The community engagement team would like to extend the warmest welcome to the newest member of the farmhouse team, Patria. As the new Administrative Assistant for Community Engagement, Patria supports the Community Partnerships Center (CPC), the Feinstein Service Learning Center and the Spiegel Center for Global and International Programs.
Patria grew up in Bay Ridge, a lovely neighborhood in Brooklyn, NY, but also spent many of her summers with her grandparents in Salinas Fortuna, a small village of Lajas, Puerto Rico. Opposite to the activities available in Puerto Rico, during the winter months in New England, Patria loves to snowboard and snow tube with her sons. She also enjoys reading a nice book like Angela’s Ashes, by Frank McCourt, while sitting by a fire with her family at their vacation home in Vermont.
In her free time, Patria enjoys listening to a wide variety of music including salsa, smooth jazz, slow classical rock, and the very beginnings of hip hop. Like music, Patria also finds it hard to pick a favorite tv show or movie but always enjoys a good stand up comedy TV special and the “Gleason” documentary.
When asked if there was one thing she wanted the students here at RWU to know about herself, she replied “I want to know all about them- as students- as individuals- their future dreams and goals.” It is very clear that Patria cares a lot about the students here at RWU and she will do anything she can to make their experience here the best it can be so that everyone can reach their goals. So stop by the farmhouse, Patria can’t wait to meet you!
Patria will be a fantastic addition to the farmhouse crew because she has proven her dedication to helping every community she enters. Her community engagement experiences are impressive to say the least. Patria volunteers her help in all aspects of her life spanning from Habitat for Humanity, Swim Across America, Special Olympics, the Wildlife Rehabilitators Association of Rhode Island, serving at local food banks and park and beach clean-ups. She even participates in fundraising events and donates to organizations that mean a lot to her like, Food for the Hungry, Operation Smile, and any organization that supports veteran services. On a more personal level, Patria helps the people closest to her by participating in her neighborhood association, school boards, her boy’s sport’s teams, and even at her church. All of these volunteer rolls make it very clear that she cares deeply for the community outside herself which makes her perfect for this role at the community engagement
Once again, we’d like to extend a warm welcome to Patria, and we look forward to working with you!
Update:
After 2 semesters working with the Community engagement team, Patria (Patty) has proven herself to be an excellent addition to the team, we look forward to many more semesters working with Patty!
.png)