Please read the three statements, which all relate to the mission and the values of Loyola Marymount University. Choose the one you find most interesting and thought provoking; then, answer the question which accompanies the statement you select. This essay, usually 500 - 1,000 words, is your chance to display your critical and creative thinking.

Prompt 1

In his 2015 Papal Encyclical, Laudato Si', in which he addresses climate change and our collective responsibility to care for our "common home," Pope Francis , S.J., observes that, "Climate change is a global problem with grave implications: environmental, social, economic, political, and for the distribution of goods."

Prompt 1 question:

Much has been written about the environmental implications of climate change, but less about the distribution of goods or the social, economic, and political implications. Which one of these less studied aspects of climate change seems to you most worrisome for our "common home," and why?

Prompt 2

Speaking about education, Dr. Martin Luther King once said, "The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character-that is the goal of true education.''

Prompt 2 question:

Critical thinking is a central goal of Jesuit education, and at LMU you'll be asked to think critically and intensively in every class. Dr. King suggests that critical thinking results in our ability to inform intelligence with character, and strengthen character with intelligence. Please talk about a situation that demanded critical thinking from you, and how your choices or decisions integrated intelligence and character.

Prompt 3

A motto often associated with Jesuit and Marymount schools is ‘‘Educating men and women for others.'' Fr. Pedro Arrupe, the former head of the Jesuits, once said that ‘‘our prime educational objective must be to form men and women for others, who believe that a love of self or of God which does not issue forth in justice for the least of their neighbors is a farce.''

Prompt 3 question:

What do you think Fr. Arrupe meant when he said this? Please give an example of someone you know, other than your teachers and parents, who works for justice for the least of their neighbors.