This year, the Saint Viator community welcomed Mr. Bart Hisgen, the new Christian Service coordinator.

Mr. Hisgen went to Hope College in Michigan, where he majored in English with a philosophy minor.

“My dream was to become a professor,” he said. “I love literature and philosophy, so that was pretty much the most logical profession at that time.”

When he was in college, he studied in Ghana. There he volunteered in a refugee camp for Liberians who were fleeing a war in their country.

“I had the chance to ask the Liberian refugees a lot of questions about the meaning of life and listen to their responses,” said Mr. Hisgen. “Those experiences set the course for the rest of my life.”

Mr. Hisgen loves encouraging young people to discover their passions and interests for service. He also said that he wants to use technology to make as many opportunities as he is able.

“I try to pay attention to what students enjoy doing and put all my energy behind making those sorts of opportunities available,” said Mr. Hisgen.

His favorite quote is “God has a very fresh memory and living memory of the smallest and most forgotten,” by the Spanish priest Bartolomé de Las Casas. Mr. Hisgen said that this quote challenged him a lot. It reminds him that God loves those who are invisible in our world in a special way.

“Whatever I do with my life ought to demonstrate God’s love for those on the margins of society in tangible ways,” he said.

Mr. Hisgen is dedicated to service and to finding service opportunities for the students at Saint Viator. He wants to make service interesting and fun, but most importantly he wants students to learn from it.