education
Grace and Goodness Light the Way
Editor’s Note: Lay missioner Susan Sarkissian shares what Jamaican schools are like and where she notices goodness and light in the school where she serves. “In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven” Matthew 5:16 The Franciscan…
Read More
The Dump
Editor’s note: Missioner Misty Menis-Kyler shares a glimpse of Guatemala City’s dump and the people who live and work there. Last month I had the privilege of taking the Holy Spirit mission group from Texas to a site off campus called the dump. It is exactly what it sounds like. It is the dump where…
Read More
The Privilege of Choice
Editor’s note: Missioner Maggie Van Roekel reflects on the privilege of being able to receive education and choose a job, sharing how teaching and the attitude of her students have challenged her own understanding. As I am finishing my first semester at the UAC, several people have asked me what I feel has been the…
Read More
No Country For Young Girls
Editor’s Note: Missioner Maeve Gallagher reflects on how she’s seen Guatemala’s beauty standards manifested in her students and felt compelled to use this as a teaching experience. As I reapplied my lipstick under the florescent bathroom lights, Ceci and Katy commented on my appearance, “Who’s the boy?” “Is it the cute guy who was at…
Read More
“¡Gano, Gano!”
“I win, I win!” These words most often associated with sports games recently became the anthem of my second grade classroom. When I first started teaching I blogged about the challenges I was facing as a brand new teacher with no teaching background and a simple desire to give my best to my students. There…
Read More
Learning from Children with Special Needs
The last couple of of weeks I have had the amazing opportunity to work in a classroom with some student teachers from Xavier University (Cincinnati, OH). They came to work with children with special needs. They needed assistance for their student teaching, and I have some experience teaching, so I agreed to help. I worked…
Read MoreDave El Pulpo
For many people, my name is difficult to pronounce. It doesn’t matter where I am in the world, someone will manage to mispronounce it. I became used to this at a young age and I don’t mind gently correcting people. Many of the kids in Guatemala find my name especially difficult to say due to…
Read More
A delicious occasion
Editor’s Note: The following post was written by Nate Mortenson. Community work hours are a required contribution students make at the University of Carmen Pampa. It’s part of students’ life here. They study and work on campus when they don’t have class. Many of the students work in areas where they already are skilled. Some…
Read More
Seeds of Change
Editor’s Note: The following is part of our daily holiday series celebrating “The Shared World” through Mary’s thoughts and experiences. Working in Carmen Pampa at the University, I get the privilege of working alongside the students in the campus gardens. As we weed next to each other I get to hear about their lives, where they come from, and what…
Read More
Franciscan Friday: Service through Faith: the Ultimate Act of Hope
To honor National Volunteer Month and highlight the service component of the Nonprofit Leadership Program, the next several Fridays will feature reflections from program associates about their experiences with weekly direct service. In today’s post, communications associate Michael Carlson writes about his weekly service experience as a Reading Partner at DC Prep Elementary, a grade…
Read More
Report from Guatemala: Potential New Service Site!
Thirty minutes east of Guatemala City, a Franciscan boarding school called Valley of the Angels lives its motto: “Give the best to the poor.” Their emphasis on restoring dignity through service resonates with Franciscan Mission Service Executive Director Kim Smolik. Executive Director Kim Smolik with girls from Livingstone, Guatemala. The girls are friends of board member,…
Read More
Alternative Spring Break with FMS: Advocating for a New Kind of Service Trip
University of Georgia students in an advocacy workshop with Russell Testa. Five days into their alternative spring break trip to D.C., college students from the University of Georgia ditched the work gloves for a clipboard and a stack of talking points. Franciscan Mission Service’s newly developed Short-Term Mission and Global Awareness Trips includes a spring…
Read More
Mission Monday: Being Good Stewards of Resources
Twenty-seven days into our Lenten journey of “Walking in Solidarity,” we turn our attention to this week’s theme of Investing in Solidarity: Stewardship of Resources. “As each one has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God’s varied grace.” (1 Pt 4:10) We’re going to focus mainly on stewardship…
Read More
Living Solidarity: Tools for Faithful Citizenship
The theme for this week’s Walking in Solidarity Lenten Series is “Living in Solidarity: Work, Family and Citizenship.” Today we talk about some wonderful resources provided by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops that can help you understand your position as a citizen who can affect change for others. For the 2007 election, the…
Read More
Mission Monday: Teaching Solidarity
Each Monday during our Lenten “Walking in Solidarity” series we look at how Franciscan Mission Service is striving to live out the theme for the week. This week’s theme is solidarity through education and formation. “Teaching” solidarity is at the very core of Franciscan Mission Service’s work. We have two programs in particular that embody…
Read More
Franciscan Friday: Franciscan Education Part 2 – A Professor’s Perspective
As part of our mini-series in recognition of the start of the school year, a professor shares with us her experience working at a Franciscan institution and what is important about an education inspired by Franciscan values. I spent my first 15 years of teaching at state universities all over the country before we settled…
Read More
Franciscan Friday: Franciscan Education Part 1 – A Student’s Perspective
Come August, students and faculty say goodbye to summer vacation and hello to a new school year. Blocks, streets, even towns dedicated as campuses bustle with knowledge seekers. Education becomes the number one priority in superstores and receives headlines come election season. As Claiborne Pell once said, “The strength of the United States is not…
Read More
National Volunteer Month Profile: Lynn in Bolivia
Today we highlight the other half of our couple serving in Bolivia: Lynn Myrick. Lynn was a college English professor for 28 years until she felt called to serve God in a new and different way. After earning her Masters in Theology from Vanderbilt Divinity School, she served as a college chaplain until May 2009 when…
Read More
National Volunteer Month Profile: Michael in Bolivia
Michael Redell started his first year of lay mission with FMS in January. Originally from Grand Rapids, Michigan, his background is in education and coaching. Before coming to FMS, he went on a short-term mission to Peru and taught for a year in Alaska. “Ever since I had volunteered down in Peru…I knew I wanted…
Read More
“To be understood, as to understand” – Teacher learns a lesson in Guatemala
Today’s mission story about David LaDuca teaching in Guatemala (2004-2007) illustrates two important characteristics of FMS. The first is that we ask the community what they need — we do not try to force help on them, and we do not want to take their jobs away. The local community knows their needs better than…
Read More