BY MELISSA SIEGLER
STAFF WRITER
Inspired by his favorite author, Søren Kierkegaard, Joseph Danaher is determined to live his life to the fullest.
“He really opened my eyes to the tremendous mystery and beauty of life… to not just think about the wonderful things in life and understand them in an intellectual respect but to really live them in their fullness,” said Danaher.
Danaher is truly living out this idea by following his passions and embracing all of the beauty and opportunities the world has to offer.
A Steubenville local and a graduate student working towards his master’s in philosophy, Danaher realized his passion for philosophy in high school while reading and learning about politics. He discovered the profound importance philosophy holds in politics.
“As I began to become more acquainted with it, I became completely enraptured by the whole discipline of philosophy and the different ideas and the profound implications they have for life, for the individual and for society as far as politics is concerned,” said Danaher. “Philosophy is my passion and politics is the direction of that passion.”
In following that passion, Danaher has played a major role in Franciscan’s student government on which he has served as both a senator and as president. His experience really solidified his desire to work in politics.
“It’s taught me a lot about what it means to be a leader,” he said. “Practicing these leadership traits and principles were things that really helped me exercise and become better at them. It really made me a better leader and helped me learn how to coordinate with people and communicate with people a lot better because those are things that are extremely essential to politics.”
Danaher has also been a reservist in the Marine Corps since 2009. He has participated in Latinos for Christ, written for The Gadfly and was a member of Young Americans for Freedom with whom he had the opportunity to attend the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).
At Franciscan, he has come to understand the tremendous depth of the dignity of the human person. Having been exposed to the philosophy found in personalism with Franciscan professor Dr. Crosby, he has come to understand the dignity of the human person at its deepest roots, which he says has prepared him for the future.
“Many of my classes have really helped me understand the deep importance of the person and the unique individuality in a way that’s not completely and utterly severed from other people, but a unique individuality that exists along with other people in the community,” he said.
Danaher plans on interning in a congressional office this summer and has applied for the John J. Fellowship for the fall of 2015. He hopes to attend law school at Harvard, Colombia or The University of Chicago by the fall of 2017 with the dream of working for a top New York law firm or returning to work on Capitol Hill.