Encouraged by the commitment made in the ICAJE congress (International Commission on the Apostolate of Jesuit education) held in Boston in July 2012 and trying to animate the global dimension to prepare our students as citizens of the world, we have designed, some years ago, what we call the USA Project in our Jesuits Education Network in Catalonia (Spain).

One of the main objectives was to create awareness about our global Jesuits schools network, trying to collaborate more closely in order to provide a greater service to the service of faith, justice and care for the environment, building bridges between young people and offering our students opportunities for a global education.  This “bridge” that we have been creating with students from other Jesuit schools will ensure that the mission and vision of St. Ignatius as a whole is made real.

Nowadays, we have different exchange programmes with other Jesuit schools either in Europe or in the USA. We feel that we share the same mission of educating “men and women with and for others” and integrating Ignatius spirituality and pedagogy into the educational process.

The exchange proposal done to different USA Jesuits schools has been created with the aim to offer our students (small groups of 16-17-year-old students to facilitate their integration) the opportunity to experience life in another environment and culture: staying with the host students’ families and joining their school routine for a period from 2 to 4 weeks. Classes, activities and families are the essential pillars of the program, where each student finds support and builds their personal experience.

The main competences we are looking forward with these exchanges are:

•       Learn to be responsible citizens in a global world
•       Organizational competences as being flexible and adapt themselves to the environment.
•       Social competences such as teamwork, interculturality and diversity, ethical sense.
•       Pedagogical competences as solving problems, learning to learn and developing critical thinking.
•       Intra-personal competences as self-motivation and self-confidence, autonomy and personal initiative, respect and collaboration.
•       Communication skills: oral communication and digital and technological competencies.

At present our main Jesuit partner schools in USA are:

Saint Peter’s Preparatory. New Jersey
Mac Quaid Jesuit School. Rochester
Georgetown Preparatory- North Bethesda
Saint Ignatius Prep. San Francisco
Walsh Jesuit High School- Cuyahoga Falls
St. John’s Jesuit High School and academy – Toledo
St Xavier High School- Cincinnati
Brebeuf Jesuit Prep School- Indianapolis
Cristo Rey New York High School  – New York

Most of them are our partners for more than 10 years.

We also collaborate with other coed and girl’s Catholic schools in the USA and at present we are  moving nearly 90 students from our schools to USA.

A very rewarding and meaningful experience both for the students and teachers involved. We are very happy to have all these schools as our partners and we would like to extend the program to other schools as well.

We begin each academic year in the fall with recharged batteries, innovative new ideas, excited about everything we can do in the coming months. Well, this context perfectly frames our vision of the exchanges we carry out during the school year, in particular the one  of Jesïtes Sarrià- Sant Ignasi. They arrive as soon as the first class cycle ends. We begin the course with the desire that our students exchange ideas with their classmates from another Jesuit school, sharing their experience, rethinking the everyday, discovering the nuances in our current context thanks to an outside perspective. It is impressive to see how a strong friendship is born suddenly. It lasts during the year, and it is reinforced in the spring when our students visit them. When students reflect after returning home, there is nothing better than hearing their comments. They are grateful for the experience, for expanding and enriching their worldview, for having risked  leaving their comfort zone, and, even if they do not say it  in that way,  to be  global citizens. From that moment on, although the exchange and the  academic year will be over, a great step is clearly seen in their training as competent, compassionate ,  committed and conscious people. “ Thomas Powers, Director of Global Initiatives, Modern Languages – St. Peter’s Prep (New Jersey)

International dimension initiatives allow not only fruitful exchanges between schools, but also provide a unique opportunity for our students to get accustomed to other ways of life, giving them ¨an education across borders¨.

To embody the values of cross-cultural exchange, collaboration, and partnership, to intensified needs for global collaboration, communication and understanding, to instil in our students a commitment to take on global challenges with a new level of responsibility. (ICJSE Vision Statement ) , we are developing a new programme to promote global dimension in our network : a  full immersion programme of 3 months, a Long-term stay.

This is , then A CALL  to all Jesuit schools in the world interested in opening cultural and academic immersion experiences for our students based on: 

•       Living with a host family and growing in the understanding of a foreign family life
•       Attending regular classes with the Possibility of participating in a variety of extra-curricular activities
•       Reinforcing the use of English or other languages. Enhancing language expression
•       Getting to know and living another culture. Making friends and Developing a curiosity for cultures, customs, beliefs and traditions different from their own
•       Learning and embodying the ideals, values and mission of the partner school.

Our students would be pleased to participate in a full immersion programme in your Schools.  Of course, we are also open to receive yours.

Remember, a successful international experience never ends!!

If you need more information please leave a comment in the comment box below or contact me at marta.munte@fje.edu. My name is Marta Munté, I am the International Dimension Coordinator at Fundació Jesuïtes Educació- Catalonia (Spain).