members of knitting circles, and quilters willing to share the results of their art. The spark for Fran’s venture was struck in two locations. A year after Hurricane Katrina, she accompanied her 13-yearold son to New Orleans and Buras, Louisiana, for his Bar Mitzvah service project. Fran witnessed the enormous impact of the “fully functional emergency communities on entire families, but especially on the moms.” During an earlier vacation, she met a New Hampshire woman who had created her own service organization focused on new mothers. Fran was intrigued but recognized her limitations. “To really help people,” she says, “I needed to go back to school to be able to work this idea on a different tier.” She also wanted to differentiate her operation from others. The Baby Bureau was born, complete with Facebook page, Web site, and attractive logo designed by her daughter. Fran had earned an associate’s degree with courses taken in California, where she and husband Mark had lived, and later at Montgomery County Community College. She enrolled in CHC’s accelerated continuing studies program, attending class two nights a week and doubling up in her final two semesters. “The location was convenient, and the schedule workable.”
and Psi Chi (international honor society in psychology). At the SCPS graduation dinner, Fran was presented the Saint Marie Eugenie Milleret Award, given annually to a continuing and professional studies graduate who best exemplifies the educational traditions of the Religious of the Assumption, representing the qualities of its namesake: “a person of Dignity, Character, Passion, Humility, Intelligence and Vision.” Deeply touched by this honor, Fran says, “I talk to Saint Marie Eugenie all the time!” Fran’s volunteerism covers a variety of interests and causes, from an activity aide in the Alzheimer’s Unit of the Jewish Home for the Aged in San Francisco, to hospice companion locally, to sexual assault/victim advocate in Norristown, Pa. What’s next on Fran’s agenda? “I’m thinking a diaper bank.” And that chance meeting with Fran’s state representative? It was four months later she learned she had met the daughter of not only another Fran but also one with strong CHC ties. Pennsylvania State Representative Kate Harper is the daughter of Frances McCarron Harper ’48 and sister of Patricia Harper Petrozza, M.D. ’74. Attorney Tom Harper, Fran’s late husband, served on the College’s capital campaign Steering Committee in the late 1980s as well as on the President’s Council into the ’90s.
The most valuable, applicable course was Grant Writing. Putting studies into action, she wrote a successful grant proposal to the Willow Grove Foundation, which resulted in funds to purchase rattles and swaddles. While associating with churches, pre-schools, day cares, and the county health department, Fran’s Baby Bureau has also built strong ties with Abington Hospital and its Women’s Center. “The hospital’s staff determines the women’s needs. They’re at the front lines with these low-income women, they’re there at the baby’s birth, they know best where our baby bundles will be used best, and especially where they will make moms feel good and not so much that it’s charity.” Her intent is “to give it nicely, to make it special,” a sentiment she especially espouses from her experience as a teenage mother in her first marriage. The Baby Bureau is a family affair, as Fran’s daughter helps from her home in Memphis, where she and her husband recently welcomed their own daughter. Fran’s two sons are involved, too, as is her husband of 25 years. She glows as she continues that Mark, a sales director with ATEX and previously with Unisys, “is my biggest supporter.” While living in California, Fran worked at Genentech, Inc., providing administrative support for primary research physicians responsible for clinical trials of an AIDS vaccine. She also took on a special project of initiating, negotiating, and coordinating the biotech company’s one-year display of the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt panels. Her first Baby Bureau clothing drive took place at CHC in November 2011. “[Dean] Elaine Green, [Accelerated Director] Walter Childs, and the whole School of Continuing & Professional Studies are my Charter Halo Club,” Fran says. “We’ve gone from 10 deliveries to 15, to 66, and we want to service more!” Fran’s academic results are just as impressive. She earned her degree summa cum laude and was inducted into Alpha Sigma Lambda (national honor society for nontraditional adult students), Delta Epsilon Sigma (national scholastic honor society), Kappa Gamma Pi (national Catholic college graduate honor society),
Lucilla Ra’ifa
SCHOOL SCHOOL OF OF GRADUATE STUDIES GRADUATE STUDIES Lucilla D. Ra’ifa Residence: Newark, De. CHC Program: Principal Certification Undergraduate Education: B.S., Public Health, minor in Science Education, Temple University, 2001 Graduate Education: M.Ed., Eastern University, 2005 Employer: Mastery Charter School – Harrity Elementary, Philadelphia Current Position: Assistant Principal of Instruction