Ravens Traveled the World This Summer

The Gregorian Fellows Leadership Program at Benedictine College promotes Catholic identity in public life by forming a new generation of leaders who unite faith and reason in their work. On Fellows Fridays, the Gregorian Institute will introduce you to some of these extraordinary students.

GERMANY. A Catholic Worldview Fellowship brought Nicole Buchman, class of 2021, from Stillwater, Minn., to Germany.

“We are partaking in rigorous theology, philosophy, cultural, and leadership classes in an effort to discover what it means to have a Catholic worldview and to live it in everything you do,” she said. “We learned about the history of the Catholic Church and expanded our knowledge by visiting the sites we studied. Being a fellow is one of the most rewarding and intellectually challenging experiences I’ve ever partaken in.”

SPAIN: Fiona Mulholland from Atchison, Kansas, Class of 2021, was an au pair in Madrid.

Mulholland said she chose her summer to work on her fluency. “It’s also just so different from anything I’ve ever done and in many ways a real life experience more than past summer jobs. Staying faithful to prayer is on me so that’s been really hard but good,” she said. “The picture is me reading a story to some kids at a school where I’ve been helping … I read the book to them in Spanish, but they are so sweet and don’t mind my accent or how I stumble over words.”

ITALY:  Robin Bradfield from Wichita, Kansas, class of 2021, and Renz Pros from Fresno, Calif., Class of 2020, participated in Benedicitne College’s Florence Program.

A highlight for Bradfield was “the Uffizi Gallery, which was an office building connected to the Medici Palace that has since then been converted into a museum,” as well as the festival for St. John the Baptist, Florence’s patron saint.

Pros traveled extensively and has great stories to tell. For instance:

“In Assisi, I went into an artist’s shop to look for souvenir gifts. The man who runs the store came up to me and we started talking about his family and love for painting. He showed me a piece he was working on and invited me to paint. I sat down and he let me watercolor the side of a little house on the canvas. I continue to shop around and before I leave, he tells me ‘You are the new artist of Assisi.’ It meant the world to me and I will never forget it!”

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: Sophia Hoeft, Class of 2022, from Morton, Illinois, spent time in Dubai, where her father sometimes works.

She also traveled to Barcelona, Spain, and elsewhere in Europe. “Dubai is a very interesting city as it is full of different cultures and people,” she said. “There are many things to do such as visit the beach, visit the Burj Khalifa (the tallest building in the world), shop, etc.”