stueent speaks to congressman in meeting room

After months of preparation and study, students presented their ideas on societal issues to members of the House of Representatives. Being Committed to Justice is an Ignatian Value and the Ignatian Family Teach-In for Justice allows students to study the issues that face our society. https://ignatiansolidarity.net/iftj/  In years past, St. Xavier students have completed research on relevant social issues and presented their requests for change to local Congressmen in an event that culminates at the Nation’s Capital. Students attended a virtual conference last October then continued to research their issue of concern through the winter. In March, they participated in a national advocacy effort that included Jesuit schools from across the country advocating for a better world.

 This year, due to COVID restrictions, the students invited elected officials to Campus. Members of Senator Rob Portman’s staff were also available to students via virtual meeting last week. Thank you to Representative Brad Wenstrup ’76, Representative Steve Chabot and Senator Rob Portman for participating.

Great job to the following students who worked to learn more about the complexities of environmental change, immigration issues, and criminal justice reform.

Owen Brown (senior)

Matthew Carmen-Ugaz (junior)

Eric (Carter) Enslein (freshmen)

Aidan Finn (senior)

Teddy Ford (senior)

Ben Kemper (senior)

Will Kerrey (junior)

Ryan King (junior)

Andrew Klus (junior)

Nick Maurer (junior)

Michael Niceley (only on Monday) (senior)

Hasan Quadri (senior)

Vishwanath Ramu (senior)

Michael Rohs (senior)

Matthew Westmeyer (senior)

Dan Zacharski (senior)

Freshman Carter Enslein said, “The meetings with the representatives were a great opportunity to practice public speaking and presentation skills. Being the only freshman in IFTJ this year, I felt a bit unprepared, but it ended up being a lot of fun as well as a great learning experience!”

Senior Aidan Finn said, “I found the advocacy experience to be incredibly valuable a in exposing me more to the political process and the importance of constituents advocating for policies they believe in.”

The 2021 Conference will be held in-person November 6-8, 2021 in Washington, DC. For more information contact Catie Collins at CCollins@stxavier.org

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