Forming Loyola’s Global Citizen

By Daniel Annarelli, Director of Faculty and Social Science Teacher

GOING GLOBAL

Rooted in the Past, Guiding our Future

On March 15, 1540, St. Ignatius and St. Francis Xavier parted ways and never saw each other again. They had been best friends since they were students in Paris. Their years of personal companionship shifted to years of written correspondence as Francis Xavier planted Jesuit roots in India and Ignatius spent the remainder of his life directing the Society of Jesus from his office in Rome. Ignatius and Xavier knew in 1540 that “setting the world on fire” was meant to be a flame that ignites other flames, and they understood that it required the pursuit of vast encounters worldwide to achieve it.

Five hundred years later, the legacy of these early companions continues to have a strong impact on

how we see the roles of our schools. They are places where profound friendships start and places that compel us out to the world to know, understand, serve and embrace a common humanity far beyond our comfort zones.

Since the early days of Jesuit schools, there was an emphasis on fusing tradition with novelty. The curriculum at Loyola today continues the same trajectory of its founders by applying the best methods to an interconnected and intercultural world. Our teachers possess the freedom and capacity to design learning experiences that reinforce established knowledge, teach 21st-century skills and address contemporary global issues. Not only that, our students and teachers increasingly have the opportunity to deliver instruction in an environment that transcends the traditional classroom. Synchronous online classrooms, international excursions, project-based assessments, STEM design, virtual exchanges, interdisciplinary collaboration and more are part of the lexicon of our school.

Educating for Global Citizenship in the 21st Century

The importance of education for global citizenship has become increasingly relevant. And, Loyola’s commitment to the education of global citizens is evident in how our teachers reimagine their courses to investigate issues of global significance such as environmental sustainability, renewable energy, poverty, international conflict and migration. Combining these universal topics with a growing number of international and intercultural experiences for students domestically and abroad, the Loyola curriculum is approaching an inflection point for academic development and experiential learning. The cutting-edge content and skills embedded in Loyola’s curriculum would lack meaning without

examining how they are shaping students’ world views. This is why all of Loyola’s intercultural and immersion programs are required to have reflection components before, during and after their execution. Reflection is formative in that it makes a habit of asking students to consider how their actions and attitudes have been shaped over time. It is also liberating in that it encourages students to be discerning, curious, active listeners and respectful of diverse perspectives. Loyola faces an exciting moment in its history that sets the stage for visionary pathways through the school curriculum. Two such paths already exist with the Ignatian Scholars Program (an original research project and student publication) and the newly established Global Scholars Program (an interdisciplinary connection of coursework and intercultural experience). Educating for Global Citizenship means that Loyola positions itself for imagining our place in the modern educational landscape at the same time that our students reflect on their place in the world.

“We live in an increasingly global and interconnected world. The opportunity is to open the mind, to open the heart, the world is getting bigger. The risk is that of the globalization of superficiality. Instead, we must work toward the globalization of depth and solidarity. So we need to help our students be whole people.”

—Fr. Adolfo Nicolás, SJ, General of the Society of Jesus, Shaping the Future Conference, 2010