By: Danielle Cort
Posted In: Entertainment
Photo credit: Kevin Canessa Jr.
Prompted by a recent “Mosaic” article, Kevin Canessa Jr., 1997 Salve graduate and professional blogger, wrote of his experiences as an undergraduate and how Sister Therese Antone’s university involvement has strengthened his appreciation of his alma mater.
With majors in English Journalism and Administration of Justice, Canessa has made a name for himself in the media circuit. Co-founder of what is now Salve’s student newspaper, Canessa rekindles old memories and recounts his days as a “Mosaic” editor. Q: To start, why Salve Regina? A: I started off my undergraduate studies at Seton Hall University in South Orange, N.J. Being a student there was awful. Students were Social Security numbers, not people. I knew of Salve because a history teacher of mine told me if he could do it all over again, it would have been at Salve. I never forgot that, and when I was considering a transfer, it was Salve or nowhere else. Q: How did you first get involved with SRU’s first student newspaper and where did the “Mosaic” truly begin? A: The beginning of the “Mosaic” is extensive. In the summer of 1994, I was invited to a summer leadership conference that all members of what was then the Student Life Senate were asked to attend. It was strange – we were having lunch at Global Café at Wakehurst, and by pure fate, I ate with Sister Leona Misto. Somehow, we got to talking, and I told her that I was disappointed there wasn’t a student-run newspaper. In the past, there had been a newspaper at Salve, called “The Nautilus.” But it fizzled out over the years. Sister Leona told me that Sister Therese, who had just taken over as University President, would be delighted to have a student-run newspaper at Salve. At first, I was on my own. Through Dr. Chris Kiernan, I secured funding to print 500 copies of the first student newspaper in 1994 late or 1995 – I can’t remember precisely. To say it was awful would be an understatement. There wasn’t a name for it yet, so the masthead simply said “A Student Newspaper,” and it was printed on grey paper through the publications department at Salve. Steve Criss, ’97, was the only other person to write stories along with me. And it looked like something you’d see in the late 1800s. There were no photos. There was nothing consistent about it. But it was there – and people picked it up. It was also stuffed in student mailboxes. Sue Letourneau and I spent an afternoon putting them in the boxes. After the first edition, there was little interest among student writers. So I got frustrated, and it turned out to be the only edition of that year. But Steve Criss, who was a computer genius – actually, he was an all-around genius – asked me if he could take over the publication, since he had extensive layout experience using Quark XPress. I obliged. At first, we were co-editors. We called a meeting at the start of the 1995-1996 year, and got a much greater response of people. We actually had the meeting in the International Room. Our first goal was to come up with a name for the newspaper, and it was Kristin Ricci, ’98, who, for some reason, suggested The Mosaic – she envisioned a news-mag style publication. That year, there were numerous issues. I stepped back, and took on the role of columnist. I wrote a column called “Around the U.” Were it not for Steve’s willingness to step up, I often wonder if the paper would have ever taken off. And, were it not for my having a simple chat with Sister Leona, I wonder the same. The “Mosaic” took off – but it wasn’t until we graduated in 1997 that it really took shape. Considering how new the Internet was in ’97 and before, we never could have envisioned it would have become an online publication. But that’s the trend in the field right now. A tangible newspaper is nice. But it’s hardly enough in this world. People need and want their news immediately, and waiting for a publication to be printed – well, that just doesn’t cut it mostly. It is amazing to see that was once a small, photo-less newspaper, is now a model college newspaper. I am so proud to see what it has become. And I take even greater pride knowing that my simple conversation with Sister Leona that day in 1994 led to all of this becoming a reality. Q: What did you do right out of college? What has your career path been like since then until now? A: Well, right out of college, the print journalism market was in flux because of the Internet. We had no idea what was coming. I couldn’t find a journalism position, so I took a teaching job at St. Anthony’s High School, in Jersey City, N.J. The school is a basketball poweress, and the team is currently ranked No. 1 in America. They used to play Rogers High School each year in Newport. I was there for several years, and taught also at Oratory Prep in Summit, N.J. I was the campus minister there, too. I also worked as a youth minister at two parishes for many years. But I still missed being a journalist. Having worked for the Jersey Journal in Jersey City, N.J. in numerous capacities pre- and post-Salve, I decided I wanted to go back into the field. I took a job as Managing Editor of two weeklies in Bloomfield, N.J., and then went on to become Editor of The Observer, of Kearny, N.J. – my hometown. I spent two years there and spearheaded incredible changes to the newspaper, including a complete redesign. Right now, I am a full-time blogger, and I don’t know how long it’ll last. It’s hardly an economic joy. But it’s incredibly fun to be able to shape a “publication,” if you will, the way I want it to be. I also have a chance to write columns on a regular basis, and that’s my strongest talent as a journalist. When I was a student at Salve, I was very conservative. Dr. Mike DiMaio used to call me “Rush.” But he swore, one day, that like him, I’d go from being a conservative to a liberal Democrat like he did. He last voted for a Republican in 1968 – Richard Nixon. Well, he was right. I, too, went through a change in life, and now, like Dr. DiMaio, I consider myself a bleeding-hearted liberal as he is. If you’re reading this, Doc, I haven’t voted Republican since 2000. I also try to report that which other agencies don’t report. And I mix it up with other local and national items – and news on my favorite hockey team, the New Jersey Devils. Q: What attracted you to the story in our last issue on Sister Therese becoming Chancellor? A: I was surprised to learn Sister Therese was stepping down as President. While I was a student, I never appreciated what Sister did for the school – and in fact, I took every chance I could to be critical of the hard decisions she was making to improve the school in every facet. Her “retirement” is going to be felt immediately – and whomever it is who replaces her will have enormous shoes to fill. There is also one other person I’d like to give a lot of credit to, also. She’s a woman who is often forgotten because of the unprecedented recent growth of Salve . and that person is former President Sister Lucille McKillop. Were it not for Sister Lucille’s leadership in the ’70s through the early ’90s, Salve might not even be open today. She fought so hard for 20 years to ensure the school’s doors always remained open. I miss her tremendously. And I am sure anyone who was around Salve before 1994 could tell you what a wonderful person she was – and how wonderful her sister, Sister Rosalina McKillop, was too. As for Sister Therese’s departure as president – I hope the students realize her efforts may not be something you appreciate today. It’s down the road, when you’re finished at Salve, that they’ll really be felt. She is a treasure, and a true model of what a Sister of Mercy should be. Mother Catherine McAuley would be proud of her work – and I know, for sure, that I am. Kevin’s Blog Entry: In response to Kristen Tomaiolo’s “President M. Therese Antone, University Chancellor in 2009,” February 2008 print edition… Allow me, if you will, to tell a story about a magnificent woman, whose name is Sister M. Therese Antone, R.S.M. Sister Therese is the President of Salve Regina University, where I did my undergraduate studies in English-Journalism, and where I also studied the administration of justice. I first knew of Sister Therese in September 1994, when I received a letter from her. I was beginning my sophomore year at Salve, so to get a letter with a return address from the university president was somewhat frightening. But the contents weren’t frightening at all. The note was an invitation to be the official representative from the State of New Jersey at Sister Therese’s inauguration as the school’s new president. I was beyond honored to be this special ambassador. Each of the states where students came from had an official rep – I want to say 22 states were represented at that time. And, for her inauguration, I proudly carried the state flag of New Jersey in the procession and recessional. What made the day even more special was that there were quite a few other dignitaries in the procession, too. There was Sen. Claiborne Pell, Sen. Jack Reed, U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy (Teddy’s son). There was Bishop Louis Gelineau, the bishop of Providence. I can’t remember for sure, but I think even Rhode Island Gov. Linc Almond was also present for the inauguration. Regardless, it was a day filled with pomp and circumstance like I’ve never seen before. All these years later, it still remains one of the most enjoyable days in all my years at Salve. Yet what happened not too long after Sister Therese’s inauguration is what, looking back, might have been the biggest error of all my years at the school. Because it was then, the beginning of three long years, that I did everything within my means, to challenge Sister Therese and all the changes she was bringing to the University. At the time, I thought she was making huge errors in judgment. Now, 13-plus years later, I look back and see Sister Therese has been a remarkable university president, and an even better living example of Christ on earth. At first, I couldn’t understand how Sister could have fired a priest – which she did do that year. I couldn’t understand why she changed the school’s logo to differ it from the school’s shield. I couldn’t understand why or how she could make wholesale changes to the people who ran different departments. And perhaps it was just that she did a lot of this so fast. But hey, she’s the woman with the doctorate. She’s the woman who is a Sister of Mercy. She’s a woman who had been part of the Salve campus from one time or another since 1958, when she came from Cumberland, R.I. to Newport, R.I. as an incoming freshman. And she’s the woman who, since 1994, ran Salve Regina University with distinction, class and superb Christian class. And now, a year from May, she’ll be stepping down as president to take on a new role as the school’s first-ever chancellor. In the time since she took over as president, succeeding one of the nicest nuns you’ll ever meet – Sister Lucille McKillop – she’s done more to change the school for the better than anyone could have ever imagined. First, she did the unthinkable. She built the school’s first-ever on-campus athletic center. For years, indoor winter sports teams had to play games off campus, in high school gyms. Under her leadership, she built a wonderful gymnasium, one of the best you’ll ever find on the campus of an NCAA Division III school. It has a track. It has a weight room. It has meeting space. And it has an athletic hall of fame for former Salve athletes. No one ever imagined this kind of building would be possible to build on the campus, especially since the City of Newport’s Historic Preservation Committee is perhaps the strictest of any of its kind in all of America. Yet she did it. And the committee approved the plans. She was off to an amazing start just a few years into her tenure as president. She brought to the school, after lobbying the United States Congress and President Bill Clinton, the Pell Center for International Relations. She renovated Ochre Court, one of the most beautiful pieces of architecture in the country (fans of the movie “True Lies” will recall the building as part of the film). She tightened admissions standards, and now, the average SAT score is more than 200 points higher that it was in 1994. She used the phrase: “The enduring power of vision . pathway to the future” as her inaugural slogan. And boy did she ever show that if one person has vision, it does lead to amazing things in the future. I don’t know the numbers for sure, but I do know she also raised the school’s endowment from almost nothing to one that is extremely respectable. The best of all of this is that she did it all under the eye of the Lord. And she will go down as one of the greatest assets in university history. I know I gave Sister Therese a really hard time for three years. Once, after she hired a vice president from Fordham University in Dr. Judy Mills, I asked if she had plans to rename the school Fordham Regina University? There were times I wrote letters to the editor of The Newport Daily News critical of her policy. I wrote columns in the “Mosaic,” a newspaper I founded at Salve (and heck, it was Sister Therese who encouraged me to start the newspaper). And yes, I even resigned from the honor society Sigma Phi Sigma because it was the university president’s honor society. Yet those were different days. I was 20, 21, and 22 during those years. What the heck did I know about the world? I thought that because I adored her predecessor, I had the right to criticize everything she did. Sure, I had the right to exercise my freedom of speech. But as all of this was happening, it clouded my sight. Because for three years, I didn’t see all the good she was doing. I didn’t see that what she was doing was actually making the university a better place, not just for the students there, but for the alumni, too. Now, when I mention Salve Regina University, people sometimes even know what I am talking about – and don’t make a perverted joke about the school’s name. Yeah, it’s not Harvard. It’s not Yale. It’s not Oxford. It might never be. Then again, who would want that arrogance and elitism? But what Salve Regina University is, now, is a place people from all over the country can look at, consider – and know that today, in 2008, it’s a lot better off than it was in 1994. And for an alum like me who never gave Sister Therese a chance when I was a student there, I take even greater pleasure saying today that I couldn’t have been more wrong. And to Sister M. Therese Antone, my hat is off in awe. You have made Salve Regina University a better place in every possible way. Salve Regina University might never be the same again without her. Check out Kevin’s blog at http://thecanessacorner.blogspot.com/. It has it all.
