Bringing Jesuit Education to Life

Summer at the Ignatian Center begins and ends with Immersion trips. It is a wonderful period in which our students and our team engage in some of the most impactful – and distinctively Jesuit – experiences of the whole year. At the heart of Jesuit education is encounter, especially across geographies and cultures and languages and socio-economic lines. In immersions, our students come into direct contact with people around the globe and across the US, building solidarity, sharing faith, and exploring our transcendent human desires for justice, belonging, and meaning. 

In June, our immersion programs saw students travel to Chile and Costa Rica, and as I write in August we presently have student groups in Ghana and New York City. The reflections in this issue, from the first two of those immersions, beautifully describe the diverse communities our students encountered in their journeys, as well as the questions these experiences provoked – about the quest for justice, inclusion, and effective democracy – and the evolving convictions our students are developing that will guide their lives and careers. In Jesuit terms, we call this discernment, and we see it come alive in manifold ways in the context of these immersions.

I had the privilege of beginning my summer by accompanying our student immersion in Chile, and then traveling onward to a global gathering of leaders from the nearly 200 Jesuit universities around the world in Bogotá, Colombia. Over the course of the coming year, I’ll be sharing reflections from that gathering, in which Fr. General Arturo Sosa, S.J., the worldwide leader of the Jesuits, encouraged us to “be bridges that support intercultural dialogue … and to consolidate our interconnectedness as members of one human family.” The immersions we carry out fulfill this charge in a powerful way, bringing to life the distinct vision of Jesuit education on which Santa Clara is built – for our students, our community, and the world.

Human Rights and Cultural Memory

Mateo Coulson '28 had plenty of valid reasons to apply for the Summer 2025 Chile Immersion. The experience would give him the opportunity to travel to another part of the world, to learn about the history, politics, and culture of another country and region, to practice his Spanish, and to build friendship and relationships with his SCU peers. In the end, the immersion experience provided him with all of that and so much more. Mateo credits the immersion for making him a more spiritual, intellectual, and social-justice-driven person.

Read Mateo's Reflection

We are All Human

For Simone Smith '28, the Summer 2025 Costa Rica Immersion was an eye-opening experience. The immersion cemented her commitment to become a Human Rights Attorney and engage in advocacy work, but now she has a better understanding of what that means on global scale. The immersion also made her recognize that her own position in this world is a privilege, and that she should use this privilege to speak up and to stand up for those in need. Most importantly, the Immersion opened Simone's eyes to our shared humanity and helped her realize that no matter how different we may seem on the outside, we need each other. After all, we are all human.

Read Simone's Reflection

Post-Immersion Evaluation Results