DALLAS TWP. — Maggie Guarnieri’s plans for college included taking the road less traveled, but her plans changed and, she said, they changed for the better.
Maggie, 22, of Jenkins Township, is the youngest of seven children in the Guarnieri household and the fifth sister to graduate from Misericordia University, having participated in the university’s commencement ceremony on May 20.
Older sisters Katie Guarnieri Priolli, 32, graduated in 2007; Beth, 30, graduated in 2009; Marianne, 28, graduated in 2011; and Bridget, 24, graduated in 2015.
The sisters have two brothers, John, 34, who graduated from Wilkes University and Mark, 26, who graduated from Art Institute of New York
Originally, Maggie was adamant against following her sisters through the Back Mountain college but she admits now she could not have picked a better path.
“I said I was going to forge my own path and I don’t need to go to Misericordia,” she said. “I looked at Cabrini University and The University of Scranton and I really liked the other schools, but, when I was visiting them, I compared them to Misericordia. I thought ‘what’s the point of comparing when I could just go to the main source?’”
Katie was the first of the Guanieri sisters to make her way to Misericordia, but not the first in her family as the girls’ grandmother, Ann Mitchell McGarry, graduated from what was then College Misericordia in 1954.
Having passed away from cancer, her name is memorialized on a bench dedicated by classmates.
Marianne said attending Misericordia wasn’t meant to pick up where their grandmother left off, but having attended the same school as she did is something of which the sisters are proud.
“The feeling that I received was when I walked through the halls, I felt my grandmother’s presence,” she said. “I know that she was here, and we didn’t get to meet this particular grandmother.”
“She was 34 when she died, and our mom was 10,” responded Beth. “But this was a way to have a part of her with us forever.”
Due to their closeness in age, Beth and Katie attended the school at the same time, as did Bridget and Maggie, and Beth and Marianne; and the sister were always there to help one another.
Katie said their parents — Dr. Louis Guarnieri, D.C., and Marie McGarry Guarnieri — raised them to always keep family close.
“That’s all praise towards our parents because it’s by their example,” she said. “They taught us how important, over any other relationship, the relationship of having a true sister or brother is, and just cherishing those relationships.”
When Maggie walked across the stage during commencement, she closed the book of the Guarnieri lineage passing through the school’s arches — at least for the time being.
Katie is a mother of two children — Issac, 2, and Isabella, 1 — and hopes they consider donning the blue and gold when the time comes.
“I’m going to make it an option,” she said. “I’m not going to force it on him, or her. But, I would like to make it an option for them if they choose, but I only want them to choose what they want.”
Maggie is going to take the summer off and then travel to Ireland in the fall to pursue a Masters Degree in Media Studies at Mary Immaculate College in Limerick, Republic of Ireland.
“While I’m there, I’m also going to be working as an intern in their international office,” she said. “It’s a new school that we’ve become partnered with and I’ve been interning here; and for me to now go over there and work is incredible. I’ll be there for one year.”
Although the Guanrieris will no longer have a presence at Misericordia University, the school will always hold a place in their hearts as a second home.
“It’s really beautiful because all five of us see this as a home,” said Bridget. “I think that’s our general feeling about Maggie graduating, because of how grateful we are as a family to have such a wonderful college in our area. Our theme is we are absolutely grateful.”
