I was the first in my family to receive a scholarship from CCF in 2005 to attend high school, followed by my older brother Robert, who received a college scholarship in 2006, and our middle sister Veronica, who received hers in 2007 also for college. We still have our CCF award certificates hanging in our family home in New Jersey, and the scholarships we received have made remarkable differences in each of our lives.

When I was entering high school, I knew I didn’t want to go to the public high school in my town, but when we looked at Bergen Catholic High School, my parents knew they would not be able to afford the full tuition. We attended one of the open houses, and one of the admissions officers mentioned the Columbus Citizens Foundation and how it helped young scholars. One afternoon, a few months before I would start high school, we received the call informing us I had been granted a scholarship, and my family was in disbelief and completely thrilled.

With my scholarship, I attended Bergen Catholic and learned incredible discipline in one of the top soccer programs in the state, in addition to getting a quality education, which prepared me for college. I was able to go to Stony Brook University, where I later graduated with honors with a B.A. in Environmental Studies, and to Montclair State University, where I graduated with an M.S. in Sustainability Science. During my studies, I met an environmental project manager - and fellow Italian - by the name of Nicholas D’Ambrosio, who served as both an advisor and mentor, who years later would build up his own environmental firm, The Nomad Group, where I now work as a staff project scientist and assistant project manager.

Around the time I graduated from Montclair State in 2015, I was invited to attend the Primavera Social at the CCF Townhouse. There I met Lisa Tarantino, who would become the next CCF Young Adults Auxiliary president, and Anthony Zampolin, a fellow Bergen Catholic alumnus who would become the YAA president after Lisa. After speaking with them and other members, I excitedly joined the YAA, and was a highly active member. When the next elections were held, I made a bid for secretary. Lisa informed me shortly thereafter that I would be serving as the secretary of the YAA for the next two years.

I have been serving my fellow YAA Board members by facilitating communications, recruiting, evaluating applications of prospective members, maintaining our active roster, sending out announcements, and helping to plan and run our bi-annual galas and other events at CCF and beyond. Getting to meet new members and celebrate with fellow YAA Board members Anthony Zampolin, Mike Ippolito, and Steve Dardis at the end of the night have been among my happiest memories serving as the YAA Secretary.

If you have ever been somewhere and felt in your heart that it was where you were meant to be, then you know how I felt, and still feel, giving back to CCF. The Foundation helped my siblings and I foster academically and in the process, became a second family to the Caveras.