Last winter, students from Santa Clara University had the opportunity to visit the Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador (PUCE) as part of an immersion program from the Ignatian Center for Jesuit Education that focused on Accompaniment and Intentional Communities in Quito, Ecuador. The visit aimed to foster our relationship with the Jesuit Global Network between the two institutions and learn about the positive social impact our sister University in South America has been making in Ecuador.
The visit was an inspiring experience for the SCU students. Their discussions with PUCE professors showed them the university’s initiatives in vulnerable urban regions and the Amazon rainforest that strive to advance social justice. These institutional projects entail the active involvement of PUCE faculty and students, focusing on academic research and community accompaniment for and with the communities, as our Universal Apostolic Preferences invite us.
During this visit, a significant goal was to foster within our students a culture of encounter and belonging amongst our global network. We intend to accompany our students as they participate in these international experiences, which will, in turn enrich their vocation and engagement with their local communities upon their return. Our aim also is to inspire our students to commit themselves through the lens of social change and reconciliation to build a more humane, just, and sustainable world.
Have a look at the experience of Madi Smith, a student at Santa Clara University, during her visit to la PUCE:
After spending time in the more rural areas outside of Quito, our day in city central was a radically different setting from the neighborhood visits we had been making for most of the week. Exploring the city with its unique landmarks and charms was interesting but stepping onto PUCE’s campus late in the afternoon was like stepping into any other college campus I’ve been on before. It was a nice break in the city. This beautiful urban campus is full of students running to and from academic buildings packed into a campus the size of two city blocks.
We were welcomed into their beautiful library with such excitement and hospitality, and they had two professors lined up to share their unique and exciting projects with us.
The first, Venus Medina Maldonado, Ph.D., Leader of the Prevention of gender violence Research Group, was a nurse before she turned to education in community practice and research in healthcare. She shared with us how Ecuador’s healthcare system collapsed during COVID-19 and how the university helped to implement a better testing system, allowing people to get their results much faster than the standard two weeks from the hospital. This anecdote was emblematic of the large role PUCE had in their community. It was clear that this university and its projects were centered on benefitting the communities they were a part of and made that a priority in its education.
Additionally, Maldonado shared her research with us that focused on domestic violence in teenage relationships and set up a questionnaire that determined someone’s likelihood that they would become violent. It was designed to be the start of a prevention program that connected high school students at risk of violence to resources that could help their development at a critical time in their lives. Maldonado’s project was fascinating to us and something we all felt the communities we grew up in the United States could benefit from.
Our next speaker was David Lasso, Ph.D., Coordinator of the Yasuni Research Station, studying both nature and the indigenous communities Waorani and Kichwa in Ecuador’s part of the Amazon Rainforest. He talked about the work of the University to support preserving biodiversity as well as the ancestral cultures of the area and how this connected to the Encyclical Laudato Si’ and the mission of a Jesuit university. We learned a lot about how resource-rich the Amazon is, not just in terms of species but also cultural practices from the Yasuni people, all of which contribute to Lasso's and his researchers' commitment to preserving and sharing its richness.
Through our time at PUCE we learned about what other universities in the broader Jesuit network are working on and how so much of our work is interconnected. Students from our group who were studying Women and Gender Studies, Environmental Science, and Public Health all related these projects to things they had learned and talked about in their classes. During that afternoon, there was a clear connection between the two universities in different regions. We all took so much away from the privilege of these researchers coming to speak to us. There were even chats as we left about coming back to study abroad with PUCE. It was simply that exciting!
*The Immersions Team from Santa Clara University extends their deepest gratitude to the Internationalization Office at PUCE for their warm hospitality towards our students and staff members during our visit.
Last winter, students from Santa Clara University had the opportunity to visit the Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador (PUCE) as part of an immersion program from the Ignatian Center of Jesuit Education that focused on Accompaniment and Intentional Communities in Quito, Ecuador. The visit aimed to foster our relationship with the Jesuit Global Network between the two institutions and learn about the positive social impact our sister University in South America has been making in Ecuador.
The visit was an inspiring experience for the SCU students. Their discussions with PUCE professors showed them the university’s initiatives in vulnerable urban regions and the Amazon rainforest that strive to advance social justice. These institutional projects entail the active involvement of PUCE faculty and students, focusing on academic research and community accompaniment for and with the communities, as our Universal Apostolic Preferences invite us.
During this visit, a significant goal was to foster within our students a culture of encounter and belonging amongst our global network. We intend to accompany our students as they participate in these international experiences, which will, in turn enrich their vocation and engagement with their local communities upon their return. Our aim also is to inspire our students to commit themselves through the lens of social change and reconciliation to build a more humane, just, and sustainable world.
Have a look at the experience of Madi Smith, a student at Santa Clara University, during her visit to la PUCE:
After spending time in the more rural areas outside of Quito, our day in city central was a radically different setting from the neighborhood visits we had been making for most of the week. Exploring the city with its unique landmarks and charms was interesting but stepping onto PUCE’s campus late in the afternoon was like stepping into any other college campus I’ve been on before. It was a nice break in the city. This beautiful urban campus is full of students running to and from academic buildings packed into a campus the size of two city blocks.
We were welcomed into their beautiful library with such excitement and hospitality, and they had two professors lined up to share their unique and exciting projects with us.
The first, Venus Medina Maldonado, Ph.D., Leader of the Prevention of gender violence Research Group, was a nurse before she turned to education in community practice and research in healthcare. She shared with us how Ecuador’s healthcare system collapsed during COVID-19 and how the university helped to implement a better testing system, allowing people to get their results much faster than the standard two weeks from the hospital. This anecdote was emblematic of the large role PUCE had in their community. It was clear that this university and its projects were centered on benefitting the communities they were a part of and made that a priority in its education.
Additionally, Maldonado shared her research with us that focused on domestic violence in teenage relationships and set up a questionnaire that determined someone’s likelihood that they would become violent. It was designed to be the start of a prevention program that connected high school students at risk of violence to resources that could help their development at a critical time in their lives. Maldonado’s project was fascinating to us and something we all felt the communities we grew up in the United States could benefit from.
Our next speaker was David Lasso, Ph.D., Coordinator of the Yasuni Research Station, studying both nature and the indigenous communities Waorani and Kichwa in Ecuador’s part of the Amazon Rainforest. He talked about the work of the University to support preserving biodiversity as well as the ancestral cultures of the area and how this connected to the Encyclical Laudato Si’ and the mission of a Jesuit university. We learned a lot about how resource-rich the Amazon is, not just in terms of species but also cultural practices from the Yasuni people, all of which contribute to Lasso's and his researchers' commitment to preserving and sharing its richness.
Through our time at PUCE we learned about what other universities in the broader Jesuit network are working on and how so much of our work is interconnected. Students from our group who were studying Women and Gender Studies, Environmental Science, and Public Health all related these projects to things they had learned and talked about in their classes. During that afternoon, there was a clear connection between the two universities in different regions. We all took so much away from the privilege of these researchers coming to speak to us. There were even chats as we left about coming back to study abroad with PUCE. It was simply that exciting!
*The Immersions Team from Santa Clara University extends their deepest gratitude to the Internationalization Office at PUCE for their warm hospitality towards our students and staff members during our visit.
Last winter, students from Santa Clara University had the opportunity to visit the Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador (PUCE) as part of an immersion program from the Ignatian Center of Jesuit Education that focused on Accompaniment and Intentional Communities in Quito, Ecuador. The visit aimed to foster our relationship with the Jesuit Global Network between the two institutions and learn about the positive social impact our sister University in South America has been making in Ecuador.
The visit was an inspiring experience for the SCU students. Their discussions with PUCE professors showed them the university’s initiatives in vulnerable urban regions and the Amazon rainforest that strive to advance social justice. These institutional projects entail the active involvement of PUCE faculty and students, focusing on academic research and community accompaniment for and with the communities, as our Universal Apostolic Preferences invite us.
During this visit, a significant goal was to foster within our students a culture of encounter and belonging amongst our global network. We intend to accompany our students as they participate in these international experiences, which will, in turn enrich their vocation and engagement with their local communities upon their return. Our aim also is to inspire our students to commit themselves through the lens of social change and reconciliation to build a more humane, just, and sustainable world.
Have a look at the experience of Madi Smith, a student at Santa Clara University, during her visit to la PUCE:
After spending time in the more rural areas outside of Quito, our day in city central was a radically different setting from the neighborhood visits we had been making for most of the week. Exploring the city with its unique landmarks and charms was interesting but stepping onto PUCE’s campus late in the afternoon was like stepping into any other college campus I’ve been on before. It was a nice break in the city. This beautiful urban campus is full of students running to and from academic buildings packed into a campus the size of two city blocks.
We were welcomed into their beautiful library with such excitement and hospitality, and they had two professors lined up to share their unique and exciting projects with us.
The first, Venus Medina Maldonado, Ph.D., Leader of the Prevention of gender violence Research Group, was a nurse before she turned to education in community practice and research in healthcare. She shared with us how Ecuador’s healthcare system collapsed during COVID-19 and how the university helped to implement a better testing system, allowing people to get their results much faster than the standard two weeks from the hospital. This anecdote was emblematic of the large role PUCE had in their community. It was clear that this university and its projects were centered on benefitting the communities they were a part of and made that a priority in its education.
Additionally, Maldonado shared her research with us that focused on domestic violence in teenage relationships and set up a questionnaire that determined someone’s likelihood that they would become violent. It was designed to be the start of a prevention program that connected high school students at risk of violence to resources that could help their development at a critical time in their lives. Maldonado’s project was fascinating to us and something we all felt the communities we grew up in the United States could benefit from.
Our next speaker was David Lasso, Ph.D., Coordinator of the Yasuni Research Station, studying both nature and the indigenous communities Waorani and Kichwa in Ecuador’s part of the Amazon Rainforest. He talked about the work of the University to support preserving biodiversity as well as the ancestral cultures of the area and how this connected to the Encyclical Laudato Si’ and the mission of a Jesuit university. We learned a lot about how resource-rich the Amazon is, not just in terms of species but also cultural practices from the Yasuni people, all of which contribute to Lasso's and his researchers' commitment to preserving and sharing its richness.
Through our time at PUCE we learned about what other universities in the broader Jesuit network are working on and how so much of our work is interconnected. Students from our group who were studying Women and Gender Studies, Environmental Science, and Public Health all related these projects to things they had learned and talked about in their classes. During that afternoon, there was a clear connection between the two universities in different regions. We all took so much away from the privilege of these researchers coming to speak to us. There were even chats as we left about coming back to study abroad with PUCE. It was simply that exciting!
*The Immersions Team from Santa Clara University extends their deepest gratitude to the Internationalization Office at PUCE for their warm hospitality towards our students and staff members during our visit.