Today’s guest blogger is Daniel Cruz, Fordham
‘10. Upon graduating Dan joined City Year, a national nonprofit organization
that partners with public schools to improve the chance that students will
graduate from high school. City Year is accepting application to join next year
corps, for more information please click here.
After college, I joined City Year
because I really connected with its mission of addressing the high school
dropout crisis. Coming from Fordham I had a very strong passion for service
instilled in me during my 4 years there because of the school’s dedication to
volunteerism. Last year I served at PS 345 in East New York, Brooklyn where I
mentored and tutored students according to the ABC’s: Attendance, Behavior, and
Course Performance. This was perhaps the hardest year of my life. My team and I
were in the school before the students arrived and stayed until the last
student left. There were days when I left my home in Harlem before sunrise and
came back after sunset, but I saw all of my work paid off when I heard one of
my bilingual students read a paragraph that he wrote in English. That moment
became the defining one that motivated me to serve with City Year for another
year.
Now I work on the New
York Civic Engagement Team planning community engagement events and school
beautification projects all over the city. My team and I lead volunteers from
the community, companies, and other organizations through mural, construction,
and landscaping projects. The goal of each project is to enhance the school and
community environment. I really enjoy my role with City Year this year because
I know my work helps to encourage students to stay in school. If I can make the
school environment just a little more engaging for one student then I have done
my job.
On January 17th
I opened up my mailbox and saw a mural that I helped design,
plan and execute on the front cover of my Fordham Alumni Magazine. You could
probably imagine my excitement! This mural was one of the first projects I led
in my new role. After sketching the mural with my team, I watched it come to
life with color as I led 20 volunteers through the completion of the project.
It was a feeling that I cannot describe with words but seeing the project that
I helped design and implement on the front cover of my University's Magazine
was amazing!
I joined City Year straight
out of college because I wanted to make a difference. I wanted to be a part of
something greater than myself and I knew that I would be joining an
organization that cared every bit as much about education as I did. After
reading the article about what the Graduate School of Education is doing to
help communities in need, it’s clear that my time at Fordham helped lead me to
City Year. It is as if I never truly left Fordham.
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