Each year Sacred Heart of Jesus School nominates one Distinguished Graduate who is committed to service in school, church, community and for outstanding personal and professional achievements. This year we are proud to honor Christina DiVincenti O’Brien, class of 1995.
Always avoiding the spotlight and never looking for accolades, Christina’s devotion and dedication to Sacred Heart is evident through her hours of service, generosity, and loyalty to the school and church community. In 2021, she founded the Creating a Centennial Capital Campaign. While the world was getting reacclimated to life after lockdown, Christina locked down seven pledges totaling $280,000 and classroom renovations began that very same year. With perseverance and determination, her fundraising efforts continued raising over 2 million dollars and by the start of the 2023-24 school year, 13 classrooms and 10 bathrooms were complete, including moving, modernizing, and renovating the school’s art room, surpassing all expectations. To oversee a project of this capacity and wear the many hats required, Christina contributed countless hours meeting with vendors, donors, administrators, and church leaders. She spent time with teachers, created questionnaires, and generated feedback about the functionality of classroom designs and technology upgrades. She implemented the ideas, wrote several grants, individualized the classrooms to grade level needs, and completed piles of paperwork while troubleshooting roadblocks along the way. The words “no” and “impossible” motivated her to work harder and prove the impossible can be possible; her faith is strong! Her love for her SH family is also strong, clearly depicted in selecting an architecture and construction team of SH alumnus, sticking to her belief of “keeping it in the family”. In all her efforts, she remained focused on preserving the historical nature of the school building and honoring the integrity of the school.
Christina’s roots at Sacred Heart date all the way back to 1928 when Sacred Heart Parish was first established. Her great grandparents, Sam & Dora Manisco and Eugene & Mary Bologna, on both her dad’s and her mom’s side of the family, were among the first parishioners.. Her paternal grandmother, Lucy Manisco DiVincenti, graduated in 1941. Her maternal grandparents, Frank and “Cookie” Bologna, sent her mother, Maria “Re” Bologna DiVincenti ‘67 to Sacred Heart. Christina and her husband Joe O’Brien have three daughters. Two are graduates of Sacred Heart, Mackenzie ‘21, Lucy ‘23, and Ellie is currently in 5th grade.
With her history and knowledge of parishioners, parents, and students, Christina is a valuable and important asset to our school. She is not only the founder of the capital campaign, but she has also been a Sacred Heart parent since 2012, and an employee since 2019. She served as Advancement Director for four years and is currently the School Counselor. Her empathetic nature, the same trait that makes her a great counselor, overflows in the school and church community. She rallies families together to help those going through hardships and continually offers small gestures to the faculty and staff making everyone feel special and loved. She successfully hosted the school’s 90th anniversary and grew the Annual Giving Campaign. She has served in many facets of the school as a member of the Advisory Board, sponsor chair for the school auction, years volunteering as a room parent, a member of the choir, cantor, and a Eucharistic Minister. She continues to create a fulfilling life at Sacred Heart by incorporating her family, her job, and her philanthropy work under one roof, Sacred Heart of Jesus School. Her daughters currently volunteer, her husband serves on the finance board, and she continues her campaign and utilizes her master’s degree as School Counselor. It is safe to say that Christina’s heart beats for Sacred Heart.
With what little free time she has, Christina enjoys traveling, spending time with her family, pilates, and interior design, but she is most passionate about mental health with a special interest in grief.