The schedule on Caitlin Cronin’s iPhone shows her many roles.

Blue indicates her commitments as a Syracuse University Engagement Fellow. Orange is schoolwork. Purple symbolizes Phi Sigma Pi, a national honors fraternity. Green marks personal events – time with her boyfriend, appointments and others. And brown is for everything else.

‘If I didn’t have my planner, I’d forget everything,’ Cronin said. ‘I’d forget my head if it wasn’t attached to my body.

As an Engagement Fellow, Cronin landed a project coordinator position for the Office of the University Performing Arts Presenter, or Arts Engage. She works on incorporating art into the city and spreading events beyond Syracuse’s borders.

Amid her hectic schedule, Cronin’s main project with Arts Engage is a documentary-esque theater production titled ‘Cry for Peace: Voices from the Congo.’ It chronicles the lives of Congolese refugees from Central New York, where more than 200 live.

Cronin traveled to New York City this year for International Women’s Day with Carole Brzozowski, university arts presenter. They listened to Congolese women recall their war-torn homeland. 

‘In the Congo, it’s not like a regular war where there are only two warring tribes. There’s more than 12 warring factions in the Congo,’ Cronin said. ‘In the Syracuse Congolese community, you could be living next door to someone whose faction killed a member of their family.’

Cronin, who never studied Africa before the project began in August, felt it could show growing unity among Congolese communities. After writing the play’s script, Cronin took the project to Georgetown University to increase awareness.Cronin offered to travel to the Republic of the Congo with Brzozowski.

‘She’s a beautiful example of humility and humbleness,’ Brzozowski said. ‘She shows that you can be invested in good work and understand that you matter and you can make a difference without being egotistical.’

Cronin’s work has impressed Brzozowski, who said Cronin can throw herself into a project despite the other commitments crowding her planner.

‘She’s so surprising because she has so many responsibilities, but it’s clear that she is engaged and a part of it, working on a personal level with a lot of the projects,’ Brzozowski said. She cited a time when Cronin danced as one of the main performers with dance company Dance Exchange.

Even though this is her fourth year on campus, Cronin is technically an alumna. She finished her undergraduate degree – majoring in international relations and geography – in three years. She studied abroad for two of those semesters. She currently takes graduate classes in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs via her fellowship.

Landing at SU completed Cronin’s cross-country journey. Born in California and raised in Texas, she wouldn’t have applied to SU if it wasn’t for her father’s love of basketball.

‘When I was younger, my dad thought he could manipulate me to be 6 feet tall so I could play basketball,’ she joked.

But one event solidified her choice. Her grandfather had grown up on Kirkville Road in East Syracuse. Stuck in the throes of Alzheimer’s disease, she recalled her grandfather, referring to his life in Central New York. Cronin and her dad traveled to his childhood home, where she felt something.

‘It felt full circle to me that I had some weird family connection with this place,’ she said. ‘And it’s been the best fit for me.’

This same sense of adventure helped bring her closer to her boyfriend.

Freshman year, Cronin and Steve Barton, an international relations, economics, and Russian and Central European studies triple major, lived across from each other on the third floor of Day Hall. Though both had significant others at the time, they explored the campus together. Cronin was convinced they would find secrets about the university.

Instead, they found their way to the second floor of Lyman Hall, next to restaurant-quality kitchens utilized by the hospitality management program. Inspired, they took an introductory cooking class together. Then another. By then, they had broken up with their partners and started dating.

Food became a bonding agent. They started cooking in dorm kitchenettes and toured restaurants in Syracuse. They haunt Laci’s Tapas Bar, try wines at Pascale Wine Bar and Restaurant, and indulge in sandwiches at A La Mode Caf and Catering.

Barton said Cronin makes friends wherever she goes, a quality he admires.

‘She’s gentle,’ he said. ‘And her humility is a huge part of her personality.’

The year is winding down for Cronin. Her schedule will be rid of the blues, greens and browns to be replaced with another rainbow. Even though she graduated last spring, she’ll sit in the stands, watching Barton and her friends cross the stage. She has always been about letting other people shine.

‘I think it’s important to ask people and get their stories,’ she said. ‘It’s all about making personal connections, and I think I’ve done that.’

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Published on May 1, 2012 at 12:00 pm