Student Social Media Assistant 2021-23
Major: Management Information Systems

"The Ignatian Center has been an amazing community for me in recent years. I've learned so much about the programs, fellowships, and opportunities it offers. Meeting people from the center and promoting the benefits of being part of this community has been a highlight of my college experience."

Ignatian Fellowship 2023
Major: Child Studies | Classical Studies
Awards: Agusta Prize

"The Ignatian Center showed me that SCU shares some of the values I hold and pushed me to choose SCU for my graduate studies."

Ignatian Fellowship 2023
Major: Bioengineering

"My time as an Ignatian Fellow reminded me of the importance of connecting with and being involved in your local community. Working with Yes! We Can Read was an amazing opportunity to mentor kids and fall in love with learning again."

Jean Donovan Fellowship 2021
Major: Psychology | Religious Studies
Awards: The Catherine Bell Award | Alpha Sigma Nu - Jesuit Honors Society | Psi Chi - Psychology Honors Society | Theta Alpha Kappa - Religious Studies Honors Society

"My experience with the Ignatian Center has motivated me to care about justice and flourishing in a way that I otherwise might not have. Being a Jean Donovan Fellow was an enlightening and fulfilling experience because of how closely I interacted with marginalized communities in San Jose and what I learned about the housing crisis. As a tool for discernment, the fellowship helped me come closer to understanding who I want to serve in my future career."

Jean Donovan Fellowship 2021 | Ignatian Fellowship 2021
Major: Economics | Political Science

"The Ignatian Center has given me the ability to expand my discernment and service by providing me the opportunity to work with tUrn. I loved being an Ignatian and Jean Donovan Fellow. Working with the Ignatian Center helped inspire my work with tUrn, but both fellowships also provided me beautiful spaces for reflection and growth that have been imperative to my development as a social activist and person at Santa Clara."

Jean Donovan Fellowship 2021 | Student Writing Assistant 2022-23
Major: Psychology
Awards: Alpha Sigma Nu - Jesuit Honors Society | Psi Chi - Psychology Honors Society

"The Ignatian Center has impacted my time at SCU by allowing me to engage in solidarity with marginalized communities from whom I would otherwise never have accompanied or understood. Through my involvement with the Ignatian Center - from the immersion trip my first year at SCU, to the Jean Donovan fellowship, to working as a journalist - I have felt more part of the SCU community and various communities that are vastly different from the Santa Clara bubble. To be able to witness and accompany people whose lives and circumstances are different from mine due to demographics, illness, poverty, and broader systemic issues has given me a broader perspective of the world. I cherished the experiences I had through the Ignatian Center as witnessing life beyond my own perspective has given me empathy and understanding of the humanitarian issues in my community and globally."

Arrupe Fellowship 2021-22 | Jean Donovan Fellowship 2021
Major: Public Health | Political Science

"The Ignatian Center has helped foster self-reflection, community, and spiritual growth throughout my time at SCU. I'm so grateful to have had the opportunities to be mentored, mentor others, and through that meet like-minded social justice oriented students. Thank you to the center for supporting me in growing my understanding and passion for environmental justice and community service!"

Ignatian Fellowship 2023 | Arrupe Collaboration
Major: Theater | Psychology Double Major
Awards: Quinn Martin Scholarship | Richard J. Riordan Award

"During my time at SCU I have been so blessed with the honor of receiving an Ignatian Fellowship, where I received a grant to continue my work from my ELSJ in teaching the performing arts with Alzheimers and Dementia Patients in San Jose. This has absolutely changed my life, not only in how I view the world, and those around me but also my vocation in life to help people through the arts."

Arrupe Engagement Student Assistant 2022-23
Major: Women's and Gender Studies | Public Health | Political Science
Award: Pi Sigma Alpha- National Political Science Honors Society | Iota Iota Iota- Academic Honor Society for the field of Women's Studies | 2022 Truman Finalist | Native Commencement Keynote | 2023 Neider Family Alumni Service Award

"The Ignatian Center has created opportunities for growth in solidarity, justice, and hope in humanity through immersions, student work, and the community it creates in the office. I am so immensely grateful for the time and the people of the center that have witnessed so many periods of growth and encouraged and guided me throughout the way. I am so lucky to have found a true home on campus that has radically changed my path. I really would be nothing without you all!!!"

Immersion Coordinator 2022-23
Major: French | Francophone Studies
Awards: Phi Sigma Iota - Foreign Language Honor Society

"My time on Immersion and as an Immersion Coordinator have been my favorite experiences at SCU! I learned so much from the communities I had the privilege of visiting, and I made friends I never would have met without the ICJE."

Student Assistant for Ignatian Spirituality 2022-23
Major: Psychology | Political Science
Awards: Magna Cum Laude | Psychology Honors Program | PSI Chi - Psychology Honors Society | Pi Sigma Alpha - National Political Science Honor Society

"My involvement with the Ignatian Center has been one of the most fulfilling experiences during my time here at SCU. While conducting research for the psychology department in Dr. Thomas Plante's Clinical and Health Lab, I was introduced to Tony Cortese who was also collaborating on the research. When he asked me to be his Assistant for Ignatian Spirituality, I had no idea what the job would entail but I am so grateful to have been given the opportunity. Not only have I gained professional experience helping facilitate the weekly Examen and creating Mission Monday videos, but I was also gifted the guidance to explore my own spirituality. I have become a more conscious, competent, and compassionate person because of the Ignatian Center and I will miss this place so much!"

Ignatian Fellowship 2023
Major: Psychology
Awards: Phi Beta Kappa - National Honor Society for Excellence in all Scholarly Endeavors | Alpha Sigma Nu - Jesuit Honors Society | Sigma Xi - Scientific Research Honor Society | Psi Chi - Psychology Honors Society |  Phi Sigma Iota - Foreign Language Honor Society

"The opportunity to complete the Ignatian Fellowship along with going on an immersion trip were two of the best experiences I had while at Santa Clara University. Having a deeper engagement with the various communities helped shift my world view and showed me that I have a passion for teaching. Additionally, it taught me the value of empathy in community spaces, and inspired me to always be in the pursuit of furthering my education, since our journey as academics is never truly over."

Jean Donovan Fellow 2022
Major: Marketing
Awards: Alpha Sigma Nu - National Jesuit Honor Society | Leavey Scholars Program | University Honors Program

"My experience with the Ignatian Center has connected me with people committed to a lifetime of justice work who I admire deeply. Not only that, but it has also helped me connect with my own sense of purpose in discerning how I can contribute to the issues I am most passionate about. I am so thankful for these opportunities throughout my time at SCU!"

Jean Donovan Fellowship 2022
Major: Communication

"The Ignatian Center has connected me to a diverse array of students who share the same passions as me and want to help make the world a better place."