From Volunteer to Engineer
THP recognizes John Fiorenza (THP Volunteer '99-'00) with the 2009 Volunteers' Volunteer Award.
As John Fiorenza was finishing up his senior year at Notre Dame in 1999, his long-term vision was to go to graduate school for electrical engineering. And although his mailbox was stuffed with acceptance letters to various engineering schools, something was calling him in a different direction. While researching service opportunities, John found out about The Haitian Project and immediately felt drawn to Louverture Cleary. One of his friends, after being told about the opportunity, told John he had never seen him so excited. With graduate school on hold, John boarded a plane to Port-au-Prince, LCS bound.
At first, John felt totally out of his element in Haiti. There was a new language, new food, and a new culture to learn about, not to mention a new job. John dedicated himself to teaching his classes with impressive energy. Outside the classroom, he continued to build relationships with his students by helping them with their homework and joining them in frequent games of soccer and basketball. He became a trusted figure on campus, someone to whom students could always turn.
John changed a lot during his Volunteer year. He learned to cook, learned to bargain for his produce and learned that things he took for granted as normal were not, in fact, universal. But over the year, John changed Louverture Cleary as well. He helped build the LCS science lab and taught the first lab science classes on campus, bringing hands-on experience into the classroom. He taught his students the value of hard work and good study habits, and the invaluable feeling that they were worth his leaving the comfort zone of family and home country.
After his Volunteer year, John returned to his original plan of becoming an electrical engineer. Ten years later, Dr. John Fiorenza now lives in Massachusetts where he designs chips for the Linear Technology Corporation. The Haitian Project hasn’t been forgotten, however. John credits THP with changing his world view and making him a more effective teacher and team member in his work. He continues to support the THP, and to help build community among supporters and volunteers with his presence at THP gatherings and his continued concern for the future of Louverture Cleary and its students. This year, The Haitian Project honored John with its Volunteers’ Volunteer award, in recognition of all he has done to further the education and brighten the futures of students in Haiti. Congratulations, John, and many thanks for all the hard work!
