Rutgers Dean Takes Plunge to Support Student Emergency Fund
Jeff Broggi connects with students, raises awareness for charity as first administrator to take the Tower Jump
“It shows that we are human. I want them to know I’m not just here from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. If they see we care that much, they may feel more comfortable sharing their worries, fears, challenges and struggles so we can come to resolutions together.”– Jeff Broggi, Associate Dean of Students for Rutgers-New Brunswick Student Affairs
Jeff Broggi loves the water, but diving boards, not so much.
“I have a distinct memory of being 10 or 11 at my grandmother’s pool and thinking ‘This looks like fun,’” said the associate dean of students for Rutgers-New Brunswick Student Affairs. “I did a belly flop and haven’t been on a diving board since.”
That is until recently, when Broggi lined up alongside nearly 100 students to face down his fear at the third annual Tower Jump. There Broggi became the first Rutgers administrator to participate in the event, taking the more than 30-foot plunge from the 10-meter diving tower into the Sonny Werblin Recreation Olympic Pool.
“You’re standing on that platform for a good 15 minutes and your mind is going all different directions,” said Broggi, who got a pep talk from several students sharing the platform with him. “When they called my name, rather than looking down I just went. It was quick and painless to hit the water.”
But the jump was not just about putting a childhood phobia behind him, said Broggi. It was an opportunity for students to see him as more than their dean.
“It shows that we are human,” he said. “I want them to know I’m not just here from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. If they see we care that much, they may feel more comfortable sharing their worries, fears, challenges and struggles so we can come to resolutions together.”
Broggi committed himself to the tower dive back in the fall if he raised $1,000 for the Emergency Assistance Fund by running four races – 5K, 10K, half and full marathons – in four days at Disney World.
Not all challenges can be resolved with academic advice. Sometimes, no matter how dedicated students are to their education, tight finances can derail them. In those instances, Broggi directs students to the Emergency Assistance Fund. The fund provides one-time aid to students experiencing unusual and non-chronic financial hardships (i.e. house fires, burglaries, medical emergencies, etc.), who have exhausted all other resources.
“We see things every day that would make you shudder – students living in their cars or whose houses have burned down – these things make you realize all the challenges our students have to face daily,” he said. “To watch them overcome and succeed in and out of the classroom with these challenges makes you want to battle for them.”
Make that jump off a high dive for them.
It wasn’t the first time he sacrificed his body for the fund. In September, he vowed to grow his hair for three months, dye it red and shave a Mohawk if his spaghetti dinner fundraiser raised $2,500 for the Emergency Assistance Fund.
Broggi was still sporting the scarlet ’do when he took his big dive.