11/20/2024

ST. LOUIS – “True leadership means recognizing that we are all imperfect and acting with empathy.”

Saint Louis University senior Reueline Arulanandam offered her perspective on student leadership to more than 2,000 participants at the 2024 Ignatian Family Teach-In for Justice. The event, held in Washington, D.C., is the nation’s largest annual Catholic social justice gathering and advocacy day.

Arulanandam, president of SLU’s Student Government Association, gave a speech titled “For Such a Time as This: Student Leadership in Polarizing Times” to student leaders from Catholic high schools and Jesuit colleges and universities. The Teach-In is held by the Ignatian Solidarity Network, which works in partnership with hundreds of Catholic universities, high schools, and parishes across the country, with a special affinity to Jesuit institutions, to provide social justice education grounded in Catholic Social Teaching.

“This is my third year attending,” Arulanandam said. “I went as a student representative as a sophomore, and in my junior year, I was a group leader. This year, I was paired with someone at the organization for this speaking opportunity.”

SLU’s Campus Ministry took 36 people to the conference in late October – six student leaders, 23 students, five campus ministers, a Campus Ministry graduate intern and a Jesuit in Formation. 

Arulanandam started her speech on bipartisanship by saying that the leader she draws inspiration from – Jesus Christ – is someone who surrounded himself with diverse perspectives and political beliefs. She noted that Simon the Zealot and Matthew worked together with Jesus to do hard, emotional, and ministerial work together for the good of others. 

“As leaders, I believe we are called to do the same,” she said. “To surround ourselves with people who challenge us, who think differently, and to learn from them.”

The theme of the 2024 Ignatian Family Teach-In was Hope in Precarious Times. Arulanandam submitted a draft of her talk on that theme and then had the opportunity to work on the final version at the conference with a professor from Loyola University Chicago. 

“It felt very academic, almost like I was in class writing a paper,” she said. 

Arulanandam said her experiences with the Teach-In over the years have been a great training ground for her to find her voice, as well as a place to cement friendships. Student participants go through weeks of formation ahead of the conference each fall, including a mock advocacy day to prepare them.

“This isn’t theory, we actually are doing the work,” she said. “We have the opportunity to meet with legislators from both sides of the aisle, talk about legislation and how to effectively communicate a message. Because of the training we do, I think SLU shows up as one of the most prepared groups there. We’ve put the work in, and we are invested in it.”

She added that working closely together binds the Teach-In cohort in friendship and creates a network at SLU and across other Jesuit institutions. Arulanandam got involved as a sophomore after hearing about the experience from another SLU student who had been to a Teach-In.

“I appreciated the Mission here at SLU. Coming here was the first time I had been in a space where the intersection of faith and justice were talked about so freely,” Arulanandam said. 

Entering SLU as a pre-med student, Arulanandam said she didn’t even know what a Jesuit was when she started her freshman year. 

“I came because of the financial aid package I received,” she said with a smile. “But I stayed for the Mission and how it is lived out. It is a rare thing to be in a community where you know people are going to support you in whatever endeavor you choose.”

In addition to serving as SGA’s president this year, Arulanandam serves as a first-year experience leader with Oriflamme and works in the admissions office. 

Arulanandam, who is majoring in public health, will graduate in May. She is currently applying to law school and hopes to work at the intersection of health policy and criminal justice.

Campus Ministry is in the midst of the application cycle for student leaders for the 2025 Ignatian Family Teach-In for Justice. Applications for participants will open in the spring. Arulanandam recommends the experience to anyone interested in public policy.

“It’s a unique opportunity to engage with something you are passionate about, with people who are also passionate, under one roof, under the mission,” she said. “Also, it now counts for credit under the new Core!”

About Saint Louis University

Founded in 1818, Saint Louis University is one of the nation’s oldest and most prestigious Catholic institutions. Rooted in Jesuit values and its pioneering history as the first university west of the Mississippi River, SLU offers more than 15,200 students a rigorous, transformative education of the whole person. At the core of the University’s diverse community of scholars is SLU’s service-focused mission, which challenges and prepares students to make the world a better, more just place.