Kevin Cacabelos: Teaching by Example

Senior Kevin Cacabelos will graduate from LMU’s Bellarmine College of Liberal Arts in May with his post-grad plans already unfolding. He’ll return to Loyola this fall to pursue his Masters in Education through PLACE Corps, a university program that has its students work as full-time teachers in under-resourced Catholic elementary and high schools in the Los Angeles area. Kevin will be teaching at an elementary school in Silverlake.

But this kind of education paired with service is nothing new for the history and Spanish double major. Those in attendance at Preview Day 2014 heard Kevin, LMU's student speaker, tell his story to the full-house in Gersten Pavilion.

Kevin’s been a member of the all-male service organization Magis since his freshman year, tutoring underprivileged youths at Verbum Dei High School in Watts.

The Magis instilled in him a feeling of brotherhood. “I didn’t have any brothers growing up,” Kevin said, “so it was really cool to be around like-minded individuals who provided a support system.”

And it’s just this type of service and sense of community that originally attracted the Seattle native to LMU.

“I wanted to be in an environment where Jesuit values were stressed and lived out,” Kevin said. “LMU has really helped me grow as a person.”

Outside of his exemplary service work, Kevin’s also managed to be a stellar student, making the Dean’s List seven semesters straight and is currently up for a Presidential Citation. He also spent a time working as sports editor for LMU’s campus newspaper, The Loyolan.

One of Kevin's more enlightening moments of his LMU career was studying abroad his junior year in Madrid.

“I learned a lot about myself, how to get outside my comfort zone,” Kevin said. “You find yourself thrown into a lot of unfamiliar situations and you just have to be comfortable with the fact that somehow you’ll figure it out.”

While in Madrid, Kevin continued his commitment to service, teaching English classes to young adults in the community.

Kevin says he actually became close friends with a lot of his students, many of them becoming his unofficial tour guides. “I would love to go back,” Kevin said. “Now I just really have an urge to keep on traveling.”

The experiences Kevin has collected at LMU have paved the way for his future. He feels his time at the university has helped prepare him to live a fulfilling life of purpose.

His advice for incoming Lions:
“Definitely see the benefit in being vulnerable… try new things, get involved. Then you'll reap the rewards of what this school has to offer.”

And Kevin is most definitely living proof.