Since taking on the role of Global Education Coordinator at Marquette University High School in Milwaukee four months ago, my circle of professional colleagues has quickly exploded far beyond our fourth floor department office on 35th and Wisconsin Avenue.
At a May “Virtual Coffee Shop” Zoom meeting, I met Ciara Beuster, the Global Community Associate Director of Educate Magis in Galway, Ireland, who introduced me to Washington, DC-based JSN Executive Director, Bob Reiser, SJ, who in turn introduced me to Gonzaga High School Global Education Coordinator Ariel Arguilles so that I could find out more about organizing a student pilgrimage along the Ignatian Way. Ariel gave me the contact information for Agustín Oulton, a Georgetown graduate from Argentina who now lives in Spain where he runs Varsity Tours, an educational travel company that specializes in pilgrimages for students at US Jesuit high schools. Thanks to Zoom, WhatsApp, and my new global network of Jesuit connections, a group of Marquette students and teachers will spend their 2024 Easter Break walking in the steps of St. Ignatius from Azpeita to Barcelona.
Closer to home, these connections have opened the way for our Spanish students to interact weekly with kids on the other side of the globe. John Sealy, Midwest Jesuits Provincial Assistant for International Ministries in Milwaukee, introduced me via email to Patty Luehrmann, a Peruvian Spanish teacher at St. Xavier in Cincinnati, who organizes virtual exchanges with Jesuit schools in Peru. Now our Marquette Honors Spanish 3 class uses Google Meets to connect weekly with 5th graders studying English with Karina Marona at Cristo Rey in Tacna, Peru. Our AP Spanish students connect with grade schoolers from Fe y Alegría 40 in Tacna to tutor them in math. The globally connected Jesuit Schools Network truly provides a vehicle for our students to live the Grad at Grad ideals, reaching far beyond the confines of the classroom.
Marquette High School is beginning their second year as part of JSN’s pilot Ignatian Global Engagement Mentors (I-GEM) Program. I-GEM has offered structure and scaffolding for Marquette as they initiate this amazing journey of walking as a global network at the service of the mission.
