A Global Partnership Initiative of the Jesuit Schools Network
Dear Global Companions:  

A few months ago we were grappling with how to hold a "Connected Class" with students across our region, continent or world. Now, virtual conversations are second nature to us. A few months ago we were defining and sharing what it means to be part of a global community. Now we are living in sharp detail the reality of just how interconnected and interdependent our world is. Our common humanity is more present than ever before us.

Within our schools you are all rising to the challenges of the day, innovating, experimenting, maintaining and developing relationships, and continuing to act with care and love for your students. This last Hemispheres issue of the school year salutes and celebrates each of you!
"To act as a universal body with a universal mission" GC35, D.2 #20
Catharine Steffens
Director of Global Partnerships
Jesuit Schools Network
On our campuses...
De Smet Jesuit Partners with AVLI Bridges Program | Innovative Education, Networking & Global Education
De Smet Jesuit High School is partnering with an all girls Catholic high school on the east coast, to create a collaborative classroom through Arrupe Virtual Learning Institute’s (AVLI) Bridges Program. This class is being created and taught by Bridget Bowers, English teacher at De Smet Jesuit High School (St. Louis, MO). The class will focus on gender studies and dialogue between genders, through lenses of literature and psychology. The class will bring together students from both of the schools. Bowers will work in collaboration with student leaders from both schools, to create and implement the course on the AVLI platform. The course – which will be taught  from our campus, but on both campuses  – will have online synchronous and asynchronous components.  
 
“We are excited to be in partnership with AVLI for this course creation and launch. During a time when most of us are focusing on sustaining what we have, we are excited to think about building for the future . Bridget’s experience in our school, along with her experiences as a student at Regis Jesuit, a co-institutional high school in Denver, CO, will be so beneficial for students. We hope the course will affirm our commitment to network outside our building and learn about the experiences of others, set in a Catholic context. We are also excited at the prospect that our students will be interested in this elective course as part of our Global Education Certificate program ,” reflected Pete Musso , Assistant Principal for Curriculum & Instruction. The course is being collaboratively created in the 2020-2021 academic year, and will launch in the fall of 2021. Track our progress at  AVLI Bridges .  
What would St. Ignatius do? Taking Jesuit education to the Covid Frontier 
~Jen LaMaster and JD Ferries-Rowe
Jen LaMaster and JD Ferries-Rowe from Brebeuf Jesuit will be hosting a 45 minutes Q&A Webinar for Teachers from Jesuit and Ignatian Schools.
Time and Date: Thursday May 14th, 2020
8am PDT / 11am EST / 3pm GMT / 5pm CET
As Jesuit schools continue to cope with the transition to remote instruction, educators are realizing the benefits and challenges of distance learning. With COVID_19, accompanying young people in the creation of a hope-filled future has taken on a new immediacy. Keeping in mind our foundations of cura personalis, Jesuit pedagogy, and our call to the frontiers, this webinar will examine what questions we should be asking ourselves as we plan for a comprehensive strategy for managing students, technology and instructional design as we look to the 2020-2021 academic year.
Brophy Goes Digital with  Lear 1984
Out of darkness are we blessed with light and joy through the power of the arts and storytelling. On Thursday, March 12, 2020, Brophy and Xavier student artists were in rehearsal for  Lear 1984 , the inaugural  Brophy Shakespeare in the Park  production. Opening night was ten days away. In the end, that day would be the last rehearsal— and the last day on campus—for the school year. On-campus classes and activities were cancelled, and the community entered a virtual learning environment. The  Lear 1984  team found themselves in a state of discernment:  What do we do now? What can we do?

The original plan for  Lear 1984  was to abridge Shakespeare's five act text and modernize the concept for a poignant time in US history. We reimagined the story and placed it in Scottsdale, Arizona at Queen Lear's Country Club. The play opens with Lear bequeathing her real estate to her three daughters, but things do not go as planned. That’s where the path changes for the plot – and the Brophy production.

Enter: VERONAVIRUS, I mean,  CORONAVIRUS .

Lear’s most notable phrase then took on new meaning: “Nothing comes of nothing!” When the on-campus performances were cancelled, we did NOT do nothing. We found a way. Together. We decided to do something. After all, the show must go on!

Thankfully, the Brophy community has the support and capacity to thrive in the virtual classroom and, by extension, the virtual stage for storytelling. The collective talents and experiences of the cast, crew, design team, faculty, and staff inspired the decision to “go digital” with  Lear   1984 .
Serendipitously, the show concept was a natural— eerie—fit into an Orwellian world where screens and machines replace face-to-face interaction and society is breaking down in the midst of economic uncertainty and destruction—and deconstruction—of the family unit. It is remarkable how artistic constraint and an unknown path inspire and enable creativity and, thus, the need to connect. The theatre team launched themselves onto the digital platform and leaned into a new medium of storytelling. The production for the film version of  Lear 1984  is currently underway. The  Lear 1984 website  features student artist bios, filming updates, behind the scenes stories, the  YouTube trailer , and more.
The journey of  Lear 1984  will live on beyond these web pages and digital screens, thanks to the remarkable young people involved in this work of art. Times may be uncertain, and the going may get tough, but remember… YOU ARE NEVER ALONE. We are here, we care, and we promise that the show  will  go on!
E-Learning Projects: Creating Inclusive Societies
“First of all, it (this pandemic) is showing us that we are one humanity. Every human being, every people, each culture that contributes to human diversity is part of this one, varied, rich and interdependent humanity”. (Fr. General Arturo Sosa)
Are you looking for materials/inspiration for an e-learning project with your students on the issues of refugees, migration and creating inclusive societies? This project, created by JRS Europe might be for you. The project is divided into 6 Stages, each stage has a lesson plan for teachers and worksheets for students which can be easily adapted to the current online learning environment. The first Stage is “Self-awareness and self-esteem”. Here are the
If you are interested in continuing with the other stages of the project you can find all the materials on  Educate Magis .
 
Framing Distance Learning within Ignatian Pedagogy
Distant teaching and learning started suddenly, out of the blue, without rehearsals, and with little experimentation. Technology and the Internet, with the resources they offer, are making it possible. They are, however, tools that still need to be explored and interpreted. They are tools for an educational process that has as its foundation the relationship between people. Didactic models, lesson plans and tips for using various platforms circulate online, offering us technical solutions.  But what about Ignatian pedagogy? Can it offer us “solutions”? At what level? What insights can Ignatian pedagogy offer to those who teach (from home) in a Jesuit school? 

Fr. Vitangelo Denora SJ, Director of Istituto Gonzga Jesuit School in Palermo, Italy offers us some guidance on how to interpret distance learning within the framework of Ignatian pedagogy. Read Fr. Denora's essay here.
And beyond...
#JSNGlobal
Tag your photos with #JSNGlobal and SHARE your global journeys in & out of the classroom.
JRS/USA - A Look Ahead
~Josh Utter
Looking for summer reading? Consider “ Dying to Live: Stories from Refugees on the Road to Freedom ” by Danielle Vella, Jesuit Refugee Service’s International Director of Reconciliation . To supplement the reading for you and your students, JRS/USA developed a discussion guide . If interested in having the author speak virtually to students in the Fall, feel free to reach out to Josh Utter .
 
Also, know you can always visit www.jrsusa.org/resources for more materials (such as the Walk a Mile Toolkit or a Prayer for Refugees During the Time of COVID-19 ) as you plan for the upcoming school year.
Mental, Emotional and Spiritual Health Practices
Bob Stephan , Director of Ignatian Formation at Loyola High School, Los Angeles is looking into ways to effectively support the mental / emotional / spiritual health of faculty and staff and is wondering if anyone has resources or practices for helping faculty and staff in this way (beyond the good professional development on online instruction that many are offering). Any insights or ideas from other schools would be appreciated! If anyone has any tips or ideas for Bob, feel free to share them  here.
Will the Birds Keep Singing?
Friday, March 13 th  was the first day without my students and when most of our lives turned upside-down.  My family planned to head to Walt Disney World for spring break and the week leading up to that Friday, my wife and I watched the news each evening and then we finally saw that the Disney Company closed the World.  How fitting.  The fantasy land of my children’s dreams closed as the rest of our world began closing.  We all felt disappointed, how could we not?  We spent the last year planning this trip and now it was all over.

That trip became a microcosm of our lives.  Our world has shut down.  We can’t see each other, we can’t be near one another, we live our lives through a screen, and it feels painful and untethered.  We are all in unchartered waters and we are clueless.  We experience this world like explorers, trying to fit our preconceived notions of what the world is into a realm of completely new understanding.  

I started taking long walks by myself to just get out of the house.  I usually listen to an audiobook but the other day I left my ear buds at home.   I walked and I listened.   I just listened to the sounds of Spring all around me.  I heard the birds, especially the call of the cardinals, and I stopped and watched them flit from branch to branch, calling to each other from long distances.  They communicated, and I’m not sure what they said to each other, but they talked and then listened, and then responded once again to one another.  The male’s red plumage stood out in stark contrast to the budding yet still bare branches, the red bird stood exposed on this limb and sang for all the world to hear and see, and then he got a response .  

I woke up on another day to an email from a random colleague.  I see her often walking in the halls and I ask her how she is and she responds and she asks the same.  Our relationship is quite casual but on this morning, she sent me an email asking how was I adapting and how was my family adapting to quarantine.  

I cried.  I openly wept when I read her email.  I couldn’t believe that she had spent a moment concerned with how I and my family was feeling.  What could possibly put my wellbeing into her mind at that moment and then to reach out to find the answer?  She has her own family and own problems, but in that moment she stood on that limb and called out to me.  

We are all suffering, and that is okay.  We are all scared, and that is okay too.  But we can rise from this quarantine and seek those connections and be grateful for the people around us who care for us and then return that care.

Take a moment each day to connect and make someone’s day.
Thanks, Lil.
Updates and Opportunities from Ignatian Solidarity Network
Solidarity on Tap: : The Ignatian Solidarity Network invites you to virtual Solidarity on Tap on  Wednesdays at 9PM ET/6PM PT . Enjoy fellowship and hear powerful reflections from members of the network engaged in work for justice—from a screen near you! Learn more and RSVP here  and join live every week on Facebook . 
Upcoming events:  
May 6, 2020
Sr. Helen Prejean
Executive Director, Ministry Against the Death Penalty

May 13, 2020
Tom Chabolla
President, Jesuit Volunteer Corps

Good Works: Responding to COVID-19: Good Works: Responding to COVID-19 features partners from the Ignatian Family working diligently to support the needs of community members through direct service, accompaniment, and advocacy in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Join ISN live every Thursday at 4PM ET/1PM PT on Facebook . Visit ISN's  National Event Board  for information about each week's guests.  

Just Community: Join the Ignatian Solidarity Network for this casual, online gathering to build community and talk about life, faith, and justice. Learn more.

Digital Advocacy Workshop: Being a Voice for Justice Amid Social Distancing: A digital workshop hosted by the Ignatian Solidarity Network to provide insights on engaging in faith-based social action in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and the realities of social distancing, stay-in-place orders, etc. While we do not have all the answers, we are hopeful that the speakers and conversations provide skills, knowledge, and motivation to stand up for the rights and dignity of those around us. Contact Erin Brown for more information and to register. Registration is limited.  Learn more.
A Prayer for a Pandemic
~Dr. Cameron Wiggins Bellm

Correction: Last month we mistakenly attributed the author of the moving "A Prayer for a Pandemic". The actual author is Dr. Cameron Wiggins Bellm of Seattle. You can follow her blog at Krug the Thinker: Seeking the Sacred in the Everyday.
Subscribe to Hemispheres
Share with Hemispheres
The Jesuit Schools Network promotes the educational ministry of the Society of Jesus in service to the Catholic Church by strengthening Jesuit schools for the mission of Jesus Christ.