The Champagnat Global team had the opportunity to chat with Br. Leonardo Yepes, Provincial Councillor and Education Coordinator in Colombia
What were your beginnings and trajectory in the Marist Institute like?
I came to know the Marist Brothers when I began to study in the sixth grade and I was 11 years old at the San Luis Gonzaga school in Ibagué in Colombia, which today is called Champagnat school. In this school I had the opportunity to get to know all the Marist spirituality and being in the tenth grade when I was 15 years old, one of the teachers invited me to be part of the pastoral movements, especially Friends on the Move. In this environment of the pastoral movements, I had the opportunity to meet young brothers, pastoral agents, people who worked for the good of this world. That is where my vocation as a brother was born and when I finished my baccalaureate I joined the Marist community. I did my postulancy in 1995 in the city of Manizales, then my novitiate, then my scholasticate as a young brother. I have been in various communities in Colombia, especially in the cities of Pasto, Manizales and Bogotá, working as an educator, as a person who tries to make this world a little better through the small and simple contributions that I can make as a person and as a brother.
Why is the importance of leadership today based on the formation of children and young people?
We live in a world that has many problems, especially the exclusion of certain sectors of society. If you are not born into a world that has opportunities, you are practically condemned to live under conditions that are not humane.
Leadership in our children and young people wants to be precisely that, to empower them with good causes to transform this world, that we reach out and contribute to it, that we say that what we do as people can improve this reality; therefore, leadership is that every human being becomes aware of the world in which they live and can, from their situation and from their reality, improve and contribute so that this world changes.
How can teachers influence and improve the education of their pupils?
The teacher is the centre of gravity of the educational act; if a teacher is aware of the work he is doing, if he is constantly training and contributing to the lives of these children and young people, he will certainly bear fruit in these children and young people who will later become adults, so that this society will be different. For this reason, the formation of teachers, the work they do, the constant accompaniment of their work is an option not only for the Marists but for the whole educational world.
How can teacher training be approached in order to improve the educational results of students?
In education, we are very concerned about results and we often do not pay enough attention to the processes. The goal is the journey. Teachers should be really concerned about the educational processes. Consequently, the results that are obtained will be good, so when we accompany the education of children and young people in the school world, we must ensure that the work that is done with them is a mediation, a dynamisation of all the potential that they bring. Certainly, when this is properly accompanied, the results will be optimal.
Why is globality and the connection between Marist schools in the world important?
We live in a hyper-connected world, we must take advantage of the possibilities that technology, communications and all the systems that we currently have are used for the good of our Marist schools. The Marist mission is spread in many parts of the world, taking advantage of this richness that develops in so many places, in so many cultures, in so many countries, is fundamental; we must agree on everything that, being together, working in a network and working in connection, we can achieve only from there, feeling part of a body and of a global family.
What are the La Valla a L’Hermitage workshops, who are they for and what is their added value?
In the year 2022, a group of brothers from Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela got together and designed a training plan for our educators in Marist schools. We wanted to call this formation plan ‘’From La Valla to the Hermitage, paths of Marist education‘’, because we evoke the step that Marcellin Champagnat took from his house, where he started at La Valla, to the origins of the Institute, to the great house of the Hermitage, To walk along these paths, to walk beside the river Gier, to walk through these mountains and to arrive at the great work of the Hermitage allowed Marcellin to open his mind and to understand that his work was dedicated not only to the rural world and to his geographical sector, but to all the dioceses of the world. World.
How have these workshops been received in the Marist world and what is the evaluation of the participants?
In Ecuador as well as in Colombia and Venezuela, the response has been very good; all our teachers have participated in four workshops to date, and we still have two more to go, which will take place in the year 2025. They have taken on the Marist charism as part of their life and of course they develop it in their work and in their pedagogical practice. Moreover, the fact that it is the brothers who are the dynamisers of these workshops gives them a plus because they have the opportunity to meet other brothers who generally do not live in their cities or in their schools. Listening to their voices, listening to their approaches, encourages and vitalises the mission that he is carrying out.
What are the main problems facing educational institutions today?
Education is not oblivious to all the problems in our world. We live in a world that is fragmented and exclusionary. How can we respond to these situations? The school as such is a socialising entity par excellence. From there we can generate awareness and the formation of a human being who is capable of living in this world as a global citizen, a global citizen who responds precisely to these global problems. There are great challenges that we face today as educators: migration. The use of artificial intelligence. Understanding how the brain handles information, how it processes it and how we learn, and how do we connect properly with this world and how do you contribute? By being human so that other humans can achieve their goal, their personal fulfilment.