Reflection for Thursday

Reflection on Mission, Values & Engagement

1)   Given what you know about this topic so far, please reflect on the heritage and values of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur in the context of your own values and belief system.

2)   What opportunities have you had at NDNU to develop relationships that honor the dignity or sacredness of each person or each being, including human and non-human beings? Why is this important? Can you apply this concept to the kinds of decisions you may have to make in your future professional career? Have any of the Community Engagement activities you’ve done this semester given you opportunities to develop in this area?

3)   Have any ethical issues arisen for you during your time here as a member of the NDNU campus community? Did any of these arise out of your Community Engagement activities? Have you been challenged to assess your own ethical stances in any way? In what ways, if any, have these ethical considerations involved issues of justice or peace? In what ways, if any, have they caused you to change the way you think about your own future career choices?

4)   Have you, in the context of this or any class at NDNU, had opportunities to apply your classroom learning to address community or social problems? If so, did this make your classroom learning more successful in any way? In what ways, if any, did you find Reflection-Action-Reflection to be a useful model for combining classroom learning with social engagement in this way?

5)   How do you personally define diversity? What have you learned during your time at NDNU about the challenges and rewards of embracing diversity? Is embracing diversity of value to the human and larger Earth communities?

6)   In what ways, if any, have you had opportunities at NDNU to build a sense of community with others? Who were the “others”? Were they students? Teachers? NDNU staff? Were they people you met through community engagement activities? Were they non-human beings? Who benefited from these interactions? Do you feel that you built a sense of community for those others or with them?

7)   Have you had opportunites at NDNU to develop or refine your spiritual or ethical leadership skills in working toward a more just society? What specifically were those skills? How do you see yourself applying those skills during the remainder of your education and/or during your life and career after college?