35º Alpha Sigma Nu Triennial Conference

The 35th Alpha Sigma Nu Triennial Conference was taking place October 6-9th, 2022 at Creighton University, Omaha (Nebraska). They gathered student chapter officers, faculty advisers, alumni club presidents, the ASN Board of Directors, and staff for a weekend of sharing, learning, and growing as an honor society grounded in the Jesuit mission.

‘Alpha Sigma Nu’ is the Jesuit university honor society created in the United States, which has more than 90,000 members and more than a century of history. It has 32 delegations, being present in all Jesuit universities in the United States and Canada, in Asia, through the University of Sogang (South Korea), in Europe through Loyola University and since March 2020 in Latin America thanks to the incorporation of the University of the Pacific (Peru).

The future of the education

This meeting is held every three years with representatives from all the Alpha Sigma Nu chapters of the world. This meeting was based on social psychological health and the three keynotes conference were from:

• Sam Beirao SJ, leader of MAGIS 2022 who gave a presentation entitled: Walking with youth: Reimagined.
• Patrick Saint-Jean SJ professor at Creighton, who spoke about wellness, mental health and Ignatian Spirituality.
• Daniel Villanueva SJ, from the Jesuit Network project, who led a session on the potentiality of collaboration within the global jesuit apostolic body.

For this article we have interviewed María de los Reyes Barrenengoa, the President of Loyola Chapter to tal about the Conference.

What have you been doing during the conference?

We had a very varied and full programme, which included talks by experts on networking, diversity, the apostolic preferences of the Society of Jesus … In addition, we had time to meet in groups and share the work that is being carried out in our chapter with regard to ASN and what we would like to do in the future.

One of the parts that I liked the most was the whole topic of vocational discernment and spiritual retreat, in which we appreciated how teamwork is essential and how we have to know ourselves and each other in order to work together in what fills us most, our vocation.

What have you learned?

I have learned to work in a team, being aware of the reality of our society and how important it is to move in the world with a clear objective, respecting others and with the intention, as Saint Ignatius says, “to be more in order to serve better”.

What do you take away from it on a professional level?

On a professional level, I will take away a key international network to develop myself. Also, all the talks have helped me to focus on my future and how I want to believe, grow and create in freedom.

What do you take away on a personal level?

I consider that on a personal level the most important thing is that I have created a very special union with people who are very different from me and who have made me see a reality that did not enter my mind. In this sense, I have learned more about myself and my purpose in life. In addition, I have grown personally and I have appreciated who I am and what I would like to show to the world.

As we can see, the participants have brought out the best in each other and have been able to learn and take advantage of all the benefits of networking. The future of Jesuit education is among them.