Santa Clara University Alumni Honor Four for Community Service; Annual Ignatian Awards Given to Men and Women Who Reflect Jesuit Ideals

Business Wire, April 27, 2004

News Editors/Business Editors/Education Writers

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 27, 2004

Two women and two men -- from Los Angeles, San Jose, San Diego, and Seattle -- have been honored for their outstanding community service by the Santa Clara University Alumni Association.

The alumni association of the 153-year-old Jesuit, Catholic university bestowed its highest honors, the 24th annual Ignatian Awards, on these men and women whose lives reflect the Jesuit ideals of excellence, judgment, worldliness, and service.

The 2004 winners are:

-- Kathleen Anderson, '72, who leads an inner city tutoring

program in Los Angeles

-- Michelle Benedetto, '97, who created a youth outreach project

at the Legal Aid Society of San Diego

-- Philip Ernstrom, '52, a retired physician and surgeon who

volunteers with Habitat for Humanity in Santa Clara County

-- Brian Mack, '92, a teacher who volunteers with disabled adults

and organized an annual community service day in Seattle

As an active participant in the SCU Alumni for Others program, Anderson leads the annual Inner City Tutoring Program in Los Angeles, Calif. In this program, SCU alumni and friends tutor inner-city students preparing for the Catholic high school entrance exam. In this last year alone, more than 300 students from 30 inner-city middle schools in the Los Angeles area benefited from this program.

She is also executive director of the Catholic Education Foundation for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

Benedetto, who created a youth outreach project at the Legal Aid Society of San Diego, Calif., is an Equal Justice Works Fellow at the Legal Aid Society of San Diego, where she created the Youth Outreach Project. Through clinics in drop-in centers and soup kitchens, the project provides direct civil legal services to emancipated youth and youth aging out of foster care.

The project is the first of its kind in the nation, and it has sparked interest in many other large cities. While a student at SCU, Benedetto ran a program for homeless teens.

Ernstrom is a retired physician who worked as a general surgeon at Valley Medical Center and O'Connor Hospital in San Jose, Calif., for 30 years. Since 1995, Ernstrom has volunteered with Habitat for Humanity, where he works at the construction sites, trains and mentors new volunteers, and serves as chair of the building committee.

Ernstrom is also a dedicated volunteer and supporter of his parish, St. Mary's in Los Gatos, where he serves as a lector, eucharistic minister, and RCIA sponsor. Ernstrom's daughters, Natalee '81 and Patricia '88, say their father's "character and commitment to lifelong learning, spirituality, and community service exemplify the Ignatian ideals central to Santa Clara's educational philosophy."

After graduating from SCU, Brian Mack worked for two years in the Jesuit Volunteer Corps in Seattle, Wash., serving first as an advocate for the homeless at the Downtown Emergency Service Center and then as a teacher at Seattle Preparatory High School.

During that second year, Mack began working with developmentally disabled adults through the L'Arche Community in Seattle, and he continues to volunteer there today. For several years, Mack has helped coordinate the Interfaith Peace and Justice Center's "Seattle Urban Plunge," an annual community service day. At Seattle Prep, Mack coordinates community service programs, creates "urban plunge" service days, leads spring break Habitat for Humanity projects, facilitates retreats, organizes food, clothing, and blood drives, and teaches in the classroom.

About Santa Clara University

Santa Clara University, a comprehensive Jesuit, Catholic university located in California's Silicon Valley, offers its 8,047 students rigorous undergraduate curricula in arts and sciences, business, and engineering, plus master's and law degrees. Distinguished nationally by the third-highest graduation rate among all U.S. master's universities, California's oldest higher-education institution demonstrates faith-inspired values of ethics and social justice. More information is online at www.scu.edu.