Georgetown University Students Contribute to the Global Social Justice Movement Through Community Engagement Program

In a quest to reach new frontiers of knowledge of social justice, six students from Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar (SFS-Q) visited the US recently as part of the University’s Community Engagement Program (CEP).

The theme of this year’s CEP was on international disaster management, as students spent hours in workshops, lectures and discussions learning about issues affecting populations around the world, during visits to Georgetown’s main campus in Washington, D.C., the 2012 Jesuit Universities Humanitarian Action Network (JUHAN) Conference in Fairfield, Connecticut as well as a Habitat for Humanity project in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

“The CEP is unique to our campus in Qatar, as participants take real-world lessons and apply them to their student life at SFS-Q. After participating in the CEP, previous students have engaged in meaningful initiatives related to migration and labor laws,” said Alex Silberman, a Student Development Officer at SFS-Q, and one of the trip organizers.

A Jesuit institution of global acclaim, community-based learning is one of the cornerstones of the Georgetown University experience. The Qatar campus has continued its commitment to extending this ethos of the main campus by building a community-based learning component into the academic years. Service projects remain based on informing, involving, and empowering the students to develop stronger notions of social responsibility, and to wrestle with questions of social justice.

“Georgetown aims to promote the Jesuit value of ‘Men and Women for Others’ by developing well-rounded students who excel academically and in their extracurricular endeavors; students who will ultimately work for the communities that they are a part of,” said Silberman.

“The trip was a wonderful opportunity for participants to form new partnerships, forge new friendships, foster multi-cultural understanding, and learn about ways to meaningfully contribute at home and abroad,” added Silberman.

Past CEP trips have taken SFS-Q students to Sri Lanka, South Africa, Bangladesh, and Tanzania to name a few.

“This program is always looking for ways to tie the program at home in Qatar. The ultimate goal of CEP is to foster student engagement,” said Silberman.