Looking to the Future with Villanova's Strategic Plan

“It’s not about putting on heels and looking
pretty. You have to have a moral compass
and know what you want to convey to make
a difference.”
— Kathryn “Kacie” McDonnell ’12 A&S,
Miss Teen Pennsylvania International TM 2008
Pennsylvania’s Outstanding Young
Woman for 2003. When she saw the students
hanging out at the Oreo, she knew
she wanted to be part of the Villanova
community. Soon she was assisting as a
Eucharistic minister; serving as vice president
for academic excellence for her sorority,
Kappa Kappa Gamma; and performing
with the Villanova Dance Company at
Special Olympics.
For three years, Shannon volunteered
in the oncology unit at The Children’s
Hospital of Philadelphia. It was not an
easy task, but Shannon, a Biology major
headed toward pediatrics, embraced this
opportunity to show compassion and gain
experience. “It was emotionally exhausting
to see children struggling with such a devastating
disease, but their optimism gave
me the strength to go back each week.”
Since being crowned Miss Pennsylvania,
Shannon has promoted her platform,
Home Away from Home: Enriching the
Lives of Hospitalized Children. The goal
of the program is to create a more comfortable
environment for pediatric patients
during hospital stays.
In January, she represented the commonwealth
in the Miss America Pageant
in Las Vegas. Although Shannon is on
leave from Jefferson to carry out her year
of service, her education continues.
“Whether I’m reading to kindergarteners
or addressing the state senate, I’m developing
interpersonal skills that will make
me a better doctor.”
Facing page: Before she applies to
medical school, Mimi Kabia ’10
A&S, the Miss Sierra Leone USA
Finalist for 2010–2011, is spending a
year campaigning for better health care
in the West African nation in which
her parents were born.
Helping to heal the wounds
Ask people what they remember about
trips they took as youngsters, and many
will reminisce about building sand castles,
sleeping at grandma’s house or surviving
their first roller coaster.
The memories that stick with Mameisia
“Mimi” Kabia are different. As a child,
she traveled to Sierra Leone, her parents’
homeland, and observed the effects of its
brutal, decade-long civil war: children
missing arms or legs, beggars looking for
money and desperate citizens knocking on
the windows of cars that crawled along the
crowded streets of Freetown. These images
changed her forever.
“I was overwhelmed by a feeling of
helplessness,” recalls Mimi, a senior
Human Services major from Lawrenceville,
N.J. “But as I got older, I saw
people going back to live in Sierra Leone
and help rebuild the country. Their example
inspired me to do something.”
In July, Mimi—the Miss Sierra Leone
USA Finalist for 2010-2011—will compete
in the Miss Africa USA Pageant in
College Park, Maryland. Open to delegates
from Africa or of African descent,
the pageant empowers women to give
back to underserved communities in
Africa and the United States.
As part of the competition, Mimi, who
plans to attend medical school, will
explain her platform, the New Hope
Movement, to representatives from the
African embassies. She launched this
fund-raising campaign to help reduce
Sierra Leone’s infant and maternal mortality
rates, which are among the highest in
the world, by providing more medical supplies
to hospitals, increasing the number
of health care practitioners and educating
and advocating for women.
“I’ve had the privilege of being educated
in this country, and I want to give
back what I’ve learned,” she says.
Getting the message out
To sophomore Kathryn “Kacie” McDonnell,
they were the best three days of her
life. In March 2008, the senior at Nativity
BVM High School in Pottsville was
crowned Miss Teen Pennsylvania International
2008, learned that she had a
new baby cousin and received a letter
informing her that she had been named a
Curvey Scholar.
“I was so over the moon to be coming
to Villanova,” Kacie says, “and the scholarship
was making it possible.” Established
by James Curvey ’57 VSB, the Curvey
Scholarships benefit students who attend
Villanova and come from one of five eligible
high schools in northern Schuylkill
County, Pa.
She also was thrilled to begin her reign
as Miss Teen Pennsylvania International.
The position gave her the
opportunity to share her “passion for
purity.” As a junior, Kacie had teamed up
with Silver Ring Thing, an organization
that promotes the message of abstinence
before marriage. After winning the pageant,
she participated nationally in the
group’s activities, a commitment she
still maintains.
At Villanova, Kacie divides her time
between her studies in Communication
and her extracurricular activities, especially
the philanthropic work of her sorority,
Delta Delta Delta. She has applied for
a Curvey Fellowship—a program established
to complement the Curvey Scholarships—which
would enable her to study in
Greece this summer.
Kacie plans to compete in future pageants,
with her feet on the ground and her
eyes fixed on the good she can accomplish.
“It’s not about putting on heels and
looking pretty. You have to have a moral
compass and know what you want to convey
to make a difference.”
With or without crowns on their heads,
Bridget, Shannon, Mimi and Kacie are
doing what all Villanovans are charged
with doing: fulfilling their life’s purpose
while making the world a better place. “If
I can affect even a few lives,” Bridget says,
“I’ll have done a great service.”
Summer 2010 31