Students and Alumni | Leo T. McCarthy Center for Public Service and the Common Good

Mentoring The Next Generation

Koa Fong ’25 Finance major is dedicated to social justice, Chinese-American activism, and the Jesuit values of USF. She is a member of the USF Rising Youth Mentorship program, which demonstrates how our country’s education needs the help of young people to show the way. During the 2023-2024 year, Koa helped middle school and high…

Meet Our 2024 USF in DC Fellows

We are pleased to announce our group of 8 students who will join us in the Fall for our USF in Washington, D.C. program. They range from various backgrounds, have diverse interests, and a common thread and dedication to public service. Currently they are exploring opportunities for internships in our nation’s capitol. Any support and…

Building Financial Foundations for Youth

Leatitia Ngandu ’25 worked as a Summer Financial Literacy intern this summer, a program where teaching financial literacy skills to youth is essential to growth and development. When discussing the importance of financial literacy, we often focus on its significance for college students and beyond, assuming they need these skills before entering the “real world.”…

Civic Engagement Through an Outsider’s Lens

Franchesca Rugayan ’26 Politics major, started her political engagement early on in the Philippines, knowing that voter engagement was on the forefront of her mind. This summer as a McCarthy Fellow in Sacramento worked at the California Democratic Party, furthering her passion for advocacy. My application process for the McCarthy Fellows in Sacramento program began…

Congratulations to our ’24-’25 Holstein Scholars

Congratulations to our 2024-25 Robert Holstein Memorial Scholarship awardees. The scholarship is awarded to students who are deeply committed to scholarship, public service, and policy-making programs for the common good. Read the profiles our five deserving recipients, who are participating in one or multiple programs including the Public Service and Community Engagement Minor, USFVotes, Community…

The Light of the West End is in the Bayview

Traveling 3,000 miles away from home, Ashton Green ’26 , has been able to find his home away from home. Through the McCarthy Center’s Equity Intern program, he feels a close relationship between his hometown Atlanta, Georgia, and educating the youth of our future. Slowly intertwining within the Bayview community through this opportunity made me…

My Passion for Education

This summer, Equity Intern Kennidie shares how her work with young Power Scholars in the Western Addition has provided an opportunity to question her future role as an educator, the education system, and the teaching work field. Her recent classroom experience here and in her ancestral homeland of Guam reinforce her belief in the need…

Helping to Reach New Heights

Maxwell Ayiko Edmonds Drati, a rising senior majoring in Politics and minoring in African American Studies is spending his summer working at USF’s McCarthy Center as an Equity Intern. With a mission to diminish the education gap in San Francisco, Maxwell is dedicated to supporting marginalized communities in the Bay Area. His work at Rosa…