One of the distinguishing features of Jesuit education is the inclusion of community service in the curriculum. The Beijing Center (TBC) is rooted in the Ignatian tradition of being “men and women for others”.
Since TBC’s founding in 1998, students in the study abroad programme participate in service learning activities each semester in Beijing. As persons for others, they’ve volunteered with disadvantaged youth, worked as English tutors and helped renovate classrooms in the Beijing suburbs.
This fall semester, students from 11 Jesuit universities in the United States and two from Colombia are participating in TBC’s service learning activities. On September 21 they spent an entire day at the Bethel China Foundation, an organisation which provides support to thousands of vulnerable children through training and outreach at five different locations across the country. One of their projects called “Love is Blind” serves young orphaned children who suffer from visual impairments.
Loyola University Maryland student Zachary met a small girl named Callie at Bethel. “She was very outgoing and had more energy than most of the TBC students combined”, he writes. “This was the highlight of my weekend; to be able to see the happiness in her eyes, and more so, the difference one person can make in someone’s life.”
More service learning opportunities are lined up in October and November, and on November 17, TBC will host its annual fundraiser dinner themed the “Feast of Bartimaeus” with university staff, non-profit and business partners, scholars, professors, alumni, students and their families. The event will showcase the wonderful service learning work the students have done this semester with partner charity organisations, working with disadvantaged youth in Beijing.
“Being that The Beijing Center is a Jesuit organisation, we value service and community as a crucial part of our academic and social life in China,” writes Zachary. “TBC offers plenty of these types of volunteer opportunities and strongly recommends them, as they are eye-opening experiences to say the least!”
Read Zachary’s reflection here.