York College Alumna Helps Other Young Leaders Find Their Footing
Through a York County Economic Foundation grant, Catherine Roque ’18 ensured that diverse members of the York community received leadership training and became civically engaged.
Catherine Roque ’18 is an important thread in the fabric of the York community. She grew up in the city, graduated from York College of Pennsylvania, and went on to serve on several boards in York. But when she looked at her fellow board members, she didn’t always see a reflection of her diverse community, and few, if any, members were around her age.
Roque had received support through the York College Community Opportunity Scholarship Program, which helped propel and prepare her, opening doors to the business community. Rather than close those doors behind her, she flung them open, applying for and receiving a grant to help others from York City get training and support to engage in civic life.
Support from York College
Roque’s introduction to the College’s scholarship program resulted from tagging along to career development events with her older sister, Johanna. YCCOSP provides enrichment and support for selected William Penn Senior High School students and a full scholarship to York College. Roque followed in her sister’s footsteps and was accepted into the program during her junior year of high school.
Leadership development, volunteerism, and civic engagement are pillars of the program.
“Giving back was very much ingrained into everything I did,” says Roque.
Through the program, she learned to network and connect with the York business community. At a networking event, she met the CEO and President of the York County Economic Alliance, where Roque would work after graduating with a bachelor’s degree in Marketing.
At YCEA, she participated in Leadership York’s Leadership Training Program, which taught her the importance of serving on a board and helped connect her to boards on which she would eventually serve as a member.
The more involved Roque became in the business community, the more she realized she was seeing the same faces on boards of directors.
“I didn’t see people in my generation so much connected to their roots or giving back,” she says.
Leadership York had been a bridge to board membership for her. What if she could help build that bridge for other YCCOSP alumni?
Paying it forward
Roque set to work, applying for and receiving a racial equity grant through the York County Economic Foundation that provided three years of funding for six people from York to go through the Leadership Training Program.
For Roque, it’s important to make sure other people get the support she enjoyed.
“I’ve received a lot of blessings in my life,” she says. “If once all those blessings are out there and we take them and then we don’t try to give back, eventually the well is going to dry up.”
Helping other YCCOSP alumni become involved is just one way that Roque is giving back. She also mentors students in the scholarship program.
“The more people that are invested in the community, the better it will get,” she says.
Maintaining the momentum
Roque works as a multimedia designer for The Revel Collective, which operates premium bars and pubs, but she remains engaged in board work and is a past president of Leadership York’s board. She intends to continue her support of YCCOSP to make sure that students from York have the opportunities to give back as she has.
“Where you’ve received it’s always good to give back,” she says.
Roque also hopes to create a fund in memory of her father or her sister, who passed away just before Roque’s sophomore year at the College.
“I would love to somehow continue to make sure that YCCOSP is still around, to somehow pour into that because it’s a very important program and I feel like it definitely adds to the success of York City, York County, and beyond,” she says.
For more information, visit the YCCOSP webpage or email YCCOSP@ycp.edu.
