Joseph ‘Jo’ Russo was beloved by many on campus, and touched the hearts of students and staff alike during his time at Elizabethtown College. In his passing, communities and people were brought together.
His memorial service at the College illuminated his impact, as individual after individual came up and told their stories and experiences with Jo. Throughout the stories, it was emphasized more than ever that Jo was a welcoming and humorous person that lit up every room he was in with a finger wave and a smile. Even those who did not know him were touched by the ceremony and the loss of a life on campus.
Many members of the theater group on campus, Sock & Buskin’, spoke throughout the night of the service about Jo’s contributions to the theater in The Language Archive and the One Acts festival, as well as in their personal lives. For those involved in these productions and theater in general, theater is a community and a family. Losing Jo felt like losing a member of that family who had barely gotten the opportunity to showcase their talent at the College, only having less than one year here.
Beyond speaking at the service, the club held a meeting the week after the service to discuss how to best honor Jo’s memory going forward as a club. Alongside the plan to put a tribute in the mainstage play of this semester, Melancholy Play, the ideas of both a scholarship and a benefit concert were brought forward. Since the club liked both of those ideas, they decided to combine them to celebrate and honor his life.
“The goal of the benefit is to raise money to start a ‘Jo Russo Memorial Scholarship.’ As a club [Sock & Buskin], we felt this was the most appropriate way to honor Jo and keep his memory alive on campus. We also wanted to give the club and the campus community a space to honor and celebrate Jo’s life, since most of us could not attend the funeral over spring break,” Julia Yudichak, a third-year early childhood and special education major and member of Sock & Buskin said.
The exact details of the scholarship are unknown at this time, as Sock & Buskin are in the early stages of putting it together by raising funds, but it aims to help students who are like Jo in spirit grow and flourish during their time at Etown.
After setting up a date and location for the benefit, Sock & Buskin then sent out a call for all individuals who wanted to perform. In a display of community and rallying around the memory of Jo, 26 people will be performing 28 acts with a mix of theater and pop songs. While these performers may have had different connections with Jo and different backgrounds in theater and performing, they have all decided to perform to raise money for this cause.
“This is going to be my first time performing in a benefit, but I believe it’s a good time to start. I’d been planning on signing up to perform for a while, and I feel like Jo would’ve pushed me to perform. He always did try to push me out of my comfort zone, and whether I liked it or not, it worked,” first-year business administration major and member of Sock & Buskin Cam Mooney said. “I feel like, for me personally, the best way to honor Jo is to do something that honestly terrifies me.”
The benefit concert will be held on March 24th, at 6:30 pm in the Koon’s Activity Venue (KAV). Tickets will be $5, and all the proceeds from the event will go towards funding the scholarship. Performers and audience members alike are encouraged to wear red to honor Jo, as it was his favorite color
For those who want to donate to the memorial scholarship, but are unable to attend or wish to donate past the concert date, please contact Julia Yudichak at yudichakj@etown.edu for more information.
