Santa Clara honors Arrupe anniversary

By Liz O'Brien

Monday marked a university celebration of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Pedro Arrupe, S.J., former Superior General of the Society of Jesus and namesake of the university's Arrupe Partnerships program.

"It was under his leadership that Jesuit education really became much more focused on what at that time was referred to 'engagement with the poor,' " said Laurie Laird, assistant director of the Ignatian Center for Jesuit Education.

The Arrupe program is in its 21st year on campus. Formerly the Eastside Project, the program was renamed Arrupe Partnerships in 2000. Though Arrupe had no direct connection to the university, his life and mission exemplified the values the university seeks to reflect, said Laird.

This quarter, 364 students are enrolled in the Arrupe program, most from Spanish and communication classes.

As a division of the Ignatian Center for Jesuit Education, the Arrupe program offers students the opportunity to learn outside of a classroom environment by providing about 50 community partners, including some who have been working with the university for more than 20 years. Arrupe also offers paid, year-long internships to students who have shown ongoing participation in the program.

Junior Natalie Gomez, now an Arrupe intern for River Glen School, served at a number of Arrupe sites before deciding to apply for the internship. Her previous sites included MACSA Latch Key, where she worked with grade school children whose parents worked multiple jobs, and Sacred Heart Homework Club, where she tutored middle school students.

"MACSA Latch Key was really, really special to me," Gomez said. She recounted how the two coordinators of the program would make a home-cooked meal, like quesadillas or frijoles, right in the classroom for all the students.

"That was really warm for me," Gomez said. "I was like, 'Wow -- this is more than an after-school program. This is a home for these kids.' "

Arrupe community partners include middle schools and high schools, vocational training centers and health-related service centers, such as Hope Services and the Alzheimer's Activity Center.

Students most commonly participate in the program as a supplement to a class, but the program is open to students who wish to work with placement sites independent of a class.

Community-based learning at Arrupe is different from simply volunteering, said Laird.

"Other campuses call similar programs 'service learning,' and we choose not to," she said. "I think it's easy for the students to focus on the 'service' part."

Laird stressed that the purpose of the program is not to make students feel like they are participating in obligatory community service, but to engage students in a learning environment that offers a different perspective than their own.

Students that participate in the Arrupe program are required to contribute two hours of work to their placement site each week for eight weeks. Mandatory reflection sessions take place near the end of the eight-week period.

Junior Kyle Iwamoto spent last winter and spring quarters working at St. Joseph the Worker Center, where he tutored older Latino men and women in English.

His Arrupe placement was through a Spanish class in which they were discussing immigration, and Iwamoto found his placement relevant to the class material.

"I saw the challenges that immigrants face on a daily basis," he said. "And those challenges are beneficial for students -- for everyone -- to really gain compassion."

He added that his work gave a face to many of the political issues that they discussed in his class, especially those related to deporting immigrants.

"It was interesting to work with them so closely, to understand how they need to have these jobs," he said. "They have a life here, too."

Also included in the Arrupe program is the Jean Donovan Summer Fellowship, which offers students a $1,500 grant to develop their own plan to work with a community, domestically or abroad, for a summer.

In addition, Arrupe partnerships provide an opportunity to work more intensely with a faith-based organization as an intern through the DISCOVER program.

As a recipient of the Donovan Fellowship in the summer following her freshman year, senior Katy Erker worked in her hometown of St. Louis, where she served as a teacher's assistant in Litzsinger School, a partner in the special school district. Two summers later, through DISCOVER, she served as an intern for Catholic Legal Assistance Ministry, where she took on legal cases for people making less than $15,000 per year.

"There were people in just dire straits, and interacting with them was very much a physical ministry," said Erker.

Through her work, Erker connected with Catholic Open and Affirming, a curriculum that educates parishes or faith communities about the reality that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Catholics face in the church. Her involvement with COPA and her experiences with the Donovan Fellowship and DISCOVER have led her to consider law school.

"I think my experiences with people who are marginalized, like the students at Litzsinger, like LGBT Catholics I worked with ... showed me real outlets where I'll be able to advocate for others," she said.

On average, there are about seven DISCOVER interns and 13 to 15 Donovan Fellowship recipients. Like the Arrupe partnership site placements, the goal of the internships and fellowship grants is to enable students to live out the university's mission of serving others.

"In the end," said Laird, "it's about each person gaining something from this interaction that might not have happened otherwise."

Contact Liz O'Brien at (408) 554-4546 or eobrien@scu.edu.