ABSTRACT
Our interdisciplinary approach to vocation discernment is grounded in our Marianist value of educating the whole person (Schaller, et al, 2016). Discerning vocation can be defined as “the process of identifying one’s gifts and abilities, listening to the reflective wisdom of one’s community and recognizing the needs of the world” (Gallagher, 2007). By its very nature, this process does not simply happen in one semester or even one year. As first-year students enter our multidisciplinary Health & Sport Science Department, they are entering a community with an intentional culture that seeks to support students, faculty, and staff in discovering their “strongest gifts.” As Parker Palmer explains, “our strongest gifts are usually those we are barely aware of possessing. They are a part of our God-given nature, with us from the moment we drew first breath, and we are no more conscious of having them than we are of breathing” (Palmer, 2000).
