Cheverus Seniors end their classes in late April and spend the next four to five weeks on site at various institutions in the community: schools, day care centers, nursing homes, hospitals, etc. The students work at the site for five to six hours a day (the equivalent of a school day) working with clients for at least half of the time. They must meet with a Cheverus faculty adviser once a week to process their experience, and they write two 500-word reflection papers over the course of the month.
On the last Friday before graduation, the seniors return to Cheverus and several of them speak to the entire school community about their experiences. It is a graduation requirement--of course, it corresponds directly to the mission of Cheverus.
The Arrupe Service Projects -- named for Fr. Pedro Arrupe, SJ, a former Superior General of the Society of Jesus -- have been part of the Cheverus experience since 1972.
Fr. Pedro Arrupe, S.J.
1907-1991
Fr. Pedro Arrupe, was the 28th general (1965-83) of the Society of Jesus. Born Nov. 14, 1907 in the Basque country of Spain, Fr. Arrupe interrupted medical studies at the University of Madrid to join the Jesuits in 1927. He was ordained at St. Mary's Seminary in Kansas in 1936, and in 1938 he went to Japan, where he spent a total of 27 years as a missionary. In 1945, he headed the first rescue party to go into Hiroshima after the atomic bomb. He utilized his medical skills in the service of the wounded and the dying, transforming the novitiate into a make-shift hospital for over 200 dying people "a permanent experience outside of history, engraved on my memory."
Fr. Arrupe became Jesuit vice provincial (1954-58), the first Jesuit provincial for Japan (1958-65), and was elected superior general at the 31st General Congregation of the Society of Jesus in 1965. Arrupe resigned due to ill health in 1983 and was the first Jesuit superior general to resign instead of remaining in office until his death. He died in Rome on Feb. 5, 1991.