Over 450 participants from the Jesuit Schools Network (JSN) gathered in Cincinnati, Ohio this past June 20-24 for its Colloquium 2016, a triennial meeting of educators and participants to contemplate how Jesuit schools can “live wisely, think deeply and love generously.”
The overarching theme of the week—‘Jesuit Education: Deepening Awareness; Calling for Action’—encouraged participants to consider how as educators and school administrators they can better shape students’ education and development through the themes of: (1) Conscience & the Environment, (2) Competence & Global Citizenship, (3) Compassion & Race.
Sonia Magalhaes—Director of Colégio São Luís in São Paulo, Brazil—gave the keynote presentation on Competence & Global Citizenship and challenged those in attendance to broaden their classroom environments to other cultures and languages. “There is no way we can form a student in global citizenship without becoming a multilingual and multicultural environment,” Magalhaes said. “Educating competent global citizens is about exposing students to cross-cultural experiences.”
Dan Carmody, Executive Director of the Hyde Center, concurred with Magalhaes, telling participants that, “Global citizenship has become a necessary attitude.”
Following their presentations, Timothy Sassen, Director of Global Partnerships and Communication at the Jesuit Schools Network, formally launched the “Hemispheres” project, a JSN ‘global companionship’ initiative between six Jesuit organizations: Friends of Fe y Alegría in the United States, the Ignatian Solidarity Network, Jesuit Refugee Service-USA, the Hyde Center for Global Education, FLACSI and Educate Magis.
The initiative, which will launch this September, aims to “share stories, efforts and events related to the theme of global companionship” with partnering JSN schools throughout the 2016-2017 school year.
Friends of Fe y Alegría in the United States’ La Silla Roja and Días D global citizenship campaigns, which were presented along with Friends’ overall global education initiative to JSN educators during two Ignatian Educator Fair sessions, will be heavily featured in the initiative.
“I am proud to see our Friends of Fe y Alegría initiative as part of the JSN’s global citizenship project,” said Dani Villanueva, s.j., Director of Entreculturas-Fe y Alegría Spain. “A lot of hard work and enthusiasm is behind this achievement.”
For more information on the Hemispheres project, please visit: www.jesuitschoolsnetwork.org/hemispheres
