Sorin College

Sorin College
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Home of the Otters

Uganda Initiatives

Otter Volunteers

Since June 2004, thirteen Otters have gone to Uganda on grants, overseas programs, or international summer service learning projects (ISSLP). Sorin was the first hall to have its own ISSLP, and in 2009 we inaugurated our second placement. We have helped three other halls set up similar placements. Matt (Rufio) Degnan spent this summer at St. Jude Primary School in Jinja, and Will Staruk was in Gulu. Both Matt and Will are current seniors. You can read more about these projects on the other pages in this menu.

Otters have won important recognition from the University, largely because of their involvement with St. Jude. Michael Dewan '07 received the University's highest award for service beyond the campus community. Pat Reidy '08 was an RA who won the Lou Holtz Award for Leadership.

Also, Peter Quaranto '07, went to Uganda for a semester and returned to found a lobbying organization ResolveUganda (www.resolveuganda.org) in Washington, D.C. between his junior and senior year. Will's work this summer was with civil war victims in refugee camps whose plight was the impetus for Peter's efforts to bring attention to the effects of a twenty year civil war in the north.

Others who have gone to Uganda are: Steve Merjavy '04, Ben Wilson and Matt Young '06, Shawn Finlen and Kevin Bailey '08, Michael McDonald and Sean Hoskins '09, John "Forman" Maltese '10