Tag: community
Giving Grace: A Feature Story
by Bridget Carroll ’26 on December 11, 2025
News
For most people, Providence College is home for four years. For Graciete Morales, it has been home for 34 years—not as a student, but as a member of the community of hard-working individuals who help it run every day.
Graciete (“Grace”) Morales was born in Cape Verde, Africa, on Jan. 9, 1962. She was the firstborn of five children to two incredibly loving parents. Her birth was something of a miracle in itself. Before she was born, her father had lost two children from a previous relationship, both taken far too soon. Because of that loss, the bond between Morales and her father was unbreakable from the start. Her family lived and worked on a large fruit farm in Cape Verde. After attending school for only a short time, she began working for her father at the age of 12, selling fruit in busy marketplaces. While most kids would have complained, Morales recognized at a young age that her family needed her. She sacrificed an education to work, making sure there was always food on the table. Morales recalled loving to work. She quickly embraced meeting and talking to customers—some of whom were the kindest people she has ever known. Another small reward was that she got to eat her favorite fruit, mango. Beyond her work, Morales remembers spending every Sunday at church with her family. It was there she first felt a deep connection with God— one that has only strengthened through the years.
In 1991, when Morales was 29, she received her green card and moved to the United States. It was the hardest decision of her life—one made even more painful because it meant saying goodbye to her children. Despite the heartbreak, Moralese knew this path meant an opportunity to build a life that would allow her to provide even more for her family. Deep down, she had no doubt it was something she had to do. What made the journey a little easier was that she was with her cousin, Zeferino, who gave her comfort and strength every step of the way.
Her life in the United States began in Massachusetts. She worked cleaning fish for a year before moving to Providence in 1992. Morales found her current home in Pawtucket and immediately started looking for work. When I asked Morales how she found Providence College, she didn’t hesitate. “I asked God,” she said with a smile. “God told me, Grace, I’m going to give you a job very close to your house.” He kept His promise. She heard about jobs cleaning on-campus buildings from a friend of Zeferino’s and wasted no time. She was at PC the next day with her papers in hand, ready to work. Morales was hired and started work immediately. “On my first day, I didn’t understand anything,” she recalls, “but everyone was so welcoming.” Today, 34 years later, Morales says that the welcoming feeling on campus hasn’t faded—if anything, it has only grown stronger. In many ways, Morales herself has been a big part of that—making Providence College students feel not only welcome, but truly at home.
I first met Morales early in the fall semester of my sophomore year at Providence College. As I was leaving for class, she was in the lobby of my dorm taking out the trash. I couldn’t believe how easily she lifted the heavy bags—this petite woman was handling them like it was nothing. I held the door open for her, and she gave me a smile that melted my heart. Over time, I saw her around the building more often, and before long, we formed a bond that has lasted ever since. In those first few months of getting to know Morales, I was struggling with homesickness, but her kindness—and her hugs, always the tightest and most comforting—made everything feel a little easier. Now, as a senior, I always make an effort to stop by our old dorm, where Morales continues to work. Whenever I need one of her hugs, I know exactly where to go.
As our friendship grew, Morales began sharing stories—and many photos—of her family. It was wonderful to hear about and see the people who have always been the center of her world. While some of Morales’s family members still live overseas—in Cape Verde and throughout Europe, including Portugal, Spain, and France—many of them have followed in her footsteps. They, too, came to the United States and have since built families of their own. She now has 19 grandkids, three great-granddaughters, and countless nieces and nephews. Moralese keeps in touch with everyone in her family. Although she hasn’t seen her siblings or children in more than three years, she calls them often to stay connected. She also makes sure they’re up to date on her own life, frequently posting photos and messages on Facebook. As her family has grown, so has her desire to sacrifice for the people she loves most. Since 2000, Morales has bought her oldest son a car, paid for her niece to go to school in Cape Verde, helped distant relatives with paying their rent, provided sufficient funds for her nephew to have a surgical operation, and has continued to give monthly donations to the church where Zeferino first found work when the two of them arrived in the United States.
When I went to Morales’s house to interview her for this story, I could see very clearly the love she has for her family. Her walls were covered with photos of her kids and grandkids in all stages of their lives. She also had a highchair tucked into the corner of her dining room and baby bottles drying on a dish rack next to her sink. Something else that caught my eye was the hand-drawn pictures hanging up on her fridge—drawings that likely would have been framed and hung up on the walls too if she had any space left. As we spoke, I couldn’t help but ask what her favorite thing about being a mother and grandmother was. Her eyes lit up as she answered, “They changed my life and have brought me so much love.”
Aside from the love she has for her own family, Moralese holds an incredible amount of love for the Friar Family. Though many of her friends and coworkers have come and gone, she has enjoyed every moment of her 34 years at the college. Morales has worked through four PC presidents, seen the campus change dramatically, attended countless basketball games at the AMP, and met thousands of students. “I thank God for it all,” she told me. When I inquired about how her job must be difficult at times, she simply said, “Nothing bothers me. I love to clean. I may not have the strength I once did, but I still love it.” At one point, the topic of retirement came up, and she told me that she had never thought about retiring until a couple of years ago, when her sister mentioned it. “I love my job. I don’t know what I’ll do when I retire,” Morales said. “I want to go to Cape Verde, but not for long. I will miss my grandkids.”
Whether she’s in her work uniform or dressed in her favorite Friars gear, Morales wears both with pride. When I visited her at home for our interview, she greeted me in a gray Friars crewneck—a small reminder of just how much the school means to her.
As our interview ended and I gathered my things to leave, Morales wouldn’t let me go empty-handed—or with an empty stomach. She poured me a glass of orange juice and served slices of her favorite fruit, mango, before handing me two more to take home to my roommates. It was a simple gesture—one she didn’t think twice about—yet it perfectly captured who Morales is: generous, thoughtful, and full of love.
Community Lens Exhibition
by Isabelle Camoin ’26 on December 11, 2025
News
The Community Lens Exhibition took place in the Smith Hill Annex on Tuesday, Nov. 30. Community Lens is an interdisciplinary, team-taught course at Providence College offered by the art, art history, global studies, and public and community service studies departments. The exhibition was a showcase of the class’ work and stories, bringing the community together to share and appreciate the work done throughout the semester.
For those who aren’t familiar, the Smith Hill Annex is a space off-campus on Douglas Avenue for the Providence College and local community to share.
The projects showcased the stories and perspectives of members of the community. Students were asked to use digital photography to engage and interpret their sense of community with residents of Providence. Some highlights were the work of Shelley Peterson, City Councilwoman of the 14th Ward, members of the Wanskuck Library, and owners of local businesses.
The display showcased the power of photography in shedding light on the community and the lives within it, giving attendees the opportunity to learn more about the lives of those outside the PC community. Filled with excitement and a shared sense of community, the exhibition was a great place to engage in dialogue about what it means to be a member of the greater Providence community and understand the people who share it with us. Attendees consisted of students, those who were interviewed for the exhibits, and other intrigued members of the community.
Tessa Medeiros ’26 MC’d the event, introducing each exhibit and giving space for those who were interviewed to share words of gratitude, fulfilling the desire to build a bridge between the college and local community. Many expressed having not had the opportunity to truly engage with the college community, which can largely be attributed to the development of the Annex. Hopefully, we continue to see this work effectively and positively.
Empowering the Next Generation of Young Black Girls: Dr. Smith-Purviance Begins Black Girl Magic Program
by The Cowl Editor on February 11, 2021
News
Photo courtesy of Dr. Ashley Smith-Purviance.
by Hannah Langley ’21
News Co-Editor
This article is part of The Cowl’s Listening Tour, a series that aims to amplify the voices of BIPOC members of our community and bring awareness to social justice initiatives on campus.
When Dr. Ashley Smith-Purviance, assistant professor of Black studies and of public and community service studies, came to Providence College this year, she knew she wanted to begin a community outreach program for young Black girls in the Providence community. With the help of a $15,000 grant from the Nellie May Educational Foundation, she was able to begin her Black Girl Magic program at PC, giving PC students the opportunity to mentor Black girls in middle school.
Before coming to PC in 2020, Smith-Purviance was a student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she taught educational policy studies and gender and women studies courses and received her doctorate. During her time in school, Smith-Purviance realized that she had a strong desire to help young Black students, specifically girls and young women. It was in Madison, WI that Smith-Purviance began her first Black Girl Magic program.
Similar to the program she began in Wisconsin, the Black Girl Magic program at PC is an after-school program in which Black middle school girls meet with four PC students who act as mentors to the girls. During these meetings, the girls engage in a variety of ice-breakers, crafts, and other activities, said Brittney Smith ’22, a marketing major and Black studies minor, who is one of this year’s mentors.
“We try to tie in small lessons or things for the girls to think about while still keeping it fun and engaging,” said Smith.
Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Black Girl Magic program has been held virtually so far. While there have been challenges engaging with the girls sometimes over Zoom, Smith-Purviance and the mentors try their best to make the girls comfortable. They noted how many of the girls do not put their cameras on during the meetings, but Smith-Purviance and the mentors want to emphasize that they are beautiful just as they are and try to grow confidence within them.
Smith found out about the program when she received the email from the Black studies program about becoming a mentor and part of the program. She immediately knew she wanted to get involved. “I’m just so happy a program like this is here,” said Smith. As a Black student at PC, she noted, “There was no way I could be here and sit out on this.”
She hopes that a program like this will also help build a stronger connection between PC and the greater Providence communities. “There are people on this campus that are dedicated to seeing PC grow and give back to the community,” Smith said, and she hopes a program like this will exemplify that idea.
The other mentors include Kim Hussey ’24, Jennifer Merandisse ’24, and Brianna Harper ’22. Along with Smith, these four women have been mentors since the program’s founding in November and plan on continuing to work with the middle school girls throughout this semester.
When asked why she became part of the program, Harper responded, “I got involved because I believe it’s important to teach young Black girls the positives of being Black.” She continued, “We want to make sure they understand Black is beautiful!”
As mentioned, the current virtual platform for the program has made building connections with some of the girls more difficult, but they are all working towards making the girls more comfortable with each meeting. “Not all the girls know each other yet,” said Hussey. “It can be scary talking to college kids in front of other kids in your school, and we understand why they are nervous.” Smith noted that while she knows many of the girls are uncomfortable, she wants them to learn and know that they can turn to any of the mentors, including herself, for help and support.
Right now, the program consists of over a dozen middle school girls from Gilbert Stuart Middle School in Providence, but Smith-Purviance is currently working towards expanding the program to more local middle schools.
Smith-Purviance also hopes that the current and future mentors will use their experience in the program to make it their own and carry the lessons they learn with them in the future. She looks forward to working with the current mentors, as well as bringing new mentors into the program.
Not only does Smith-Purviance want the mentors and young girls in her program to learn from this experience, but she also wants to spread this entrepreneurial spirit to all PC students. Beginning next fall, Smith-Purviance plans on teaching a class focused on creating programs that build community relations through the lens of Black girlhood and appropriately and properly working with students of color.
Both Smith-Purviance and the current mentors of the Black Girl Magic program have high hopes for the future of the program at PC and hope that it will continue to build in the years to come.
Working Towards PC Equality: IDEI Department Establishes Student Representative Groups
by The Cowl Editor on December 5, 2019
News
by Hannah Langley ’21
News Co-Editor
For several years now, Providence College administration, students, and faculty have been working towards creating a PC200 plan that includes many initiatives, such as the promotion of more diversity and inclusion on campus. Recently, the office of Institutional Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (IDEI) at PC has established two student groups to help the College fulfill this goal.
These two groups, the Advocates of a Beloved Community (ABC) and the Student Diversity Advisory Council (SDAC), are both comprised of around a dozen students, each representing a different student organization or club on campus.
According to a formal document from Quincy Bevely, assistant vice president of institutional diversity, the “Advocates” and council members “will be trained in areas related to cross-cultural understanding, micro-macro aggressions, restorative practices, and conflict resolution.”
Furthermore, ABC will provide the PC community with events that will promote further awareness about bias and hate, giving students, faculty, and staff the opportunity to, according to the same document, “engage in anti-bias education, advocacy, and solidarity.”
As previously mentioned, multiple students were chosen for each of the groups, representing various PC clubs and organizations, including Student Congress, Board of Programmers (BOP), Friars Club, Board of Multicultural Student Affairs (BMSA), Organization of Latin American Students (OLAS), Stopping Homophobia, Eliminating Prejudice and Restoring Dignity (SHEPARD), Campus Ministry, Orientation Leaders (OL), Residence Assistants (RA), Peer Mentoring Program (PMP), Horizons, Providence Immigration Rights Coalition (PIRC), Brotherhood, NAACP, ALPHA, ESports, The Cowl, and Believers of Word (BOW).
Jacqueline Peterson, special advisor to the president, talked about her role in the IDEI department and her part in creating these groups. “The priority goal,” she said, “has been to implement a structure and collaborative partnerships on campus to identify the strategic direction for the College’s DEI initiative.” Her role in this is to provide leadership to not only the student groups, but also to the educators and faculty in the IDEI department.
The purpose of SDAC, Peterson said, is to “empower students to lead and promote a campus environment that is committed to equity, social justice, and inclusive excellence.” ABC’s role is to “develop appropriate educational, supportive, and restorative strategies to address campus climate issues that may arise in the wake of bias-related incidents and prevent further occurrences.”
Along with Bevely and Peterson, Nick Sailor ’17, the director of training and education for IDEI, and Kalan Lewis, a current graduate assistant, have had an integral part in making these two student groups and continuing to work with them and the PC community to promote diversity and inclusion.
Earlier this year, Bevely selected students to represent each of these organizations. Acklynn Byamugisha ’20, advocate for BMSA, talked about the selection, saying, “I was chosen by Quincy [Bevely] and I was more than thrilled to take on the position.” Both Byamugisha and Elizabeth Duffy ’23, advocate for Campus Ministry, talked about how their roles will be in building more respect around campus, creating a greater cultural awareness, and highlighting differences across cultures. Byamugisha talked more about this, saying, “Multiculturalism goes beyond race [and] what the eyes are able to see.”
Duffy is hopeful that the group will be able to cultivate awareness and change on campus, saying, “I feel like there is always room to grow in becoming a close-knit community of friends, and I’m hopeful that this newfound deeper sense of family and love will radiate into the world when students graduate.”
Ricardo Guzman ’20, representative for the SDAC and president of SHEPARD, talked about how their group is also going to promote equality and awareness, saying they plan on having meetings starting next semester to hear more about what various clubs and organizations have planned for promoting diversity and change. “It is one thing to work with the student body,” said Guzman, “but through this group we hope to create institutional change.”
On Nov. 13, both groups met in Moore Hall to begin training with Diane Goodman, who has devoted her life to training, consulting, teaching, speaking, and writing about diversity and social justice. Goodman came to PC’s campus to meet with the students from both of these groups in order to prepare them in their roles and for their lives in the future, as well.
Both groups will be beginning work next semester, and Bevely is excited for what is to come.
Juniors “GoFor” It by Beginning Errand Service: Ryan McItyre ’21 Hopes to Bring PC Community Closer Together
by The Cowl Editor on September 19, 2019
News
by Matthew Mazzella ’20
News Staff
Ryan McIntyre ’21 has always been ambitious, and he and a group of juniors have taken this ambition to the next level with his new business on campus called “GoFor.”
The startup is an errand-running service that strives to bring together the Friar family by connecting Friars who have spare time with Friars who have their hands full and are short on time.
McIntyre’s primary goal is to help Providence College students capitalize on their daily walking patterns across campus to make Friartown a more efficient and interconnected community, all while making a few bucks in the process.
The service is strictly student-to- student. It allows any student who is in a popular area on campus, like the Dunkin’ line in Slavin, to have the option to pick up and deliver an order for someone while they are already headed in a certain direction. The order will not take much time out of their route, and money can be made at the same time.
The junior self-starter has created an Instagram page to raise awareness about the new business around campus, and powers all orders through a Google Form, which can be found on their Instagram. The business runs on Venmo as their primary form of payment.
GoFor looks to open their errand running service to any student looking to make trips around campus with a similar model to Uber.
Students can sign up for deliveries whenever they want to work. They can make their own hours, and while they will not be paid at an hourly rate, workers will take a percentage of the profits for their trip. McIntyre and his team have been hustling around campus completing orders themselves.
This is McIntyre’s first time starting his own business, and he has his sights set on advancing his business during his remaining time in Friartown. The team of juniors who started GoFor have diverse skillsets to better develop their business.
McIntyre and Sean Noonan ’21 are finance majors with business backgrounds and will handle the business operations and marketing for GoFor.
Ahmad Mims ’21 is a computer science and economics major who has skills in coding and works for the IT department at PC. With his strong digital skills, he is in the process of creating a GoFor app, which will help advance their business significantly.
McIntyre is currently building up GoFor’s brand image around campus, as his team has already logged 10 orders in their first week of business. He has his sights set on expanding the business to include grocery shopping for Friars who do not have enough time to go shopping on their own.
There is a demand for this service on campus, and McIntyre and his team are filling it. They even pick up food from some local restaurants for students who want it, as well as from food delivery services, to minimize their customers’ walks.
Though GoFor looks to make profits through their errand running, it is not all about making money. McIntyre is really looking forward to engaging with the Friar Family, providing a forum for GoFors and users to meet more people and form friendships they would never have had before.
Matthew Williams ’22 is very intrigued by the new Friartown business, especially because of his daily Dunkin’ coffees. Williams said, “I usually have a pretty busy schedule, so I would definitely use GoFor in the future. I hate waiting in the Dunkin line for my coffee, so this sounds right up my alley.”
McIntyre’s entrepreneurial spirit is another example of what makes Friartown so special. Great minds like the junior team at GoFor came together and used their diverse backgrounds and skills to create something unique. Friars are busy people, and McIntyre realized this and created a platform that will help students get any order that they want around or off campus without having to sacrifice precious time.
While this business is very young, the team of juniors hope to become a household name on campus. McIntyre is very excited for what the future holds and looks forward to continue growing his business.