Jesuit Students ‘Walk a Mile’ in Refugees’ Shoes

All freshmen students recently participated in a refugee awareness activity called Walk a Mile in My Shoes. Created by Jesuit Refugee Services (JRS), Walk a Mile in My Shoes aims to educate students about what it might be like to be a refugee around the world today. 

Juniors and seniors helped facilitate the activity, running stations that represented a different aspect of life in a refugee camp: shelter, food, water, medical/health, and education. Students also visited a “destination station” where they learned about their chances of obtaining asylum in a host country. The final station focused on advocacy, where students learned about ways to support internationally displaced people.

This is the seventh year Jesuit has participated in a JRS refugee awareness activity as part of the World History curriculum.

“It is our goal that every Jesuit student graduates with a deep understanding of what it means to walk with the excluded, those on the margin. This experience provides students with an opportunity to expand their horizons and envision what it is like to walk in someone else’s shoes. The ultimate hope is this initial, formative experience leads students to deeper reflection as they grow, and shapes and forms the ways they are called to action,” said Jennie Keunz '97, Jesuit High School's Associate Director of Ecological Justice and Global Networking.