alumni news
What do sailing on Boston Harbor, swimming with manatees, visiting Disney World, and traveling to Barbados have to do with learning about leadership?
A lot, actually. All are signature experiences within Suffolk’s unique Journey Leadership Program, which celebrated its 15th anniversary last fall. In 2009, Dave DeAngelis—then director of Suffolk’s Office of Student Leadership & Involvement—literally launched the program with Friday afternoon sailing excursions on Boston Harbor. His goal: provide leadership training to undergraduates using resources in Suffolk’s own backyard.
“Sailing is a great opportunity to work as a team,” says DeAngelis, now an associate dean of students. “You have to have good communication. It also encourages students to take risks, like trying a role they’ve never had before.”
Since those first voyages, Journey has grown into a comprehensive experiential-learning program centered around four cornerstones: involvement, service, global thinking, and leadership. Through hands-on experiences, mentorship, and reflective learning, students not only discover their leadership potential, but also refine their abilities to lead with empathy, integrity, and a deep sense of purpose.
Over 400 students participate in Journey experiences each year, with about 120 actively progressing though the program during their time at Suffolk. “Anyone can be part of the Journey Program,” DeAngelis explains. “It’s like leadership by design. You can partake in different level programs, or do a few activities, depending on what works for you.”
During Journey’s Leadership Winter Break in Florida, students learn empathy and compassion through “Kind Play” exercises, which they then practice by swimming and gently interacting with manatees in their habitat. That’s followed by a three-day leadership development program offered by Disney. Other trips, like the Global Leadership Exchange in Barbados, provide students who can’t afford longer study abroad programs with an international experience and the chance to learn firsthand about the country’s history and culture.
Each trip is designed with specific learning outcomes, but participants gain much more. “You get to meet a diverse set of students who are involved in different parts of the University,” says senior Clinton Oreofe, a recent Barbados participant. “We build bonds and connections. That’s really transformational.”
Ali Rera, another senior and Barbados participant, agrees. “We all have different majors,” she says, “but we come together with the common goal of wanting to make a difference, to lead people, and create community.”
Journey has become a program that serves participants far beyond Suffolk. As Monica Caggiano, BS ’16, now a lead radiation therapist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, puts it, “Perhaps the greatest lesson I took from the Journey Program is that ‘leader’ is just a title. The true measure of leadership lies in the actions we take to bring people together, inspire change, and get the job done.”
Return to Table of Contents
spring 2025
Alumni. staff, and students gather to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the Journey Leadership Program.
By Kathleen Peets
