Thomas Waters
Class of 2011
Life Before SBU
A student in New York’s High School of Economics and Finance, near Ground Zero, Waters witnessed the fall of the World Trade Centers. He transferred to Frederick Douglas Academy in Harlem and was diagnosed with leukemia his sophomore year. Still in treatment as a senior, the year was “pretty hectic, pretty stressful.” He received college acceptances, “but I didn’t have the $200 for the deposit fee.” Learning of HEOP, he submitted a second round of applications just a couple of months before graduation. Many HEOP programs were already full, but not that of “a little school named St. Bonaventure.”
Life at SBU
Now cancer-free and determined to earn a 3.5 GPA his first semester in order to declare as a pre-med major, he got the grades, but the cancer came back. He was forced to take the next two years off as he underwent high-dose chemotherapy. Margaret Bryner, then HEOP director at SBU, didn’t forget him. “She’d visit when she came to New York on recruitment trips,” said Waters. “And she told me that whenever you’re ready, we will have a place for you.”
He returned to campus in fall 2008, happy to be back at “the school with the friars and the intimate feel,” and thankful for the “encouragement and motivation” of the HEOP staff. Encouraged to give back, he became a peer tutor and volunteered at the Warming House soup kitchen.
Waters was a member of the Poetry Club and served as a resident assistant for three semesters. He earned a bachelor’s degree in biology and was named the Ideal Bonaventure Man for his class.
Life After SBU
A few days after graduating, Waters went to Spain and Portugal through St. Bonaventure’s study abroad program. He earned a master’s in higher education and student affairs administration from Buffalo State College in 2014, and completed a competitive internship at Brock University in St. Catherines, Ontario, Canada. After working in Buffalo for a year, he moved to Baltimore, Md., where he works for the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, as a community director in a first-year student residential community. He was married in 2017. Long term, he aspires to be a motivational speaker, “sharing my story of success, survivorship, resilience, and finding your identity.”
Reflecting on HEOP and SBU
“I didn’t realize it, but I was really unprepared for college,” said Waters. Attending HEOP’s summer bridge program was “sort of an aha moment for me. HEOP made me see that I need to humble myself and take the steps necessary to make sure I’m successful in my endeavors.” In addition, “I think my heart for service was borne out of HEOP,” he said, noting he volunteers yearly with the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program.