Global Engagement

Integrating Classroom and Experiential Learning

The courses began on campus as traditional lecture-based seminars for the first half of the spring semester before transitioning into an immersive study-away experience over spring break.

A distinguishing characteristic of these seminars was that a chaplain from the Office of Mission & Ministry accompanied students both in the classroom and on their study-away experience. The chaplains provided an opportunity for students to engage more deeply with the Spirit of Georgetown values that animate our community life—from interreligious understanding to community in diversity.

The short-term study-away experience was attractive to some students who were interested in the idea of a traditional semester or year-long study abroad experience but prioritized their on-campus activities. Lucia Lavallee (C’25), a biology major with ambitions to pursue a Ph.D. program upon graduation, jumped at the opportunity to apply, noting that the seminars “were a great way to do a little bit of a study abroad program without having to compromise courses or research.”

The spring break trips engaged students with a mix of activities, including sightseeing with tour guides, classroom instruction with their professors and chaplains, and interactions with local people and organizations.

Jerusalem and the Challenge of Peace

Lavallee was admitted into the Jerusalem and the Challenge of Peace course taught by professor Ori Soltes at Georgetown’s Center for Jewish Civilization. The course examined, among other questions, how Jerusalem evolved as a focal point in the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim traditions, and included a spring break trip to Israel and Palestine.

Reflecting on the spring break trip, Lavallee remarked that “it’s one thing to learn about an issue as a concept, and it’s a very different thing to experience it.” She now has a better understanding of the Israeli-Palestine conflict after having experienced day-to-day life in the region. Unlike reading the headline events in news articles, she realized that the conflict “is so much less at once, but you can see how it adds up and how it impacts every single aspect of people’s lives.”

Rev. Jerry Hayes, S.J., director of Ignatian Programs, and Imam Yahya Hendi, Muslim chaplain and director of Muslim Life, served as chaplains for the course. Lavallee reiterated how beneficial it was to have Professor Soltes, Fr. Hayes, and Imam Hendi make up the teaching team.

"It gave us the least biased perspective possible because each one was acting as a spokesperson for a religion and advocating for that religion’s views of situations."

Reading St. Paul in Greece

Sophomore Sarah Sisto (C’25) participated in the Reading St. Paul in Greece course taught by Department of Theology and Religious Studies professor Alan Mitchell. Sisto, a government major, decided to apply because of the novel opportunity and her interest in theology, which developed after taking the Problem of God and Religion and Conflict theology courses during her freshman year. Professor Mitchell’s course studied Paul of Tarsus’ missionary activity in the Eastern Roman Empire and the letters he wrote to the Christian communities he established in Corinth, Thessalonica, and Philippi in Greece and Galatia in Asia Minor.

Over spring break, the students followed in the footsteps of Paul by visiting Athens, Corinth, Thessaloniki, Philippi, and the Greek monasteries of Meteora. Growing up in the Catholic Church, Sisto had known about the letters of St. Paul but had only considered them through a religious lens rather than a historical one. During the spring break trip, the class visited the jail where St. Paul wrote his letters, which helped her to understand his humanity, and visited some Greek Orthodox monasteries, which helped her to understand his role in history.

"Seeing how Paul’s teachings started these Christian communities that are now all over Greece and a huge part of Greek culture brought religion into reality for me. It helped combine the history and faith aspects."