As part of its “East Meets West” talk series, The Beijing Center (TBC) hosted a virtual conversation with Loyola Marymount University in California, Ateneo de Davao University in southern Philippines, and Five Loaves and Two Fish, a Beijing-based organisation supporting children of migrant families. The conversation centred around the importance of service-learning as community involvement and student engagement in Jesuit education.
Interim Director of the Center for Service and Action at Loyola Marymount University, Patrick Furlong, began the discourse by recollecting the virtual immersion at the university and how students are connecting their passions and interests with social issues through community participation. Furlong described the service-learning approach through a global citizen lens, where students are encouraged to learn in and out of the classroom in order to use their knowledge and contribute to the betterment of the world.
Loyola Marymount University has established immersion programmes to meet their students’ need for authentic encounters, which have become progressively necessary during the ongoing pandemic. As part of these immersion programmes, students and educators participate in virtual activities that satisfy cultural curiosity, offer a safe space for reflection, and increased awareness of formative social issues.
Another service-learning perspective is practised at Ateneo de Davao University. Agnes Joy J Sagaral, Service-Learning Coordinator at the Arrupe Office of Social Formation, stressed the equal importance given to the learning goal and the service goal throughout each service initiative at Ateneo. In implementing these programmes, service-learning is framed by the Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm. It follows a framework, where students are first provided with the context, followed by experience, reflection-action, and, finally, evaluation. An important part of the programme is the recognition given to the assisting partners and the results of their efforts in serving Asia-Pacific communities.
Fr Johnny Rakotoarisoa concluded the discussion by describing Five Loaves and Two Fish’s service efforts. As Programme Coordinator, Fr Rakotoarisoa shared the education and developmental support they provide for children of migrant families. Children are taught and cared for by dedicated volunteers, who maintain the facilities and accumulate resources to meet the children’s needs while they are in their care. Many of the organisation’s service-learning components have been a part of TBC students’ service-learning experience for years. Students have seen first-hand how children need a stable learning space as their families adjust to new lifestyles to make a better living.
An inquiry that arose from the audience was how service-learning will progress and evolve – virtually and in-person. This drew attention to the new challenges and opportunities of immersion programmes and the unfulfilled potential to do more for our communities. How, through risk, trial and error, and the use of valuable resources, service-learning initiatives can strengthen the cultural life and economic development of respective communities while shaping students into proactive and compassionate citizens. [TBC]
