The Global Map of Jesuit Schools occupies a large portion of the wall of my classroom, flanked by a UAP poster and the Integrated (Holistic) Perspective graphic. On the first day of the first Global Perspectives course each semester, I place my hand over the bottom corner of the map and ask students to guess: How many Jesuit secondary and pre-secondary schools exist around the globe? How many students in the world attend these schools? Then we examine the definition of an Ignatian Global Citizen together, and the room goes quiet as students grasp that they are among the 870,746 students united in a common mission that is truly global.
The 2019 Global Task Force of the Secretariat of Education described Global Citizenship education as a “deeply-felt mandate that permeates the core values, curricula, and culture of the whole school community.” This framing both inspires and challenges Jesuit schools. Not only should we develop students who are themselves Ignatian Global Citizens, but we must also strive toward a vision of a global school, one that animates the characteristics of Jesuit education that define our global network of schools, while also being deeply rooted in our local communities.
Last May saw the graduation of St. Xavier’s first Ignatian Global Scholars (IGS) cohort. Nine young men earned this distinction from the Jesuit Schools Network and our school by participating in a rigorous but flexible program of academic and cocurricular requirements. Students completed coursework with a global dimension, engaged in intercultural experiences, served their community, and reflected on their growth as global citizens. At St. X, the Ignatian Global Scholar program begins with the aforementioned Global Perspectives course. Organized around UAP-themed units, the course invites students to investigate the world, recognize and respect diverse perspectives, discern God’s purpose for them, and take action toward a more just, peaceful, and sustainable world. Topics such as quality education, peace and justice, migration, poverty, climate action, and gender equality are explored through literature, film, and research activities. School-wide initiatives such as La Silla Roja provide opportunities for IGS candidates to share their learning with the whole school community, while student-driven “Impact Projects” allow students to demonstrate their global competence and practice translating their passion into action. For example, a Global Perspectives student focused his Impact Project on the portrayal of immigrants and refugees in the media. He spliced together video clips from a wide variety of media sources to illustrate the negative depiction of displaced people, refuted these depictions with his own robust research, and proposed a course of action to address this issue in our local community. His action plan was later implemented when our school hosted a community potluck dinner where recent immigrants to Cincinnati shared their experiences with students. Later in the course we studied migration as a whole class, and students participated in a diplomacy simulation about a fictional international migration crisis, taking on roles such as ambassadors of impacted countries and representatives from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and various NGOs. In these roles, students negotiated their respective positions with a greater appreciation for the human stories behind the exercise and wrestled as they worked for a compromise solution that was satisfactory for all stakeholders. They began to understand, I hope, that complex global issues present challenges and opportunities, and their God-given gifts can be harnessed to cultivate a more peaceful and prosperous world for everyone.
However, Ignatian Global Citizens are not the product of a single course or program. An intentional integration of the global dimensions of a school is required to develop “true companions in the mission of reconciliation and justice.” Being a global school means leveraging the great work already underway in the school community and connecting to our brothers and sisters in Jesuit schools who are united in this mission. At St. X, students may take Faith in the Wild, a religion course that meets frequently in the outdoor classroom, where students develop spiritual practices that foster a deeper connection to God’s creation and examine their call to care for our common home. They might enroll in Walking the Way, the pilgrimage of the Camino de Santiago, and explore the art, history and culture of the Camino while also reflecting on their experience. Students might choose to participate in virtual tutoring through the Fe y Alegria Club, host a student from Jesuïtes Casp–Sagrat Cor de Jesús in Barcelona, or attend the Ignatian Family Teach-In for Justice. Each summer, IGS candidates have the opportunity to participate in the Jesuit Global Activism Leadership Summit, facilitated by Robert Chura, Maria-Paz Erker, Annie Hilmes, and Kate Toussaint at Saint Louis University High School. This week-long virtual conference invites students from Jesuit schools worldwide to work together on projects that address global issues. Throughout all these experiences, students reflect on their development as Ignatian Global Citizens and discern God’s purpose for their lives.
Principal Dan Lynch welcomed our faculty and staff to the new school year by inviting us all to be “Companions on the Journey.” This theme applies to every aspect of our care and education of the young men entrusted to us, as well as to our aspiration to be a global school. Global citizenship education is a collective enterprise. By engaging in this work, we—students, educators, and schools—grow in faith together, united in a global mission and a shared responsibility to create a hope-filled future.
See photos below.
