Focus Missionary
Nhelly Garcia
Focus Missionary
About the Position
Focus missionaries work with college students to support them and teach them about the Catholic faith. The Mission of Focus is to Make disciples for Christ. First, invite people into a relationship with Jesus in the Catholic Church. Then, accompany them along their journey. Finally, equip them to share the Faith with others too. You fundraise your own salary and can be contracted for 2 years at a time.
Question & Answer
How did you find this position?
I found this position on the focus.org website.
Summarize the Minimum Qualifications and emphasize the skills relevant to language majors.
The minimum qualifications include having a bachelor’s degree, being Catholic, having worked with focus at your campus, having no debt, and being willing to relocate to anywhere you may be sent.
What are some other skills that are important for success in this field?
Being able to communicate with your coworkers, give prepared presentations, and being able to work well with many people of many different backgrounds is very important for this job. Having the ability to work well within teams is crucial or you will not be able to do your job very well and will make your first year very difficult. Critical thinking, digital literacy, and ethical judgment/reasoning are also really important for this job.
What might be helpful to prepare for a language major to prepare for this field or position?
To prepare for this type of position you would want to go to St. Paul’s Catholic center on campus often, go to Mass on Sundays and talk to our current focus missionaries. You would also want to continue taking many language classes as knowing Spanish would be so helpful in getting you a job internationally with Focus, or closer south in the US. You will be able to reach so many more people if you are able to fluently speak and pray in both English and Spanish.
How is the ability to communicate and work with people from different cultural backgrounds useful or important in this position?
You will be working with college students from all different cultural backgrounds. They may be from out of state, or even out of the country. The students you interact with will also have different faith backgrounds too. So, it will be important to learn to work with many different cultural backgrounds in order to do your job well.
About the author
name: Nhelly Garcia
institution: Boise State University
I am studying Spanish education at Boise State University. I am passionate about becoming a teacher one day and am ready to work hard for it. I love learning about different cultures which has helped me in the course of my studies.
