At the end of the previous school year, ENC announced that Priscilla Ozodo and Andrew Gray would not be returning as the campus Resident Directors. After a slight rearranging of roles in the SDO department, ENC students saw the familiar faces of Tyler Oats and Lis Moreau remain, but they also saw fellow student Joanna Joseph take on the role of RD for the Young Apartments as a new RD. However, there are two unfamiliar faces in the SDO office: Jaynani Cababat and Matthew Galiano-Williams. So we thought you’d like to get to know a little more about them.
Jaynani Cababat, the Resident Director of Spange and Willy Halls, travelled to ENC from the West Coast. With a passion for nature, fostering relationships, loving people, and being active, Cababat brings a relaxed and fun vibe to our campus. She is currently working towards her M.S. in Management, and is hopeful that it will open unlimited doors for her in the future.
Cababat noted that she appreciates the Residential Life’s theme of “creating a culture that cares” for this school year, as it is something important to her. Before making the move to ENC, she spent a year working at a non-profit organization to benefit low-income families, and her passion for people and helping them to be their best clearing shows. Cababat cited Wonder Woman as her favorite super hero simply because of how empowering the recent film-release was, calling Wonder Woman “a beast.” Super Woman’s caring attitude towards everyone also made Cababat feel a certain level of connection with her. “I didn’t come here to be some untouchable, high resident director person that seemed like a boss,” remarked Cababat. “I came here to build more relationships and to be a part of a new community.” One piece of advice she has for students is to “find your sweet thing in your sweet spot.” It is important for students to care for themselves and “find what fills [them] up.”
Matthew Galiano-Williams, the new RD of Shields and Memorial Halls, is a native of New Jersey. Galiano-Williams mentioned his love for the wilderness as a significant part of who he is, noting that he spent his past two summers leading 20-day wilderness trips in Wyoming. However, Galiano-Williams said these trips were not only for appreciating the wilderness, their focus was on spiritual development and connection.
Galiano-Williams’ love for wilderness and involvement in wilderness education has been a crucial part of his overall aspiration to educate and his desire to be “someone that gives hope to kids and renews their identity.” Continuing, Galiano-Williams stated, “[I want to let them] see what their purpose is or how much strength that they have.” Willing to bring his passion to our campus, Galiano-Williams noted that he would love to lead hiking trips with ENC students at some point.
Galiano-Williams imparted some advice for the students he works with, stating, “Inevitably, when you’re in college, there’s times when the world seems so big. When there’s so much to do, when you’re overwhelmed and tired, and it seems like you can not get everything done, seek help and let people help you, because there’s so many people here that want to support you.”
It is clear that both Cababat and Galiano-Williams care deeply about people and are passionate about helping others. Their unique passions and perspectives bring a positive change to our community and will aid in the building of relationships, which has the wonderful potential to create meaningful change.