Tag: Jesuit Values

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Finding God in All Things: An Interview with an SCS Student Pursuing the Common Good Through Real Estate

The academic programs at SCS benefit from the inclusion of a wide range of students who bring with them invaluable personal and professional experience into the classroom experience. As a School at Georgetown committed to a “world-class, values-based education to a diverse array of communities and individuals throughout their academic and professional careers,” SCS attracts students from across the lifecycle of professional experience and industry knowledge who share in a common desire for lifelong learning. In this edition of Mission in Motion, we sit down with Vincent Reppert, a student in the Master of Professional Studies in Real Estate (MPRE) program. Vincent reflects on his career in professional athletics, his decision to apply to Georgetown after years serving as a litigator, and how his faith and the Spirit of Georgetown motivate his passion for learning about real estate. 

This week’s post is an interview with Vincent Reppert, a student in the Master of Professional Studies in Real Estate program. 
  1. Tell us a little bit about yourself. What led you to apply to the Master of Professional Studies in Real Estate? 

I am a practicing real estate attorney and have been for over 20 years.  For much of this time I have served as a litigator, engaged in many real estate issues related to affordable housing, banking, predatory lending, and criminal activities committed by government officials.  Litigation is extremely stressful and it can be detrimental to maintaining a healthy lifestyle. So after many years of litigation practice, I discerned that I needed to pursue professional practices that were healthier and more personally meaningful.   As a result, I transitioned into more of a practice representing individuals and investors concerning the development of properties and the acquisition of properties. The decision to change my practice focus was based on lessons I’ve learned in athletics (I played Division I college and professional football) and in my life of faith (I’m a committed Catholic).  In this discernment process, I realized that I wanted to use my God-given talents to become a more generous person who helps people with my knowledge and skills.  Also, as an owner of real estate, I have become interested in understanding the principles and practices of real estate so that I can share my knowledge with others. 

  1. One of the hallmarks of Ignatian Pedagogy, the style of teaching and learning inspired by the Jesuit education tradition, is regular reflection about our lived experiences. How has your career in law informed what you bring to the classroom and your learning experience in the real estate program? 

My athletic experience enabled me to develop a very strong work ethic and allowed me to be aggressive when I needed to be, but also supportive, especially when others are hurting. I have attended Catholic universities like Seton Hall University School of Law. There, I was particularly impacted by a course in Canon Law taught by a priest who practiced in the Vatican.  Through this connection, I was able to attend Canon Law disputes in Rome. This experience gave me a new light on how I viewed not only my profession but my life in general.  I realized that I needed to do something more meaningful than assist wealthy people become even wealthier. While I have no regrets about my legal career, I believe that God has invited me to give back to others in a more meaningful way. I am grateful that the MPRE Program has allowed me to do this in the classroom.  The program and the diverse student and faculty perspectives included in the community have expanded my views about real estate.  I find this component of the MPRE Program invaluable and I believe that my classmates feel the same way.

  1. People for Others is one of the core values of the Spirit of Georgetown. How is your Georgetown education inspiring you to practice real estate in ways that serve the common good? 

My Georgetown education, especially my interaction with my MPRE Program colleagues, has allowed me to offer examples from my own career of how to serve others, which is core to a Jesuit education. For example, I have shared with classmates from my professional experience about an actual development of an affordable housing project in Newark, New Jersey. I represented the developer and owners and that led to the development thanks to a pilot program of 100 percent affordable units in exchange for a 20-year tax abatement. I provided actual testimony from the applicants and tenants, and I also presented actual lease agreements, explaining the provisions in them to the class. My colleagues were extremely grateful and expressed this in their comments.  This was a highlight experience for me in the MPRE Program.  As I reflect on why this was so personally meaningful, I noticed my own enthusiasm about helping others learn from an actual application of professional practice. 

  1. What advice would you give to prospective applicants who are considering graduate study at SCS after years of professional practice? 

I would strongly recommend any person considering graduate study after years of professional practice to pursue it and not to just “think about it.” Life moves very fast and I cannot believe that I am close to completing the program (it feels like just yesterday that I was contemplating an application). I have been able to give a lot, but I have been able to learn just as much by observing the viewpoints of the multiple generations represented in the program.  Again, my advice would be: make choices in your professional life that allow you to share your gifts and talents with others and serve the society. I think of Benjamin Franklin as a role model for continuing education, as his entire life was devoted to continuous, lifelong learning. Pursuing lifelong education is also reflected in Georgetown’s mission and in the values of the Jesuits, who have helped me appreciate Finding God in All Things by valuing the opportunity to learn anew every day.

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When Networking Helps Meet the Mission: Le Moyne College Visits SCS

This week, Stacey Corcoran, Georgetown’s Chief Marketing Officer, presented to a group of students from Le Moyne College, a peer Jesuit school in New York, visiting DC during their spring break. 

What comes to mind when you hear the term “networking”? For many, I imagine, this is a concept totally associated with the business of advancing one’s career. In this sense, networking is a necessary but not always enjoyable part of rising in the professional ranks. Students are often encouraged to grow their “network” by attending professional events and initiating contacts with experts in their industries. For many, there is an inherent discomfort in networking because it means taking risks to meet new people and build new relationships that are advantageous to one’s career. Many students come to a university like Georgetown because they believe that Georgetown’s global network of alumni will ultimately be helpful in realizing their professional ambitions. I would like to affirm these aspects of networking but also offer some values-based considerations about this practice. 

The visit from Le Moyne was a powerful reminder about the deeper purpose of networking. All Jesuit schools share a universal mission.

The Jesuits have spoken in recent years about the importance of networking. For a global religious community operating in countries across the world, it is critically important that the Jesuit organization be comprised of local and regional networks that relate to one another through shared projects. Clearly defined networks help ensure that “mission can be carried out,” according to the Jesuits’ General Congregation 34. Realizing universal values like a commitment to justice and the common good requires collaboration and coordination among partners in a defined network. Cooperation is key to realizing the global mission of the Jesuits. Georgetown and the other universities in the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities contribute to that mission through the work of higher education. 

This week, SCS engaged in a mission-committed form of Jesuit higher education networking by welcoming to campus a group of undergraduates from our peer Jesuit school, Le Moyne College in New York. The students from Le Moyne, accompanied by staff guides, came to Washington, D.C. for a week of visits during their spring break in order to explore post-graduation opportunities. Through the Manresa Program, a comprehensive, multi-year career preparation and personal development program at Le Moyne, these students are on track to discover how to apply their greatest gifts in life after college. In addition to meeting with Le Moyne alumni in Washington, D.C., the students wanted a more in-depth understanding of graduate and professional education so they reached out to SCS to learn more. 

Chief Marketing Officer Stacey Corcoran and I welcomed Le Moyne to campus for a short tour and an open discussion about how to approach the post-graduation journey. The students were especially interested in learning more about what graduate programs look for in applicants. They also desired more information about how students typically arrive at SCS. It became clear in the interactive conversation that students understood there is no “one-sized-fits-all” model for how one decides to apply to a professional graduate program. Given some baseline familiarity with Ignatian discernment frameworks, I was able to offer some suggestions about how to structure the individual decision-making process after graduation. 

It was reassuring to be with the Le Moyne group because of the kinship due to our shared values as peer Jesuit institutions. While the expression of mission and values might look differently in different contexts, there is a reassuring commonality among Jesuit schools across the world. This one small effort at networking is a reminder of the potential strength of working together as aligned partners with a unified commitment to the principles of Jesuit education. SCS, through its innovative and flexible approach to values-based, mission-committed graduate professional and continuing education, is contributing to this global effort. 

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A Mission Focus on Environmental Sustainability During a Warm Winter Week

The occasion of unexpectedly warm weather this week in Washington, D.C., while welcomed as an interruption of a cold stretch as well as a reminder of the warmer months to come, can also point our attention to the reality of a warming climate.

This week’s post explores Georgetown’s mission commitment to environmental sustainability and how all of us are called to engage in the work of repairing the natural world.

Mission in Motion has previously explored the mission-based university commitments to environmental sustainability that arise out of the Spirit of Georgetown, namely the value of Care for Our Common Home. The launching point for this particular value is the articulation of a morally informed environmental vision of Pope Francis in his 2015 encyclical Laudato Si. In that document, Pope Francis comprehensively addresses the spiritual, economic, social, and cultural components that have led to our environmental crisis and the ongoing threats from climate change. Engaging the best of science and empirical research, while grounded in an ecumenical and multi-faith humanistic appeal, Pope Francis invites urgent action: 

“I urgently appeal, then, for a new dialogue about how we are shaping the future of our planet. We need a conversation which includes everyone, since the environmental challenges we are undergoing, and its human roots, concern and affect us all.” 

Such an urgent appeal should implicate all that we do at the university. And at SCS, the pursuit of environmental sustainability should inform our approach to teaching, learning, community engagement, and facilities and operations. The School has already made a major commitment in this way through its certified LEED Gold campus building as certified by the U.S. Green Building Council. The environmental crisis is so significant that it has to be a coordinated, multi-pronged local, national, and international strategy. But we can all do our part in this shared effort.

So in this season, I invite you to consider three questions below to reflect upon and then consider developing an ongoing plan of action. Such questions are especially fitting in this moment of the religious calendar, with the Christian community going through the time of Lent and the Jewish community preparing for Passover. Both of these religious events invite deeper self-reflection about the way that we are called to take part in the repair of our broken and bruised world. 

Three questions for you to consider in that spirit of a social motivated-commitment to healing the earth: 

  1. What have I done to make my local community, the places that I live and work, and the wider world more environmentally sustainable? 
  1. What am I doing to make my local community, the places that I live and work, and the wider world more environmentally sustainable? 
  1. And what ought I do to make my local community, the places that I live and work, and the wider world more environmentally sustainable? 

As you ponder these questions, I invite you to explore Georgetown’s education and practice resources for developing a personal action plan. Check out the research-based Earth Commons Institute and the Office of Sustainability. 

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A Week of Welcomes: SCS Opens Its Doors and Its Heart

This week’s post shines a spotlight on two events of hospitality this week at SCS: the prospective student open house and a Valentine’s Day rose giveaway sponsored by GradGov. 

This week, the SCS community opened its doors for the first in-person prospective student open house in more than three years. The well-attended event featured dedicated program staff and faculty sharing insights about SCS with everyone who made their way to the downtown campus. With festive music and a generous spread of food, visitors experienced first-hand the hospitality and mission commitment of the SCS community. 

A recent Mission in Motion post explored the School’s biennial marketing campaign, themed this year as “Be continued.” As I walked around the open house, I noticed how prospective SCS students manifested the energy of the campaign. As they waited in line to talk to a particular faculty member or made spontaneous conversation over food with fellow prospects, these visitors to the SCS campus displayed an eagerness and an enthusiasm about their professional futures. And this future-directed energy from potential students was received warmly by friendly and informative staff and faculty. Conversations were more than interactions that transacted information. I noticed meaningful conversation occurring on multiple floors of the building. 

The culture of an organization is reflected in its people. In this way, the community of SCS faculty and staff are the living embodiment of the Spirit of Georgetown. A student’s enriching experience of meaning, belonging, and purpose at SCS arises from the tremendous efforts of the faculty and staff community working in a coordinated way to deliver on the promise of a Georgetown education. The scale of this enterprise and the many parts involved is not always visible to students. But the open house revealed how the SCS staff and faculty community work together to make the mission come alive. 

This poetic prayer, “Falling in Love,” is a fitting message for the care and support that students, faculty, and staff extend to one another as part of their shared work of teaching and learning. 

Later in the day, the SCS community again put the mission into motion. SCS GradGov members, the elected students who represent the School on the university-wide graduate student governance body, passed out free roses in the late afternoon preceding evening classes. Everyone was invited to take some flowers as a token of appreciation. I even noticed that the students purposefully placed boxes of roses in staff office areas with a note of: Thank you for your work! I observed how fellow staff members embraced this gesture of gratitude on Valentine’s Day. The dynamic of mutuality required in a well-functioning structure of relationships between students, staff, and faculty points to the deeper meaning and purpose of a Georgetown education. 

This GradGov initiative coupled with the open house on Valentine’s Day brought to mind the poetic prayer, “Falling in Love.” Often attributed to former Jesuit Superior General Pedro Arrupe, this prayer reflects the ways that having a durable and abiding purpose in life and work, anchored in a dynamic relationship with God or whatever one names as the transcendent Other or mysterious ultimate in their life, is the motivation that sustains everything. I like to think that events taking place on this Valentine’s Day reveal the loving commitment and deeper sense of purpose that students, faculty, and staff bring to the shared endeavor of professional and continuing education at Georgetown SCS.

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Teaching Teachers as Mission Activity: English Language Center in Service to Others

The Mission in Motion blog has made Ignatian Pedagogy a central focus in the last few years. Ignatian Pedagogy refers to the set of practices, approaches, and values orientations of teachers who desire to incorporate the spirit and content of Jesuit principles in their teaching activities. The entire framework derives from St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuits and original source of pedagogical guidance for instructors in Jesuit schools. The paradigm is not, however, a one-size-fits-all method for bringing mission and values into learning spaces nor is it a prescription for teaching particular content. Rather, Ignatian Pedagogy, like the spirituality and values that inspire it, makes the individual uniqueness of a teacher, her students, and their context the starting point for developing a teaching strategy. 

This week’s Mission in Motion explores how the English Learning Center at SCS lived out the Georgetown value of being People for Others by serving 150 local students with a 10-hour English course. 

At SCS, we are fortunate to be home to the English Language Center, an English language and teacher training center that has been at Georgetown for nearly 60 years. Through a diverse array of programs offered to students from around the world, the ELC promotes “global understanding and education through programs that enhance English language proficiency, language teaching, and intercultural understanding” as well as “academic excellence in teaching and learning that is guided by a commitment to diversity and tolerance, and respect for the individual.” Several examples of the Center’s commitment to respect for the individual and commitment to a Community in Diversity, like the ELC annual Thanksgiving panel and potluck, have been featured on this site. 

A more recent example of ELC service to the community typifies the Center’s tight alignment with the Spirit of Georgetown. Recently featured on the SCS website, the article “Certificate Students Gain In-Person Teaching Experience” tells the story of how the Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) Certificate served 150 local students from D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. In a 10-hour English course, TEFL teaching candidates gained direct practical experience in meeting the learning needs of these 150 students. The occasion brought the teaching candidates together with the students from a wide variety of cultural and language backgrounds. 

Multiple goods were served by this program experience. The teaching candidates gained valuable professional experience that can be leveraged as they seek TEFL jobs throughout the world. Such a direct practicum experience is at the heart of the Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm, which emphasizes the centrality of “action” in an interrelationship between “experience” and “reflection.” By having the direct experience of teaching in this way, the TEFL candidates can reflect on their practices with the help of program faculty and other students in the program. There is no substitute for real-world professional experience and the TEFL candidates are now better situated to enhance their knowledge base and skillset as a result of this teaching practicum.

In addition to benefits for the teachers, this program advanced the Spirit of Georgetown and its value of service with and for others. By aligning teacher training with the needs of local learners, the ELC TEFL program realized the University’s mission commitment to education in the service of community and the common good. The program design serves as a model for how to simultaneously realize the values of Academic Excellence and People for Others. Teaching and learning, regardless of the academic or professional discipline, can always be directed toward the generous service of the world. 

I hope you check out the Teaching English as a Foreign Language Certificate website and learn more about how the English Language Center brings Georgetown values to life.

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SCS “Be Continued” Campaign Shines Light on the Mission of Continuing Education

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This week’s post takes a closer look at the new SCS branding campaign, “Be continued,” and connects it to Georgetown’s mission and values. 

Every two years, the gifted SCS marketing staff plans for a distinctive brand campaign that raises awareness about the School of Continuing Studies. The campaign has multiple components, including creative placements (like this article in The Washington Post: “Turn the Page In Your Career at Georgetown University School of Continuing Studies”) and messaging that is highly visible around the city and the D.C. region. You might have seen the campaign advertised on a city bus! The entire undertaking is an enormous effort and requires the coordination of many stakeholders. 

This year’s campaign, “Be continued,” is a creative on-ramp to a deeper exploration of the mission and values that animate Georgetown SCS. Through the campaign’s messaging points, “Turn the page in your career,” “Your next chapter starts here,” and “Your story is far from finished,” we can appreciate the resonances with the larger mission of Georgetown and the particular mission of SCS. The University’s mission commits to educating “women and men to be reflective lifelong learners, to be responsible and active participants in civic life and to live generously in service to others.” The SCS mission picks up on the University’s commitment by further specifying populations served in the implementation of Georgetown’s universal mission: “To deliver a world-class, values-based education to a diverse array of communities and individuals throughout their academic and professional careers.” Both statements draw attention to the critical importance of education being “lifelong” and professionally and civically oriented. 

You might see the campaign in action on a city bus near you! 

The dimensions of adult professional and continuing education at SCS that make it particularly unique and distinctive are the connections to the Jesuit heritage of Georgetown University. As readers of the Mission in Motion blog can attest, there are many ways to name this uniqueness, including the University’s commitments to multi-religious chaplaincy and inter-religious dialogue and action. There are 10 values in the Spirit of Georgetown that attempt to narrate the meaning of this Jesuit heritage in a way that resonates with our diverse community. I would like to point out a specific connection to Jesuit values and education that arises for me as I contemplate the meaning of the “Be continued” campaign. 

In his 2000 address at Santa Clara University, then Superior General of the Jesuits, Fr. Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, S.J., gave some guidance about how Jesuit colleges and universities should be measured in terms of their effectiveness in realizing the mission. According to Kolvenbach, Jesuit schools strive to form students not just for worldly success but for a deeper personal and social commitment:

 “The real measure of our Jesuit universities lies in who our students become. For 450 years, Jesuit education has sought to educate ‘the whole person’ intellectually and professionally, psychologically, morally, and spiritually…Tomorrow’s ‘whole person’ cannot be whole without an educated awareness of society and culture with which to contribute socially, generally, in the real world. Tomorrow’s whole person must have, in brief, a well-educated solidarity.”

-Fr. Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, S.J., former Superior General of the Jesuits

The measure Kolvenbach suggests, “who our students become,” feels unmeasurable in some ways. How exactly can we assess who our students become? What criteria can we establish to evaluate whether this “becoming” is a sign of mission achievement? 

I think the “Be continued” brand campaign points to an important mission-defining aspect of SCS in response to Fr. Kolvenbach’s reflection. Students never fully “become” because we are always on the path to “becoming” who we are truly called to be. The educational offerings at SCS, in the form of degree and certificate programs, make possible the work of ongoing whole-person formation and development for the purpose of realizing the good in one’s own life and in the surrounding society. Each of our stories is being written anew each day and we cannot know how our own story will end. But the transformative gift of a Georgetown SCS education helps provide more options in the living out of our personal and professional stories. And together, our individual stories of professional self-discovery and advancement can add up to a larger shared story. Becoming active participants in this larger shared story, one that invites deeper commitment to justice and the common good, is exactly how the mission of SCS comes to life. 

So how are you being called to “Be continued”?

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Dr. King’s 2023 “Teach the Speech” Focuses on “The Drum Major Instinct,” Emphasizes Leadership in the Service of Others

This week’s post features the 2023 Dr. King Teach the Speech at Georgetown. Check out the January events and curriculum support guide to make this year’s selected speech, The Drum Major Instinct, come to life in your teaching at work at the University. 

Georgetown’s annual Teach the Speech is a welcomed learning opportunity for all parts of the University, including the School of Continuing Studies. Mission in Motion has engaged with this yearly event and written about it in 2022 and in 2021 (the blog has also covered SCS Faculty Director Dr. Erinn Tucker-Oluwole’s participation in the 2021 MLK Initiative event on food equity in Washington, D.C.). 

This year’s speech, The Drum Major Instinct, was delivered by Dr. King two months before his assassination and is filled with timely themes that can challenge and inspire our ongoing efforts to realize a beloved SCS community that honors the diversity of our members by striving for justice and the common good. The speech was then and remains today a provocative perspective on the two sides of greatness, significance, and the importance in each person. 

The intention of Teach the Speech is to encourage faculty and staff to meaningfully incorporate the speech’s content into classes and work at the University. The best way to dig into the curricular and professional applications of this year’s chosen speech is to first read it or listen to it. If you were not able to attend Teach-In 2023, I encourage you to check out the portions of the event that were livestreamed and recorded. You can watch a lecture by Dr. Vicki Crawford, Director of the Morehouse College Martin Luther King Jr. collection, and a sermon and closing by Rev. Dr. Otis Moss III, Senior Pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago. After all of this, I recommend that you engage with the comprehensive teaching guide that offers an array of suggestions about how to make The Drum Major Instinct come to life in your teaching or working context. 

From the perspective of the professional and continuing education learning community at SCS, I think this year’s selected speech presents several avenues for deeper exploration. For one, adult professional learners are motivated by their desires for greatness and for public recognition. Being motivated to advance one’s career and enhance one’s professional prospects is a healthy reason to seek higher learning at SCS. But even this noble ambition can become distorted if the intention for greatness becomes a desire to be first at all costs. Selfishness can crowd out others in one’s life, leading to neglect of duties to family and community. Dr. King is realistic about the human condition as he says: “Now in adult life, we still have it, and we really never get by it. We like to do something good. And you know, we like to be praised for it.” But Dr. King invites the listener to consider the other side of the pursuit of the ideal of greatness. 

For Dr. King, to be great is to be in service to others. The speech is an incredible expression of Dr. King’s humble embrace of his own mortality by giving the speech’s audience instructions for his own eulogy. In these instructions, we today hear a call to servant leadership. Dr. King does not want his memorialization to include his many awards and accomplishments. Instead, he says: “I want you to say that I tried to love and serve humanity.” In this simple request, Dr. King is helping us appreciate what most matters in a life. A life of professional significance should be assessed on the basis of how one shares their gifts with others and helps realize a more just and inclusive community. We can take this lesson to heart as we pursue our professional ambitions at SCS. A life of professional development and advancement need not come at the expense of serving a higher purpose in life. 

Dr. King’s speech also points us to the social justice dimensions of our educational enterprise. The Spirit of Georgetown invites a commitment to justice that moves from charity to acting for change in social systems and structures that contribute to injustice. Georgetown’s Center for Social Justice, Research, Teaching & Service (CSJ) offers some opportunities to commit to this deeper work of social change. 

Rabbi Rachel Gartner, SCS Senior Adviser for Spiritual Care, embodied such a commitment this month while she spoke on a panel at the 2nd National Multi-Faith Conference on Ending Mass Incarceration.  At this conference hosted at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Ga., Rabbi Gartner presented this Values-Based Call to Action co-authored for the Jewish Council of Public Affairs. In this work, Rabbi Rachel demonstrates that contemporary movements for social justice, inspired by the example of Dr. King, are rooted in deep spiritual and moral foundations.

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2022 SCS Dean’s Report Highlights the Role of Mission and Values in Forging Ahead as a Community

The 2022 SCS Dean’s Report, which covers Academic Year 2021-2022, is the focus of this week’s Mission in Motion. The report tells a deeper story about how the School uniquely manifested Georgetown and Jesuit values throughout the year. 

Each year, the SCS Dean’s Report offers a meaningful review of the School’s most significant work during the Academic Year and its vision for the year ahead. I like to think of this annual exercise as an Examen of sorts, given the document’s reflective spirit and the wide variety of student, staff, faculty, and alumni perspectives that give the report its life. In addition to individual articles authored by a breadth of voices, the report uses facts and figures to present a holistic snapshot on the state of SCS.

The framing of each report is instructive because it communicates to its readers something important about how the School lived out its prior year of work. This year’s document, “Forging Ahead,” tells the story in a series of reflections about how SCS returned from the pandemic to both pre-existing, pre-pandemic habits and to new ways of teaching, learning, and working together. As Dean Otter offers in her opening reflection, the balance of old and new ways of proceeding are reflected in the unique ways that SCS inspirits Georgetown and Jesuit values in its work: “The Dean’s Report is only a snapshot of achievements across our varied portfolio, and the diverse stories herein capture our community’s perseverance, and also our profound commitment to enacting our Georgetown and Jesuit values.” The document then provides multiple concrete examples of how SCS has put the mission into motion during Academic Year 2021-2022.

Many of the highlighted examples of work should be familiar to readers of this SCS Mission in Motion blog. For example, Miranda Mahmud, Manager of Communications, tells the story of Summer High School Programs returning to the Hilltop. You can read this past Mission in Motion post to learn more about the deeply mission-aligned Summer College Immersion Program (SCIP). Dr. Sherry Steeley, Associate Teaching Professor, goes into depth about the collaboration between the SCS English Language Center and Georgetown’s Institute for Women, Peace, and Security that provided direct English language and professional development support to Afghan refugees (the blog shared more about this partnership in a post: “Serving a Community in Dispersion: Reflections on Sharing English Language Learning with Afghan Refugees”). And I authored a piece about how SCS celebrated the Ignatian Year 500 through a set of dedicated activities covered by Mission in Motion throughout 2021 and 2022. The article explores the special events, retreats, and experiential pilgrimages that characterized Georgetown’s embrace of its Ignatian heritage in this milestone year of celebration.

The annual publication of the SCS Dean’s Report is more than a static document about a point in time. The words that comprise this document, a project undertaken by a dedicated team of SCS staff, are living testimony to the School’s enduring commitment to Georgetown and Jesuit values. I hope you will take a closer look at this year’s report and reflect from your unique position in the SCS community about how you have forged ahead over the last year of life and work.

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A Prolonged Pause for Gratitude

As we near the Thanksgiving holiday, it feels appropriate to reflect on the place of gratitude in our individual lives and in our collective experience at Georgetown SCS. The Jesuit tradition of spirituality, embodied in the practice of the examen, makes gratitude the centerpiece of regular reflection and prayer. Growing in awareness of the gifts of our daily lives, from small details to the major sources of thanksgiving, can shape us into ever more generous, more discerning, and more large-hearted people. To enter into reflection on our lives in a spirit of gratitude makes us more available to become the authentic people we are called to be. St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuits, believed that gratitude was the proper response to our encounter with the divine. 

It is important to note that naming gratitude does not always come easy. And it is ok to acknowledge that today, this week, or this semester has not surfaced much gratitude in our reflective awareness. It is not advised to force an expression of gratitude when it does not feel true to who we are or the reality of the world around us. If you’re in a place like this, you might need to pursue support, help, and guidance from friends, mentors, and trusted guides who can accompany you in your journey and help locate the blockages to experiencing gratitude. But we must also acknowledge that the social reality around us also gets in the way of freely naming a sense of our gifts. The endless episodes of senseless violence, including the recent shooting at the University of Virginia, and the reality of injustice and oppression make us more aware of our responsibility to build up and restore the common good. But this awareness of suffering and injustice might also make us feel the opposite of gratitude. 

In this week’s Mission in Motion, we pause in advance of the Thanksgiving holiday to savor gratitude in our individual lives and in our collective experience of Georgetown SCS. Several events this week at SCS, including a Thanksgiving potluck and an Instagram Live for Jesuit Heritage Month with alumna Karim Trueblood, were sources of gratitude. 

This week at SCS has surfaced much gratitude. Students and faculty are hard at work in their courses, nearing the end of a full semester. This community is also finding ways to build community and convene outside the classroom. This past week, SCS staff helped put together a series of dynamic public events, including a fall lecture series by Project Management, an International Student Series about the H-1B hosted by Hoya Peers to Peers, a Community Listening Circle for faculty and staff hosted by the Diversity, Equity, Belonging and Inclusion Council (DEBIC), an Instagram Live session for Jesuit Heritage Month with alumna Karim Trueblood, and a Rock Creek Hike hosted by the English Language Center (ELC). The ELC introduced its students to the American rituals of Thanksgiving by offering a panel discussion of SCS colleagues reflecting on their own holiday traditions. For faculty and staff, ELC also organized a Thanksgiving-themed potluck lunch. 

This week’s Instagram Live for Jesuit Heritage Month with alumna Karim Trueblood, explored how Georgetown’s Jesuit values came alive for Karim in SCS classes, retreats, and other opportunities.

This is just a small list of the many ways that SCS students, faculty, staff, and alumni are working to construct a more just and generous society and world and realizing the Spirit of Georgetown’s commitment to becoming People for Others. However you experience next week’s Thanksgiving, I hope that you can find some quiet time to savor the gifts of your life.

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SCS Adds Special Event to Georgetown’s Celebration of Jesuit Heritage Month

This week’s Mission in Motion highlights Georgetown’s Jesuit Heritage Month, which includes a special Instagram Live with SCS alum Karim Trueblood. 

Every year, Georgetown explores the enduring contribution of the University’s Jesuit heritage and values through an entire month of programming. You can check out the diverse array of activities occurring across Georgetown that invite participants into a deeper consideration of what the five centuries of tradition of Jesuit spirituality and education mean today. Jesuit Heritage Month can be especially helpful for community members who do not know much about Georgetown’s Jesuit characteristics and desire to learn more.

Mission in Motion attempts to narrate the myriad ways that SCS lives out Jesuit values across the school community. This blog is intentional about practically telling the story of mission and values at SCS by emphasizing how this work is approached inclusively and invitationally, encouraging everyone in the community to take part in activating the core principles of the Spirit of Georgetown. The emphasis is on the “motion” of the mission, signaling that mission and values are critical because they inform how we act more generously and justly in the world. The religious diversity of SCS is celebrated in these posts and Jesuit values are offered as a resource for deeper learning and service for everyone, especially in the context of the diversity of lived experience and religious identity. 

SCS uniquely manifests the Spirit of Georgetown in curricular innovations, like instructional design processes that intentionally incorporate Jesuit values into online and on-ground courses. All of the Master of Professional Studies programs include a core class in Ethics that explores professional decision-making from diverse philosophical vantage points, with special attention on the contribution of Ignatian discernment and Jesuit values. And a dedicated community-based learning course, “Jesuit Values in Professional Practice,” allows degree-seeking students to deeply explore the implications of incorporating Jesuit-inspired reflection practices, like the examen of consciousness, for professional life. 

With the uniqueness of the SCS way of living out Georgetown’s Jesuit values in mind, it is very exciting that Georgetown’s Jesuit Heritage Month will include a special SCS event. On November 17 at 3:00 p.m. ET on the School’s Instagram, I will sit down and talk with Karim Trueblood, SCS alum of the Class of 2019. Mission in Motion has featured Karim on the blog and explored her distinct ways that she made Jesuit values part of her curricular and co-curricular experience at SCS.

I am very excited about the Instagram live conversation because Karim’s story of personal discovery is an inspiration for anyone who wants to live out the University’s mission and values but may not know where to start. A graduate of the Master of Professional Studies in Emergency & Disaster Management, Karim models so well how every person has their own special sacred story and no one’s story is exactly like anyone else’s. The most compelling stories are so often filled with surprises and unexpected turns. Karim will help us understand how Georgetown SCS fits into her ongoing pilgrimage of life and work. Tune in and learn more about how Karim is helping set the world on fire!