This engaged learning course has had a great impact on my personal development. Not only has this course given me the opportunity to expand my knowledge on the true meaning of service, it has also challenged me to be a better individual towards every community that I may encounter. It has broadened my horizons and moved me outside of my comfort zone to explore what it means to truly serve others and helped me realize responsibilities that I was not fully aware of when I first went on my brigade.

My engaged learning course especially taught me about the meaning of being a global citizen. While writing my blog, I was able to express myself and explore my thoughts about the responsibility I had towards other people. The blog captured me at different moments of my semester. During this time I was preparing for my second brigade as a leader, experiencing life as a senior in college, and thinking about my future and what lied ahead of me. Throughout the duration of this course, I was able to blog my thoughts about being a global citizen as I was growing as a person through the semester. The course gave me new perspectives and new ideas to think about each week, and I believe this was reflected in my blogs that I wrote every couple weeks.

I became more aware of my surroundings and realized a stronger call towards service throughout this semester. There were many times that my meaning of service was challenged by some of the articles we read. This affected my view of service and what it meant be someone who believes in the good of service. My blog writing reflected the changes I was experiencing and helped me articulate some of the struggles I was experiencing. However, this course helped me become comfortable with my struggles. It helped realize that these struggles were worth talking about and that we all have a responsibility to try to address these struggles as best we can. I had a hard time with dealing the bad views of service, but I was able to educate myself more about how to address these opinions of service.

All of the lessons I learned in compilation helped enhance Loyola’s mission to “expand knowledge in the service on humanity through learning, justice, and faith.” On my brigade I expanded my knowledge of a world outside my own by learning about the Nicaraguan culture. In the classroom I was able to explore the issues going on in-country and why Global Brigades helps Nicaragua the way it does. On my brigade I was able to see first hand the injustice of the land. I witnessed the poor living conditions, the illnesses that invaded communities, and the struggles of people dealing with their unfortunate reality. While I was in the classroom I learned how I could address these injustices by becoming an active global citizen within my own community here in the United States, as well as in Nicaragua again as a brigade leader. Lastly, during my brigade I learned how faith and love make service more rewarding. I had faith in the work we were doing and the impact we were making on the Nicaraguan people. In this course, I had my faith in service tested on many levels. However, I learned to overcome and deal with some of the challenges when it comes to taking responsibility to take action.

I have grown in more ways than one throughout the duration of this course. I’ve learned to move outside of my comfort zone, to push myself to learn about people different than myself, to serve with a strong faith, to form connections and bonds with anyone I can, and to any accept challenges I may encounter. With this in mind, I will continue to keep Loyola’s mission of expanding my knowledge in service on humanity through learning, justice, and faith and apply it whether it be in Nicaragua or here in the Loyola community.