Learning in Action

07-22-24

McCormick Theological Seminary is actively engaged in experiential learning opportunities that allow students to integrate their classroom learning into their area of service or ministry. Our Justice Design Thinking course recently supported this kind of learning with the Microgrant for Social Change Project to fund a social change initiative applying principles learned within the course led by Dr. Leslie Diaz-Perez, Dr. Itihari Toure, and Dean David W. Watkins, III. 

Join us in congratulating Dr. Eleazar Gonzalez II, who has been awarded a $1,500 grant for the Issue of Blood Project at Casa de Misericordia in Phoenix, AZ.  This project is intended to highlight and bring awareness in underserved communities to the menstrual health disparities faced by women of reproductive age, including the inability to afford menstrual hygiene supplies, as well as the lack of menstrual health education.

From the Issue of Blood winning proposal:

It is a fact of life that women menstruate, but unfortunately not having the appropriate menstrual hygiene supplies negatively affects a woman’s everyday life. Girls should not miss school, women should not have to miss days of work or miss out on day-to-day activities because they lack basic necessities, such as menstrual pads or tampons.

Dr. Eleazar Gonzalez is an engineer who was deployed to Oregon (from Arizona) at the start of our course. In an effort to connect with his family and involve them in his learning, Eleazar partnered with his wife, an RN, and his teenage daughter to craft this project. This seed money is more than part of an assignment; it is a way for the McCormick learning community to partner with their faithful witness and support their response to God’s call.