Loyola’s mission statement aspires to “expand knowledge in the service of humanity through learning, justice, and faith.” Through my own engaged learning experience I lived out the mission first hand and it has changed my view of the world. My engaged learning experience was a medical service trip to Ghana with Global Brigades. On our Brigade we provided a local village with a free clinic where we were able to serve 918 patients of all ages. The clinic was set up in a village school building with no electricity and no running water but it showed me that even without these seemingly vital necessities it is still possible to serve. It showed me that our greatest service to our patients was not providing them with medication but rather providing them with love.
My engaged learning course amplified the impact the brigade had my life ten-fold. The trip itself was ten days long and truly was an eye-opening experience. The class however was four months of reflecting on my brigade and learning about social justice in many of its forms. It challenged us to think critically about service, about current social issues people are facing all over the globe, and about what can be done to counter these social injustices. This class implored me to look at my brigade and at service in general from all angles. It helped me to grow academically, intellectually, creatively, and religiously. Our readings challenged us to answer the deeper questions about service and to figure out why service matters to us and why it matters to those we serve.
My ePortfolio lays out everything that I have learned via different forms of multimedia. In each of my reflections I delve into class readings that address social justice and global citizenship and how they related to my experience of service. My blog contains three posts about my thoughts on global citizenship and how we can get involved as global citizens. My Final Reflection shows a PowToon video that expands on how my engaged learning experience has impacted my personal development and changed my life. These are just a few examples of what is on my ePortfolio and you can explore it more with the link posted below!
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