Villanova University Meeting (06/01/20)


On Monday, Ella and I had the opportunity to meet and speak with Ms. Noreen Cameron and Ms. Megan Dietzler from Villanova University. This was one of my favorite conversations with college faculty and staff. At the beginning of our meeting, Ella and I explained our project in depth to both faculty members, and then did a couple of fun icebreaker activities. Once we finished these activities, we had a conversation with both Ms. Cameron and Ms. Dietzler about philanthropy and the importance of giving back. We learned about a variety of different initiatives Villanova offers its current students. Some of these initiatives included school wide service days and service-oriented classes. Villanova wants its student body to have a transformative service experience, and Ms. Cameron emphasized the importance of creating relationships with service partners. In order to do so, prolonged consistency and longevity of service are vital towards fulfilling both of these goals. Ms. Dietzler discussed the importance of instilling basic trust and an attitude of respect within the student body. At Villanova, service and civic engagement is important to the school, and the school wants all of its students to participate in service endeavors. Unfortunately, it is impossible to get everyone to do so at any large school. Ms. Cameron told us about the importance of gathering the students willing to work and care about the activities they participate in. If the school is able to target student leaders (“popular” kids) and get them involved, then other students will follow suite. It was a pleasure to speak with both Ms. Cameron and Ms. Dietzler. Because of their outstanding comments and feedback, we were able to learn a lot about Villanova and gain valuable insight for future work on our project. I enjoyed my conversation so much with both of these outstanding people, I am now considering Villanova University as a school I may potential apply to and attend.

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