Saturday, March 30, it was announced that senior accounting andMBA student, Joseph DiLica has earned a one year fellowship with the Newman Civic Fellowship in honor of his community service work. DiLuca has earned this achievement by partnering with his Greek Life organization, Sigma Tau Chi. Together, DiLuca lead the way to bring support to issues such as cancer awareness and the dangers of food allergies. DiLuca is one of 268 students nationwide that have been announced as a Newman Civic Fellow for the 2018-19 school year.

The announcement was made by Campus Compact, a nonprofit organization based in Boston. Campus Compact is made up of more than 1,000 colleges and universities nationwide all working together to raise the value of a college education while improving the quality of life on campus.

Campus Compact awards the Newman Civic Fellowship to college students who have been committed to helping out their communities by working toward finding solutions that plague their communities. To be accepted for the Fellowship, the student must first be nominated by their school’s president or chancellor.

Programming Assistant of Campus Compact Jamez Anderson expressed how pleased the organization was to be working with DiLuca this upcoming year.

“Joseph DiLuca was an outstanding candidate for this honor,” Anderson said. “And we at Campus Compact are happy to work with him for the next year of his fellowship experience.”

As excited as Campus Compact was excited to work with DiLuca, he was even more ecstatic to begin his fellowship next year.

“This meant more to me than the other 267 people awarded the Newman Civic Fellowship,” DiLuca said.

The award meant so much to DiLuca because it was in honor of his late cousin, Giovanni. When writing to Campus Compact, DiLuca spoke about the tragedy he experienced when he lost his 14-year-old cousin to anaphylactic shock because of a peanut allergy.

After this tragedy, DiLuca made it his personal mission to save at least one life from a preventable death due to food allergy. This led to DiLuca partnering with his fraternity to begin fundraising for the “Love for Giovanni Foundation,” which is an organization created by Giovanni’s mother. Its main purpose is to build awareness around the dangers of food allergies.

It was four years ago that DiLuca’s cousin passed away, but he still strives to create awareness so no one else has to suffer through the same tragedy that he went through himself.

“I knew he was gone, but I refused to let his legacy die,” DiLuca said. “My initial goal was to save one family and one child from the preventable death, it has grown to something so much greater.”

DiLuca’s work is not only spoken about on campus, but all around the world.

DiLuca said he proud of the work he has done and how much he has accomplished over the past year. DiLuca plans on using his Newman Civic Fellowship to advance the effects of his work for the Love for Giovanni Foundation and said he looks forward to completing his college education next year.

Photo provided by Jim Russell ’83 | SUNY Oswego