students must complete an eight-hour orientation regarding working with patients with dementia. They will incorporate the learnings from this training into their weekly visits with hospice patients.

  • Sharon King ‘21, Emily Devine ‘21, and Victoria Roy ’20 were awarded funds to purchase supplies and food for the Women in Math Day hosted by the Association for Women in Mathematics for Burncoat Middle School students. The Women in Math Day is intended to increase female student interested in mathematics. Sharon, Emily, and Victoria are all executive board members of the College’s chapter of the Association for Women in Mathematics, and Sharon and Victoria are connected to Burncoat Middle School through the Teacher Education Program.

  • Prof. Tsitsi Masvawure (Health Studies, CIS) was awarded funds to purchase gift cards to give as thank you gifts to interviewees who are taking part in a research project by students from Prof. Masvawure’s Mixed Methods Health Research spring 2020 course. Prof. Masvawure’s students will be interviewing clients from Abby’s House, AIDS Project Worcester, and Marie’s Mission on various health-related topics. Results from the students’ research project will provide useful insights into what women think about the health services being offered to them and will help the relevant organizations improve and refine their programmatic responses.

  • Rachel McLellan ‘20 and Demi Tsitsopoulos ’20 were awarded funds to be used towards transportation for Worcester high school students taking part in the Sisters in Science program sponsored by the Holy Cross organization, XCHROM. Sisters in Science is a mentoring program that pairs members of XCHROM with high school girls from Worcester Technical High School and South High Community School who are interested in pursuing a career in the sciences. Rachel and Demi are the current co-chairs of XCHROM and have been a part of the organization since they were first-year students.

  • Prof. Megan Ross (Music) was awarded funds to provide honorariums to artists 7L and Esoteric for serving as panelists on the “Significance of Hip-Hop in Worcester” panel. The panel (and additional events) will be a culmination of the research and work students from her “Hip Hop and the Community” course will be doing in partnership with the Worcester Public Schools, local hip-hop practitioners, and local government officials throughout the spring semester. During the semester, Holy Cross students will develop a short curriculum on the topic of hip hop and graffiti to share with a group of North High students involved in hip-hop curriculum at their school. Together, the Holy Cross and North High students will design and create a graffiti art installation on North High’s campus. This graffiti art installation will be presented during a two-day art forum at the end of the semester. On the second day of the form will be the panel, “Significance of Hip-Hop in Worcester.” Prof. Ross and her students will also be presenting their work at the Academic Conference at Holy Cross in April. 

  • Christopher Shakespeare '20 was awarded funds to purchase supplies for Latin/mythology lessons at City View Discovery School. Christopher is a student in Prof. Machado’s LATN 102 CBL course where all of the students are working with City View or with the Marie Anne Center to teach Latin to young students. These lessons are intended to make Latin more accessible to a variety of communities and populations. Christopher first became involved with City View in the fall semester when he was enrolled in LATN 101.

  • Caroline Stebbins '20 was awarded funds to purchase several graphing calculators for Burncoat High School students. Caroline and her supervising teacher will create a graphing calculator lending library so that the students can check out the calculators on a rotating basis. Having a calculator lending library will enable Caroline and her supervising teacher to create more rigorous assignments for their math students, as they will now be able to do problems that require a graphing calculator. Caroline is currently student teaching at Burncoat High School through the Teacher Education Program.

2018-2019 Grant Recipients

  • Bioribel Castillo '19 was awarded funds to purchase Spanish dictionaries and supplies for her Burncoat High School Spanish classrooms.  The dictionaries and supplies will enable Bioribel's Spanish students to more readily learn the classroom material.  Bioribel is student teaching at Burncoat through the Teacher Education Program.

  • Maya Collins '19 and Caroline O'Connor '19 were awarded funds for two initiatives they are working on with the Worcester Public School Transition Program. First, funds will go toward purchasing shirts and art materials to create costumes for the WPS Transition Program's theatre program. Second, funds will go toward creating and printing the first-ever WPS Transition Program newsletter. Maya and Caroline volunteer weekly with the WPS Transition Program and support the program in various capacities.

  • Prof. Amy Finstein (Visual Arts) was awarded funds to print foam board posters for a CBL project her "Designing Green" course is working on with Worcester Tree Initiative (WTI) this semester (Spring 2019).  Prof. Finstein's students will be interviewing Worcester community members who have received trees from WTI and then creating posters highlighting each individual/group's relationship with their tree. These posters will be displayed at Tower Hill Botanic Hill to celebrate WTI's 10th anniversary. The posters are intended to highlight WTI's impact on the Worcester community, as well as to educate the Worcester community about the importance of trees. 

  • In the fall, Professor Ara Francis (Sociology) was awarded funds to enable the students in her CBL "Death and Society" Montserrat course to participate in an 8-hour dementia training workshop. In the spring, Prof. Francis was awarded funds to purchase items that her students can use during their weekly hospice visits to enable them to be present to and care for the patients with whom they visit. The dementia training workshop was a part of the training Prof. Francis' students underwent in the fall to become hospice volunteers. Now that the students are trained, this spring, Prof. Francis' students are visiting hospice patients weekly at a number of Worcester-based facilities that provide hospice care (Notre Dame Health Care Center, Rose Monahan Hospice, Salmon VNA and Hospice, and St. Mary Health Care Center). The items that will be purchased with the Marshall Funds will be added to the hospice visit backpacks Prof. Francis' Montserrat students created last year during her Montserrat course (which were also funded by the Marshall Fund). 

  • Caitlin Grant '21 was awarded funds to purchase supplies and activity materials to enhance the Worcester Public School Transition Program's partnership with Spanish CBL students. Each Wednesday, WPS Transition students come to campus to work with students from a variety of Spanish CBL courses. Holy Cross and WPS Transition students practice their Spanish speaking skills and participate in community and skill-building activities. Caitlin has become engaged with the WPS Transition Program through her community-based learning Spanish course, "Bilingualism/Spanish World."

  • Kate Golden '19 was awarded funds to create math stations in her Doherty Memorial High School Algebra, Geometry, and Pre-Calculus classrooms.  The stations will enable students to work on their math skills cooperatively and interactively, instead of learning math solely through lecture-based lessons.  Kate is student teaching at Doherty through the Teacher Education Program.

  • Maureen Hodgens '19 was awarded funds to purchase pencils, dry erase lapboards, and other materials that will be used by the students in her Sullivan Middle School "Ancient Civilizations" classroom.  These supplies will enable Maureen to quickly provide her students with supplies so that they can more easily engage in the classroom material instead of being distracted by searching for a much needed pencil or other classroom item.  Maureen is student teaching at Sullivan Middle School through the Teacher Education Program.

  • Alex Kanya '22 was awarded funds to purchase frisbees for the Worcester Public School Transition Program. Alex is working to create an athletic program for the students in the WPS Transition Program that will be focused on the sport of frisbee. Alex is working with the WPS Transition Program through his Monsterrat Course, "Identity, Diversity, and Community." 

  • Will McAvoy '20 and Megan Treanor '20 were awarded funds to purchase supplies to begin a garden at St. Mary Health Care Center that will be accessible to St. Mary residents who use wheelchairs.  Will first became involved with St. Mary through his Montserrat course, "Identity, Diversity, and Community."

  • Sarah McGuire '19, Sharon King '21, and Ally Kudenchak '19 were awarded funds to host a "Girls Can Code" event at Holy Cross in April of 2019.  This event will engage female students at Sullivan Middle School in practicing coding through a variety of activities.  This event will be put on by the Association of Women in Mathematics (AWM) at Holy Cross, for which Sarah, Sharon, and Ally serve on the Executive Board.  Ally is also student teaching math at Sullivan Middle School through the Teacher Education Program.

  • Kathryn Middlebrook '19 was awarded funds to purchase individual white boards, markers, colored pencils, and large post-it paper for 7th and 8th grade math students at Burncoat Middle School. These supplies will support Kathryn in her student teaching at Burncoat this spring as  Kathryn and her supervising practitioner will use these supplies to implement a variety of pedagogical activities to accommodate for the numerous learning styles and needs in the classroom. Kathryn is involved with Burncoat through the Teacher Education Program.

  • Jailene Muñoz '19 was awarded funds to purchase pencils and a pencil sharpener for the Burncoat High School classroom she will be student teaching in in the spring semester.  The pencils and sharpener will enable the students to participate in classroom activities and complete their assignments.  Jailene is involved with Burncoat through the Teacher Education Program.

  • Suzanne Noone '19 was awarded funds to purchase two sets of "The Kite Runner" for Doherty High School, where Suzanne is student teaching English through the Teacher Education Program.  In teaching "The Kite Runner" to her students at Doherty, Suzanne and her cooperating teacher hope to diversify the English curriculum for Doherty students.  Currently, texts involving the Middle East are largely underrepresented in the MA curriculum.  

  • Talia Spirito '21 (on behalf of ITAL 103 and the Italian Club) was awarded funds to purchase food and supplies for an Italian event this spring.  ITAL 103 and the Italian Club have invited the Circolo Italiano to campus to celebrate St. Joseph's Day, a widely celebrated holiday in Italy.  On the Feast of St. Joseph, The ITAL 103 class, the Italian Club, and members of the Circolo will enjoy Zeppole, a traditional Italian pastry, have a tour of campus (in Italian), and visit St. Joseph's Chapel.  The Circolo Italiano is an Italian language discussion group that meets in West Boylston every other Saturday.  Students from Prof. Chierchini's ITAL 103 course are visiting the Circolo this spring, and students from a variety of Italian courses have visited the Circolo in past semesters. 

  • Hannah Trueman '19, Maureen Hodgens '19, and Allyson Kudenchak '19 were awarded funds to be used toward an honorarium for author, Jarrett J. Krosoczka to visit Sullivan Middle School in March of 2019.  Mr. Krosoczka is the author of the non-fiction young adult graphic novel, "Hey, Kiddo," which tells the story of how one boy was able to make sense of the trauma he experienced as a child with art.  Students at Sullivan Middle School, where Hannah, Maureen, and Allyson will be student teaching in the spring, will read this novel prior to his visit to Sullivan. Mr. Krosoczka is from Worcester originally, which makes his visit extra special and relatable.  Hannah, Maureen, and Allyson are involved with Sullivan through the Teacher Education Program.

2017-2018 Grant Recipients

  • The Montserrat Class, "Death and Society" was awarded funds to purchase supplies to make hospice care kits. All students in Death and Society will be serving as hospice volunteers in the spring semester (at St. Mary Health Care Center Hospice, Notre Dame Health Care Center Hospice, Jewish Health Care Center Hospice, and Salmon VNA Health and Retirement Hospice). The hospice care kits will be utilized by the students when they attend their weekly visits. The kits will contain items that will help them provide the best companionship possible to the hospice patients.

  • Jaqueline Alvarez '20, Molly Caulfield '18, Jeffrey Ibarra '18, and Jessica Lucero '20 were awarded funds to purchase food and supplies for a luncheon and film screening with community partners for Bridget Franco’s Fall SPAN 312 course, “Filmmaking in Spanish.” The Assumption Center, Hector Reyes House, CENTRO, Inc., and the Ignatian Volunteer Corps are each working with teams from Prof. Franco’s course that are creating films to be used by the organizations for marketing and communications purposes.  Jaqueline, Molly, Jeffrey, and Jessica are each on one of the four filmmaking teams in Prof. Franco’s course.

  • Hannah Benson '20 was awarded funds to purchases supplies and services to enhance the Worcester Public Schools Transition Program partnership with Spanish CBL students at Holy Cross. Each Friday, Transition Program students come to campus to meet with Spanish CBL students to practice their Spanish skills and engage in creative activities and learning experiences. The funds Hannah was awarded will go toward the implementation of a self-care program for the students. Hannah and the other CBL students will invite presenters to speak to the group about various self-care activities including meditation, mindfulness, yoga, and other forms of reflection. Hannah first became engaged with the Transition Program through her Spanish 301 course and remains engaged with the program this semester through her course "Community Engagement and Social Responsibility."

  • Melissa Bradley '20 and Catherine Eagan '20 were awarded funds to pay for translation services associated with a project they are doing in their "Introduction to Visual Arts" course with Professor Amanda Luyster.  Students in this class are working with the Refugee Artisans of Worcester (RAW) to write marketing materials that will accompany crafts made and sold by refugees with the support of RAW.  Some of these crafts (and associated marketing materials) can be found in the Holy Cross bookstore.

  • Molly Caulfield ‘18 and Katie Trymbulak '18 were awarded funds to purchase art supplies for Holy Cross mentors and youth of Ascentria Care Alliance’s Unaccompanied Refugee Minor Program (URMP).  Molly and Katie began working with the URMP during their Montserrat class with Professor Virginia Ryan and have continued to do so as CBL Interns.

  • Erin Dennehy ’19 was awarded funds to print copies of the cookbooks she and her classmates created for food bank clients at Catholic Charities Worcester. Erin and her class (Cities & Environment, Prof. Daina Harvey) have been working on this CBL project all semester. The cook book is intended to provide helpful recipes and other information for the food pantry clients.

  • Erin Dennehy '19 was awarded funds to purchase can openers and food containers for the food pantry at Catholic Charities Worcester. Erin is currently taking Professor Daina Harvey's "Cities and the Environment" course and submitted the grant proposal on behalf of the class. Students in this class are working with the food pantry in order to expand their services to those experiencing hunger in the community. The materials that will be funded by the grant will assist Catholic Charities to increase access to a wider variety of foods and reduce waste associated with food donations that are unable to be utilized.

  • Celia Jarmoc '21 and Paulina Martin '21 were awarded funds to put on a career day for the Assumption Center's mentoring program. The career day will help to expose the children who participate in the mentoring program to various careers and give the children a chance to meet various pre-professionals and professionals in myriad career fields. Celia and Paulina currently serve as mentors in the program and became engaged with the program through their Montserrat CBL courses. 

  • Emma O'Leary '18 was awarded funds to purchase books for a 10th grade English classroom at Burncoat High School. Emma is currently student teaching at Burncoat.

  • Fatima Oseida '20 was awarded funds to purchase supplies for the Holy Cross Community Garden. Supplies will be used to enhance the garden and increase the amount of food grown there. Food will then be donated to St. John's Food Pantry. Fatima first became engaged with the garden as a first-year student and will be running the garden herself starting this summer. 

  • Moira Pieri '18 was awarded funds to puchase materials for a performance stage in a community park that that Worcester Common Ground is developing in the Piedmont Neighborhood of Worcester.

  • Stefanie Raymond '18 was awarded funds to purchase equipment to enhance technology in a history classroom at Burncoat Middle School. Stefanie is currently a student teacher at Burncoat Middle. 

  • Margot Reed ’18 was awarded funds to purchase graphing notebooks for Sullivan Middle School math students. Margot will be student teaching at Sullivan in the spring. The graphing notebooks will aid her and her students in their lessons.

  • Jerome Siangco ’19 and Cassandra Brouillard ’18 were awarded funds to purchase culturally appropriate food for the Catholic Charities Worcester food pantry. This semester, Cassandra and Jerome have been working on a community organizing project with Catholic Charities on food justice. This project was completed in conjunction with Prof. Susan Crawford Sullivan’s Leadership and Social Change course.

  • Lorenzo Vicente '18 was awarded funds to support Worcester Common Ground and the Jacob Hiatt Magnet School's collaborative bioshelter construction project. Lorenzo is taking an academic internship class focused on non-profits and government with Michelle Sterk Barrett and Jamie Hoag.  Lorenzo's internship is with Worcester Common Ground and they are working to open Worcester's first bioshelter. In an effort to increase awareness of the space and attract neighbors to the bioshelter, Worcester Common Ground is working with the Jacob Hiatt Magnet School to decorate the bioshelter with artwork created by youth at the school. The funds Lorenzo successfully applied for will help to purchase art supplies associated with this project. 

  • Jacob Wronski '18 was awarded funds to purchase materials and supplies for the South Worcester Neighborhood Improvement Corporation's (SWNIC) summer camp. Jacob first became engaged with SWNIC through SPUD.

  • Michelle Yu ’18, Kate Heenan ’18, Margot Reed ’18, and Allison Sullivan ’19 were awarded funds to host a field trip at Holy Cross for 6th, 7th, and 8th grade girls from Sullivan Middle School. The field trip will focus on engaging the middle school girls in mathematics and will be led by students involved in the Association of Women in Mathematics. The field trip is intended to encourage post-secondary study in the STEM fields.

2016-2017 Grant Recipients

  • Brandon Brito ’20 was awarded funds to bring Woodland Academy 6th graders to the Holy Cross campus for a field trip. Woodland students will get a tour of campus, attend a Holy Cross athletic event, and have a pizza party with Holy Cross Woodland volunteers. Brandon is involved with Woodland through his CBL experience in Prof. Ryan’s Montserrat seminar, “Exploring Difference.”

  • Emily George ’18 and Karson Silver ’19 were awarded funds to purchase food and supplies for a luncheon hosting community partners working with Bridget Franco’s Fall SPAN 312 course, “Filmmaking in Spanish.” St. Mary Health Care Center, WPS Transition Program, the Assumption Center, and the Donelan Office of Community-Based Learning are each working with teams from Prof. Franco’s course. The teams are creating films that will be used by the organizations for marketing and communications purposes. The luncheon will take place on campus on Monday, December 12th, 2016 after the teams premiere their films for the community partners. Emily and Karson are on two of the filmmaking teams in Prof. Franco’s course this semester.

  • Meghan Kelly ’17 was awarded funds to purchase enrichment materials for the Forest Grove Middle School classroom she will be student teaching in in the Spring of 2017. The enrichment materials will enable Meghan’s students to continue to build on their learning of the Spanish language, as well as help Meghan with her curriculum development. Meghan’s project is a direct outgrowth of her participation in the Teacher Education Program.

  • Cassandra Kobelski ’17 was awarded funds to purchase whiteboards for a classroom at Burncoat High School.  Cassandra is currently a student teacher at Burncoat High School and will be utilizing these whiteboards in her own student teaching to better illustrate Spanish grammatical constructs with color coding.

  • Isabelle (Izzi) Lambrecht ’19 was awarded funds in the fall semester to purchase food, cooking supplies, and other equipment that would be used in an after-school program Izzi is designing for Worcester youth to participate in and learn about Holy Cross’ community garden. Izzi imagines a program where youth participating in Worcester after school programs would come to campus at various points to plant seeds, assist in the growing process, and then cook meals with the produce from the garden. This project is a direct outgrowth of Izzi’s involvement with Holy Cross’ community garden and her CBL experience in Prof. Crist’s sociology seminar, “Food, Poverty, and Justice.”

  • Izzi Lambrecht ’19 was awarded funds in the spring semester to purchase food and supplies for a food festival to be led by the SPUD community organizers and held on the Holy Cross campus.  This festival is intended to educate students about the rich diversity of cultures and restaurants that exist in the Worcester community.  In addition to sampling a variety of foods, students will also hear directly from restaurant owners and employees in formal presentations. This is an outgrowth of her academic coursework with Professor Andrea Borghini highlighting how food can be an avenue to promote friendship, learn about other cultures, and break down barriers.

  • Catherine Leeber ’17 was awarded funds to purchase Scholastic Magazine subscriptions of ¿Qué Tal? for students in the Spanish classes at Forest Grove Middle School where she is doing her Teacher Education Program practicum.  These magazines will enable her to supplement traditional Spanish textbooks with a Spanish language magazine focused on current events, pop culture, and games that are age-appropriate.

  • Will McAvoy ’20 was awarded funds to purchase tablets and newspaper subscriptions for St. Mary Health Care Center.  Through these tablets, CBL and SPUD students who visit St. Mary residents will be able to continue their visits during school breaks, snow days, and holidays.  Not only will these tablets enable increased social interaction for the residents, but they will also enable residents to access newspapers and sites that will better connect them to the wider world.  Will is involved with St. Mary through his CBL experience in Prof. Ryan’s Montserrat seminar, “Identity, Diversity, and Community.”

  • Caitlin Pollard ’17 was awarded funds to assist AIDS Project Worcester (APW) in the expansion of their food pantry. APW’s food pantry served 235 people in 2015, but there are hundreds of more people who utilize APW’s services. An expanded food pantry would enable APW to serve more of their clients.  This project is directly tied to Caitlin’s summer research at APW through the summer research program, as well as with her CBL experience in Prof. Crist’s sociology seminar, “Food, Poverty, and Justice.”

  • Megan Seferian ’20 was awarded funds in the fall semester to purchase t-shirts that will serve as costumes in a play that WPS Transition Program students are writing and publicly performing. Megan and two other Holy Cross students have been assisting the WPS Transition students in the production of the play all semester. Megan’s involvement with the WPS Transition Program began through her CBL in Prof. Stephenie Chaudoir’s Montserrat seminar, “The Arc of Social Injustice” and through her CBL in SPAN 301. 

  • Megan Seferian ’20 was awarded funds in the spring semester to purchase supplies that will enable WPS Transition Program students with a visual impairment to make 3D models of the Holy Cross campus. Megan (along with a number of other Holy Cross students enrolled in SPAN 301) meets weekly with a group of Spanish-speaking WPS Transition Program students on the Holy Cross campus. Through the 3D models, these WPS students will have a better understanding of the campus layout and, therefore, be better able to navigate campus. Megan became involved with the WPS Transition Program through her SPAN 301 CBL course in the fall, as well as through her year-long Monsterrat seminar, "The Arc of Social Injustice" (a CBL placement-based course).

  • Ashley Tortorelli ’19 was awarded funds to purchase cheerleading uniform t-shirts and pom poms for youth enrolled in the Boys & Girls Club Afterschool Program at Plumley Village—where she is the SPUD Program Director.  As a GSWS (Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies) concentrator at Holy Cross, Ashley is particularly passionate about promoting healthy lifestyles for young women in order to promote self-esteem.  In observing cheerleading practices at Plumley Village, she has noticed how cheerleading has helped to accomplish these goals while building community among the girls. However, she feels that the girls would be even more motivated to stay with the sport if they had a uniform and equipment to make the practices more realistic.   

2015-2016 Grant Recipients

  • Halley Allcroft ‘16 was awarded funding to purchase supplies for brain awareness educational events to occur at Nativity School, Canterbury School, and the Girls Scouts STEM Expo.  This is a culminating experience for her self-designed major in neuroscience with Professor Sarah Webster.

  • Ariel Baker ‘18 was awarded funds to conduct a college visit day for students from the Assumption Center’s Girls with Dreams program.  Ariel became involved with the Assumption Center’s Girls with Dreams program through the Holy Cross Non-Profit Careers Conference.

  • Linnea Brandt ‘16 was awarded funds to support, “Christmas Care Caddies for Abby’s.”  Marshall Funds were utilized to purchase 30 caddies that contained personal items such as toiletries, umbrellas, journals, and pens for Abby’s House residents. This project was directly tied to Linnea’s prior SPUD service at Abby’s House as well as her two fall 2015 CBL classes: Catholic Economic Justice with Professors Matt Eggemeier and Peter Fritz and Leadership, Religion, and Social Justice with Professor Susan Crawford Sullivan.

  • Molly Caulfield ‘18 was awarded funds to sponsor a bowling outing for Holy Cross mentors and youth of Ascentria Care Alliance’s Unaccompanied Refugee Minor Program (URMP).  Molly began working with the URMP during her Montserrat class with Professor Virginia Ryan and has continued to do so as a CBL Intern.

  • Gennifer Durham ‘16 was awarded funds to purchase seeds and gardening supplies for Holy Cross mentors and youth from the Assumption Center to do community gardening and nutritional education events.  Gennifer has been involved with the Assumption Center through her Sociology of Education class with Professor Melissa Weiner, the Academic Internship Program, and as a SPUD Program Director.

  • The Magafan Mural Project Team (Sarah Valente ’16, Nicole Landry ’16, Maggie MacMullin ’16, Patrick Franco ’17, Hannah Moore ’18, and Melissa Gryan ’18)  were awarded funds in the fall for conservation materials that will enable the restoration of four Jenne Magafan murals at Worcester East Middle School.  Margaret MacMullin ‘16 was awarded a second Marshall grant in the spring to work with the Worcester East Middle School students and teachers to create a new student-designed mural in the school’s cafeteria. This Magafan Mural Project Team is an outgrowth of Sarah Valente and Nicole Landry’s summer research project investigating the process of art conservation and mural restoration.  

  • Anthony O’Connor ’18 was awarded funds to purchase food and supplies for a breakfast made collaboratively by Worcester Public Schools (WPS) Transition Program students and Holy Cross CBL students.  Anthony became involved with the WPS Transition Program through his Spanish Composition & Conversation class with Professor Carcelen-Estrada.

  • Zhenxi Qi ’16 was awarded funds to support the production of Dismas House’s Coming Home Worcester directory to assist ex-offenders in the reentry process. Zhenxi began working with Dismas House as a student in Professor Michelle Sterk Barrett’s Community Engagement & Social Responsibility class.

  • Ja-Lene Scott-Dottin ‘16 and Zhenxi Qi ‘16 were awarded funds to support an apple picking and lunch outing for residents of Abby’s House.  Both Ja-Lene and Zhenxi have served at Abby’s House for the past three years through SPUD.

  • John Swartzwelder ‘19 was awarded funds to purchase a desktop computer for the afterschool program at the Sisters of St. Anne’s Marie Anne Center. John became involved with the Marie Anne Center in the fall of 2015 through his Montserrat class with Professor Virginia Ryan.

  • Lauren Suprenant ‘16 was awarded funds to purchase an ELMO document projector for a Burncoat Middle School science classroom and colored pencils to support the school’s Self-Regulated Strategy Development writing program.  Through the Teacher Education Program, Lauren is serving as a student teacher at Burncoat Middle School.

  • Sean Teebagy ’17 was awarded funds to purchase utility carts, books, hand lotion, and knitting supplies for the Caring Carts initiative at UMASS Medical Center.  The Caring Carts initiative is an outgrowth of the Power of Presence volunteer program which Sean helped begin. The program is designed to train future clinicians to sit with actively dying patients in the hospital when friends and family cannot be present.

  • Claire Weston ‘16 was awarded funds to help support Community Harvest Project’s efforts to learn more about developing a bioshelter.  Claire began working with the Community Harvest Project through the 2015 Holy Cross Non-Profit Careers Conference and has continued to do so as an Intern since then.

2014-2015 Grant Recipients

  • Emily Breakell was awarded funds to cover travel expenses so that she may attend the 2015 Food Waste and Hunger Summit taking place in Georgia.  Emily will use knowledge gained at the conference to inform the development of a new student group: Holy Cross Food Recovery.

  • Samuel Gentile was awarded funds to support Working for Worcester’s project to improve the recreational area at Elm Park Elementary School.

  • Tiffany Holland was awarded funds to purchase an electronic keyboard and music books for the Holy Cross Music Therapy program at St. Vincent’s Hospital.

  • Professor Min Kyung Lee was awarded funds to purchase refreshments for the final CBL presentation event in her Making the Modern City course as well as funds to support a visit from a CBL-related guest speaker in her course.  Her students are conducting research to inform the development of the Blackstone Gateway Park.

  • Andrew McAward was awarded funds to purchase soil and seeds to create a community garden on the grounds of the Fanning Building in Worcester.

  • Michelle McGahan was awarded funds to purchase a white board and markers for her classroom at Burncoat Middle School, where she is doing her student teaching and is helping to pilot a co-teaching model.

  • Jacob Medina and Dung Nguyen were awarded funds to purchase tablets and educational applications for CBL and SPUD students to use at after-school programs.

  • Andrew Varuzzo was awarded funds to purchase supplies for a multicultural cookout in collaboration with Worcester Common Ground, a local community development organization serving Worcester’s Main Middle and Piedmont neighborhoods.

  • Sarah Curran and Alexander Pagan-Mejia were awarded funds to purchase supplies in order to create Thanksgiving baskets for families of the Nativity School of Worcester.

  • Naomi-Ann Gaspard and Jessica Rodriguez were awarded funds to coordinate a college visit for the members of Girl’s CHOICE.

  • Anthony Criscitiello and Mary Patrice Hamilton were awarded funds to establish a honeybee hive on campus for educational and research purposes.

  • Rebecca Sewell was awarded funds to purchase supplies for the Girls, Inc. “College Shower.”  The “College Shower” is an event that celebrates the life transition of students beginning college.

  • Kristen Paadre and Abbey Wilkman were awarded funds to purchase thank you gifts from the Holy Cross bookstore for eight middle school girls participating in an educational research project at St. Peter Central Catholic School.

  • Professor Bridget Franco was awarded funds to support the purchase of supplies and refreshments for her Spanish 305 CBL site visits with the Latino Elders Program and the “Third Day” Program at St. Peter’s Assumption Center.

  • Andrea Gendron and Ashley Fairbanks were awarded funds to purchase supplies for activities with the WPS Transition Program and the WPS Deafblind/Low Vision/Blind Department.

  • Professor Stephanie Yuhl was awarded funds to purchase refreshments for the final CBL presentation event in her Representing the Past course.  Her students are conducting research and constructing a virtual web tour of historic sites, edisodes, and individuals from Worcester history.

2013-2014 Grant Recipients

  • Liz Crowley was awarded funds to purchase extra large business suits for Dress for Success.

  • William Geddes was awarded funds to conduct interactive, engaging physics demonstrations at Doherty High School.

  • Brendan Healey was awarded funds to renovate outdoor recreation space at the Bridge of Central Massachusetts's G. Stanley Hall School as part of Working for Worcester.

  • Prof. Alison Ludden was awarded funds for community-based research presentation events resulting from research conducted in her Urban School and Resilience and Development classes.  She was also awarded funds to sponsor a Manga workshop for students from Nativity School and her Resilience and Development class.

  • Prof. Bridget Franco was awarded funds for interactive, Latino culture demonstrations given by students in her Aspects of Spanish American Culture at the Latino Elders Program of Centro Las Americas.

  • Prof. Amanda Luyster was awarded funds to support the development of a Worcester Art Museum i-phone tour created by students from her Visual Arts class in conjunction with high school art students from Claremont Academy.