When someone describes what it means to be a part of the Loyola community, we often think about ideals such as being a “man for and with others”, brotherhood, service and academic excellence, but one aspect of our community that is not directly associated with these words, yet often strengthens all of these values, is culture. From heritage and tradition to shared student experiences, our campus community, and often the cubs inside the community, are shaped by it.
Culture becomes the driving force behind our actions, thoughts and feelings, because it is our culture to care for one another. It fosters a community of love and strength, but can often be overlooked as a vital part of our community, which is why it should be playing a bigger role in it.
Phelopatir Beshay ‘28 describes the current cultural environment on our campus as “kinda lackluster aside from Cura Day. Students can’t find the time to talk about other people’s cultures aside from that one day, because it’s so awkward to bring it up in conversation.”
Students feel as if culture is mandated rather than nurtured. Cura day does its job perfectly in establishing unity through acknowledgement, but the problem lies in the students themselves not recognizing what it means to embrace and learn about other cultures. Culture shouldn’t end after a day, it is meant to be celebrated throughout the year as it becomes integral to understanding other perspectives.
Loyola is home to students from diverse backgrounds and over 150 area codes, and while the school promotes unity, unity should never mean uniformity. Cura day itself isn’t the problem, nor is it the students, but rather the approach we take to our responsibility as cubs who wish to better our understanding and compassion for others to acknowledge the huge role culture plays in our lives, and to incorporate that into how we learn, communicate, and relate to each other and the world.
Joseph Palacios ‘27 notes the impact of culture on his Loyola career, “Knowing that I have opportunities and access to resources that other first-gen students didn’t have, and seeing them support me, pushes me to greater heights and achievements that were essential to my Loyola experience.”
A culturally engaged community that fosters inspiration to students like Joseph is important to prepare us as cubs for a world beyond Loyola’s gates. We are taught to be global scholars and prepare to change the world, but that can’t happen overnight, nor can it happen if we ignore culture on days when we aren’t told to think about culture.
Embracing culture, when we learn from a brother’s experiences through club events, classroom discussions, guest speakers, or Cura Days, helps us become more empathetic, open-minded, and capable of working with a diverse group of people. Simply attending these events is not building culture; it’s about embracing them through genuine community care. This perfectly describes what it means to have a Jesuit education that aims to help us form our Grad-At-Grad values, because understanding and valuing perspectives outside of our own is important to a diverse and modern world.
Culture should act as a supplement to our community as a whole. Seeing each other as more than classmates, and as people with unique traditions and stories, highlights everyone’s individuality and value on campus. Loyola is at its best when we represent who we are as a community of cubs, and for that reason, culture should play a bigger role on campus, not just as an add-on, but as a core part of who we are, and who we want to become.
