There is much to be thankful for over this past year at Cabrini College. Many of our Cavalier athletic teams won conference championships, faculty published new books, Cabrini Theatre staged a fall production of "Shakespeare on the Green," and the College increased enrollment of first-year students by 29 percent over the previous year. That 29 percent increase is significant when you consider many private colleges had shrinking enrollments.

 

Cabrini College welcomed 392 full-time students into the Class of 2018. Of those 392 students, 129 received the Cavalier Referral Award from alumni. That's almost 33 percent of the incoming class!  What an amazing success and I am so grateful to alumni for helping. I hope you can keep those alumni referrals coming this year!  (If you haven't received your Cavalier Referral Award information in the mail, you can visit www.cabrini.edu/CavalierReferral to print a referral card.)

 

For those unfamiliar with the Cavalier Referral Award, the program provides referral cards to alumni to give to high school seniors. If a referred student decides to enroll at Cabrini in the fall, the College will award that student $500 annually toward tuition, on top of other scholarships. Over four years, that's $2,000 in tuition savings.

 

Those savings are important because Cabrini College continues to recruit first-generation students of modest means that we've traditionally served. Alumni are always asking me how they can assist these first-generation students at Cabrini. One of the most significant challenges that these students face is affordability, and through gifts to Cabrini (to the Cabrini Annual Fund and established scholarship funds) you can help reduce or eliminate that impediment to success. Many of you already support these initiatives, and I am grateful for your generosity. (For those of you who would like to join them, you can make a gift at www.cabrini.edu/OnlineGiving.) 

 

Cabrini students are also fortunate that our alumni continue to offer them internships and practicums, so students can gain that real-world experience employers want. Plus, alumni continue to hire our graduates and mentor them to career success. Thank you for doing both.  

 

Your presence is also important. Cabrini College's campus (or any college campus) would feel empty and incomplete without having alumni around. Thank you for taking the time from your career, family, and community obligations to come back to campus for events and to interact with students. Your presence makes all the difference and though they might not say it, having you there means a lot to the students.

 

I could go on and on about how fortunate Cabrini College students are to have alumni like you. Please know how appreciative I am for everything you do for your alma mater.

 

 

In the Cabrini Spirit,

 

Donald B. Taylor, Ph.D.