Years Attended Franciscan: 1988-1992
Majors: BA History, MS Education
Positions with the Troubadour: Editor-in-Chief 1990-1991, Sports Editor 1989-1990, Staff Writer
David, now vice president of Student Life at Franciscan University, began as a sports writer his freshman year at The Troubadour. He became the sports editor the following year and was then asked to be the editor-in-chief his junior year. Reflecting on his time at the helm of the Troubadour, David said that while the job could be rewarding, it was also a lot of work and at times thankless.
“Sometimes I was working until 1:00 in the morning to prepare the issue to be printed the next day,” said David. “I can remember thinking, ‘No one knows that I’m doing this, and they probably don’t even care,’ but we pressed on because we loved what we did.”
During his term as editor-in-chief, he began working with Justine Franzonello (’93), who was the layout editor at the time. They started dating and eventually married in 1993.
As a student, he was very active on campus, as an intramural athlete and a founding member of the Soldiers Under Command household.
During his senior year, David was part of the first group of students to participate in the study-abroad program in Gaming, Austria.
After graduation, David completed his student teaching, in addition to other part-time jobs, as he waited for his then-fiancée to finish her degree. During this time, he took a temporary position in the conference office to help coordinate off-campus conference events, the first of which was a university-sponsored trip to the 1993 World Youth Day in Denver.
This led to a full-time job in the conference office, one of the several positions he held before being appointed to his current position as Vice President of Student Life in 2006.