Alumni Spotlight

UNDERGRAD STATS:

• Criminal Justice major • Student Government • Programming Committee • Phi Beta Lambda business fraternity • Criminal Justice Association • Admissions Ambassador • Hawks Baseball • 1996 Hilbert’s Man of the Year

ALUMNI STATS:

• Member, Board of Trustees, 2013-2016 • Member, Alumni Association

Board 2006-2010 • Member, Hilbert 2025

Advisory Council • Jason C. Luna Scholarship

Endowed Fund • Adjunct Professor, Criminal

Justice • Hawks Under 40 inaugural honoree (2013) • Professional Success

Program, Dress for Success event (2004 and 2006) • Owner, Jason C. Luna PLLC

ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT: Jason C. Luna, Esq., ‘96

“Hilbert College is the best kept secret.”

“It’s a funny story,” said Jason Luna ’96, of his first experience with Hilbert College . He was a high school senior out with his mom on a trip to a mall department store . As they waited in line, their conversation turned to Jason’s visit to the law office where his mom was a paralegal. In chatting with each of the firm’s four lawyers about college ideas, one mentioned Hilbert College . He said the soon-to-be four-year college would be a great local option for Jason, an aspiring lawyer, to start his higher education path . Then the woman in front of them turned, with business card already in-hand .

“She said, ‘Did you say Hilbert?’—and it was Bea Slick, the Hilbert College Director of Admissions,” Jason recalled . She personally set up a tour and when Jason saw the campus, he fell in love .

“Smaller schools are so great,” said Jason . He was accustomed to small class sizes at Buffalo City Honors high school, so he was deliberate

about choosing a small college while large Ivy League schools were heavily recruiting among his classmates .

Jason was sold on Hilbert College . “I loved the small campus and even the modest library—which housed a law library that I learned was actually in-use by local lawyers,” he said . “Hilbert College was this ‘best kept secret’ and truly a great fit for me.”

Jason was admitted to the Class of 1996, Hilbert College’s first class to graduate with four-year degrees . For him, the Hilbert difference was twofold: relationships and practical class instruction . Of the latter, he was both impressed and grateful that many of his criminal justice professors had lengthy careers in their fields, such as former investigators and federal agents . That advantage was evident even as he entered graduate school .

“I truly feel that I learned more [at Hilbert] than I did in law school about many of the issues I deal with now in private practice,” Jason said .

After graduating from SUNY Buffalo Law School, Jason worked as an Erie County assistant district attorney before opening his own personal injury firm in 2005.

The other Hilbert difference for Jason are the relationships he has grown to cherish, both as a student and as an alum . He fondly recalls being part of the student programming committee and touring other campuses with the group’s advisor, then-Vice President for Student Life John Kissel . It was during those early-1990s tours to preview lecturers, musical groups, and other performers that the student group would note the best features of other campus’s buildings . Their feedback was valuable input for the committee designing what would become Franciscan “Fran” Hall, built in 1997 .

Jason was busy on the Hilbert campus involved in academics, activities, and athletics, while working full time at UPS . Therefore, it comes as no surprise that he has been just as involved in Hilbert life as an alum .

“I’ve always agreed to teach classes or speak whenever I’m invited,” Jason said . In the three years he taught it, Jason’s Introduction to Law and Justice class grew from a handful of students to a maxed class of 35 . He attributes the slow start to the early class time and the later success to the care he put into planning lessons that were engaging and practical .

“I used media to draw them in, and it worked to keep their interest,” Jason said . Using clips from the television series “To Catch a Predator,” for example, made the concept of ‘attempted crimes’ more insteresting .

Twenty five years later, Jason continues to stay involved . In 2009, he established the Jason C . Luna Endowed Scholarship Fund to financially support qualifying Criminal Justice majors so that they can be fully involved in campus life . (The scholarship is awarded to a second- or third-year student with a 3 .0 GPA, who is active in a club/organization on campus, and who demonstrates pride in Hilbert College) . He has also volunteered his time and talent to college governance by serving on the Board of Trustees, on the Alumni Board, and most recently by joining the Hilbert 2025 Advisory Council .

He does it all to give back to his first alma mater and the faculty and staff who, he observes, invest their lives in Hilbert . He knows their care for him as a person made a difference throughout his education and professional career .

Case in point: when Jason took the bar exam, three years out of Hilbert, College President Sister Edmunette Paczesny, FSSJ, Ph .D ., had his name added to the Prayer Wall . He passed on the first try.

“You don’t get that at any other school,” said Jason . “Hilbert truly becomes a part of you . ”