STEUBENVILLE — Four graduates of Franciscan University of Steubenville and its predecessor, the College of Steubenville, were recognized for their accomplishments in a variety of areas during the school’s annual Alumni Awards Banquet Friday.

The four were: Retired judge Joseph Corabi, who was presented the Rose M. Defede Faithful Franciscan Award; Noelle Mering, who received the Bishop John King Mussio Award; Jennifer Butler Routh, recipient of the Professor Edward J. Kelly Award; and Anne Foster, recipient of the Outstanding Young Alumni Award.

The Rev. Dave Pivonka, TOR, the university’s president, noted Franciscan graduates have gone on to make an impact in many areas, professionally and through their service to the community and church, and this year’s honorees reflect that.

“People always say we’re punching above our weight. They’re doing important things, our alumni,” said Pivonka, who added that each year it can be difficult to choose from many worthy candidates for the university’s honors.

Regardless, he said, “It’s always good to be able to celebrate the blessings that they have received.”

Corabi said he counts among the many blessings in his life, “the many people, smarter than me, who have offered advice and guided me.”

He added he feels very fortunate to have attended the College of Steubenville, from which he graduated in 1974, and to have had many people who guided him and supported him through his long career in law.

He said he was studying business and accounting at the college when Judge Richard Powell persuaded him to take that path.

Corabi said his education and experience at the College of Steubenville prepared him well for the Ohio Northern University Law School, from which he graduated in 1977, and life in general.

Following graduation, he went on to serve as special counsel for the city of Steubenville, solicitor for various townships and villages, Jefferson County assistant prosecuting attorney, Toronto county court judge for 24 years and Jefferson County juvenile and probate judge.

Though formally retired since 2021, he continues to serve as a magistrate in juvenile and probate court and as legal counsel for Cedar One Rentals.

Corabi said while at the College of Steubenville, he learned the value of friendship, forming close relationships with fellow members of Lambda Chi Alpha and others with whom he remains in touch.

He added the college’s fraternities were very competitive in intramural sports, and, while participating in softball, basketball and football, he learned the value of “achieving things with dignity and humility and losing gracefully,” something he said seems to have been lost in many places.

Of the college, Corabi said, “It gave me the foundation to go to law school. They helped me with the building blocks I needed. It was a great place to go to school.”

A 2022 graduate of the university, Mering enrolled in graduate philosophy courses there, earning a master’s of arts degree.

She has gone on to serve as a fellow in the Life and Family Initiative at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington and a scholar for the Institute for Human Ecology at the Catholic University of America.

She has written about culture, religion and politics for various national news publications, including the Daily Wire, Newsweek, the National Catholic Register and Catholic World Report and is author of “Awake, Not Woke: A Christian Response to the Cult of Progressive Ideology” and the Theology of Home book series.

Of her experience at the university, Mering said, “I did not anticipate that I would make lifelong friendships in that year that would change the trajectory of my life. My professors moved me to pursue the truth with great love and that goal guides everything I work on now, all these years later.”

A 2005 Franciscan graduate, Routh said she knew as little girl that she wanted to pursue a career in law, but it wasn’t until after she graduated from there and had married a fellow student, Joey, that she decided to pursue a law degree.

After graduating from the University of South Carolina Law School magna cum laude, she became a partner with the international law firm of McDermott Will & Emery.

Noting she had studied theology at Franciscan, Routh said, “Clearly, the study of God is different from the study of the law, but in both you’re wrestling with ancient tests, you’re trying to understand what people before you have said about these concepts of justice and who do we want to be as a society. So, the whole experience made a huge impact on me and is very much still with me today.”

Routh said she learned dedication to vocation from her classmates at the university.

“I was inspired by classmates and friends who gave it all to become priests or enter religious life, and I’ve tried to do that very same thing but in my vocation as a wife and a mother and then to my clients and my partners. To just go all in and give all that I can,” she said.

A 2017 Franciscan University graduate, Foster had studied philosophy there and had gone on to serve as government relations fellow with the Christian Medical and Dental Associations and later as a senior recruiter for major employers in Maryland, Virginia and Washington seeking accountants and financial professionals.

After finding the Hallow prayer app helped her to listen quietly for God’s voice, she thought, “A dream job would be if Hallow ever needed somebody like me.”

Soon after, she saw a posting for a sales lead for Hallow and has since become an executive there. Prayer has been a major part of her life professionally and personally, and in recent years, she has led weekly Rosary Nights in which she has encouraged young adults to pray and seek fellowship with other Christians.