Xavier Rewind for Feb. 25

 

We do the math
We here at Xavier Rewind love the spring. Especially the annual traditions—the trees begin to bud, the days get longer, we show up late to Mass because we once again forget to “spring forward” for Daylight Savings Time. But our favorite spring tradition is how Xavier students get all service-y on us. Take, for instance, accounting students. Not only do they all have jobs lined up before they graduate, each year they put their understanding of the IRS tax code to good use by preparing income tax returns for low income, elderly and student taxpayers—for free. The students began Feb. 20 and continued their number crunching every Monday night for the next five weeks. This is the 18th year they’ve helped others. Take that H&R Block.

Sign of the times
OK, so sometimes it takes a little while for news to catch up to us. Case in point: Michele Bailes. The instructor of American Sign Language asks a lot of her students—study, take tests, not to speak without using their hands—but last semester she asked her four classes for even more: Would they be interested in adopting a family to give them a fresh start in a new year. The result was a unanimous 80-0 in favor. The students were responsible for finding a family in their midst that needed help. They found 14—each with its own devastating situation and was not seeking help from any other agency—before narrowing it to four, one for each class. The classes bought toys for St. Joseph's Orphanage, as well. (sniff, sniff) No, we're not crying. It's allergies. Now go away. 

Traffic update
Amazon.com has nothing on Xavier’s Center for Mission and Identity. The Center’s JesuitResource.org site, which offers books, pamphlets and all things Jesuit at non-profit prices, has doubled traffic in two years, from 47,519 hits in 2009 to 105,794 in 2011. Why, you ask? Great content, for one. There’s an archive of motivational quotes, a multi-faith calendar and brief biographies of more than 60 famous and not-so-famous Jesuits. Seriously, who wouldn’t want to read a biography about the great Cameroon Jesuit Engelbert Mveng?

Real-world education
In January, 12 students returned from an interfaith medical mission trip to Patanatic, Guatemala, where they got an education—about their majors, about themselves and about their world. They kept track of their experiences online. Check out their blog.

Splinters
Students in the occupational therapy program took a page out of the basketball program and took on a crosstown rival—but in a good way. The students took on students from the College of Mount St. Joseph in a “Crosstown Splint Off” in which they had to build an architectural structure from splint material, demonstrating skills such as draping, molding and bonding ability of the materials, some that had to be a cylinder or curved structure, some with square edges. Oh, and to make it all the more fun, the splints had to demonstrate some sort of school spirit to boot. The Splint-off was done in conjunction with St. Elizabeth Healthcare and Patterson Medical.

Around the world with Abie Ingber
Abie Ingber, Xavier's resident rabbi and founding director of the Center for Interfaith Community Engagement, helps more than just the students on campus. In fact, he spends so much time outside the country helping others that he knows the passport people by their first names. Take, for instance, his latest jaunt, which took him to Israel earlier this year. Ingber and professor of management and entrepreneurship Art Shriberg were there to help a group of Falash Mura, who are Ethiopians whose Jewish ancestors converted to Christianity under social pressure, but who have resumed practicing Judaism and seek to emigrate to their homeland. While they were there, the duo also met with Israeli entrepreneurs and business leaders to develop a summer course initiative for the Williams College of Business. Ingber also met with leaders in the Druse community to add an interfaith dimension to the usual mix of academic offerings. Don’t be surprised to hear that Xavier’s offering new programs in Israel soon.