FYS 10101-83 Fall 2021 December 3, 2021 Integration One Assignment: What have I encountered and how will I respond? How much can change in a few months? (It turns out alot) Within my first semester of attending the University of Notre Dame, I have been able to have many interesting and mind opening experiences. I have been exposed to different people, learned about their unique and interesting perspectives and experiences, and explored new ideas within a prestigious undergraduate education. Due to the community rich environment at Notre Dame that is conducive to personal change and development, I have much to reflect on over the past three short months. I can trace three prominent encounters to my most impactful experiences, which have pushed me to delve into and discover things about my past, current, and future mindset and goals of my college career. The first of these encounters was the formation of my friend group. I knew that leaving my friends and family back home, who I have known for so long and have grown up with, would be difficult. Therefore, when I met a good group of people within the first week of school, I was glad to meet great people who are going through the same drastic changes I was but also scared of spending my time with strangers and trying to build relationships from scratch. The class discussed this topic during Week One of the First Year Experience course, when we discussed Dr. Brene Brown’s TedTalk. Brown said, “They didn't talk about vulnerability being comfortable, nor did they talk about vulnerability being excruciating … They just talked about it being necessary.” (Week 1, Brown) Therefore, I learned that although finding friends and learning to trust and be comfortable around them seems daunting, it is a task that is necessary to get used to as well as very rewarding. Another aspect of making friends that was significant to my development was the aspect of meeting new people with different perspectives and ideas. In one text from Week Ten, Christopher J. Devron describes the two conflicting opinions about critical race theory and writes, “In Catholic school communities, they warn that critical race theory is Marxist and therefore anti-Catholic. … Pope Francis looks through a structural lens to detect systemic injustices and calls on people of faith to dismantle them.” (Week 10, Devron) This quote shows the conflict, controversy, divide, and misunderstanding between the two distinct opinions about whether or not critical race theory should be taught in school, specifically Catholic schools. The conflict described in this context is similar to the conflict that I met with some of the people I met within the first months of classes. Therefore, I learned that meeting new people, who all have different backgrounds and ideas, can also be difficult but is still rewarding. Another week that was relevant to meeting new people was what we learned from Week 11 of morau class. In the video “With Voices True: 2020 Summary Snapshot,” one of the participants said, “When you're sitting in the dining hall, it’s like no wonder you would choose to sit with the two or three blacks where you feel like you’ve got more in common.” (Week 11) Although the person mentioned did not give a personal recollection of how being part of a minority race feels, like the others did, the speaker showed that even those who are in the majority race still feel a separation between races. Although the ideas of the speaker are probably common within groups, I think the quote takes away the responsibility of the wider group of students (in the majority) to make an effort to create an environment that is comfortable for different races to interconnect in. This is part of the encounter I had at the university, when it came to making friends. I found that most people were very kind, energetic, and welcoming, but at the end of the day I needed to make an effort to get to know the people around me on a deeper level. This lesson was especially most prominent and profound in my first few months of being here, because it made me realize my overall control and responsibility of my own actions and personal development. Another encounter I had within the first few months of attending college was the need to make phone calls to friends and family back home. In Week Twelve, the class discussed “Holy Cross and Christian Education,” by the Campus Ministry at the University of Notre Dame, where the author wrote, “When Moreau wrote in 1849 that “Jesus Christ should be our model since our likeness to the Divine Master is the foundation of our journey to eternal glory.” (Week 12) The text explained that striving for completeness means spending one’s life as a citizen of this world imitating the person of Christ as the gateway to citizenship in heaven. Therefore, I learned about the need to think of tangible ways to show God our faith and love and make a conscious effort to follow through. Similarly, I learned that I also need to make a conscious effort to foster the relationships in my life that I have not yet had to dedicate real effort to make The last encounter that I found to be very prominent to my growth and development since attending the University of Notre Dame was taking classes in an auditorium. Going to class in an auditorium setting, with hundreds of students in one lecture hall, was very different from what I was used to in highschool. This is especially since I attended a small, private, Catholic, all-girls high school. In Week 9 of classes, I learned about how to deal with this change, along with other changes from what the ‘norm’ was in the past 17 years of my life. In the video entitled “What is Imposter Syndrome?,” Elizabeth Cox says, “To call it a syndrome is to downplay how universal it is. It's not a disease or an abnormality, and it isn’t necessarily tied to depression, anxiety, or self-esteem.” (Week 9, Cox) I feel like I am lucky in that I have had a lot of time over the past couple of years, especially during the infamous covid quarantine era of our lives, to self reflect on my expectations and relationships to my expectations. However, I was still forced to reflect on my new experiences over the past few months. By doing so, I have found things to motivate my work in a fruitful way. Of course, it is not always easy to not put unreasonable expectations on myself, but I do think that I have made significant improvement over the past years and something I have a good grasp on at the moment. It used to be black and white for me that I was shy, didn't open up very much and had a hard time expressing my emotions to people, but now I found that I am capable of opening myself up with people I trust, am comfortable with, and it comes alot easier with practice. I realized that in the future, I want to continue to have new experiences and be very mindful of myself and develop myself further, as I continue to grow and educate myself at the University of Notre Dame. Works Cited 1. “The power of vulnerability” by Brene Brown - Moreau FYE Week One https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4Qm9cGRub0&list=PLmiPsabET-W_hjesj TZaITh2s1WbM-Kd0&index=4. Citation: TEDxTalks. (2010). The power of vulnerability. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4Qm9cGRub0&list=PLmiPsabET-W_hjesj TZaITh2s1WbM-Kd0&index=4. 2. “What is Imposter Syndrome?” by Elizabeth Cox - Moreau FYE Week Nine https://www.youtube.com/watch/ZQUxL4Jm1Lo Citation: Cox, E. (2018, August 28). What is imposter syndrome and how can you combat it ... Youtube. Retrieved October 27, 2021, from https://www.youtube.com/watch/ZQUxL4Jm1Lo. 3. “Should Catholic Schools Teach Critical Race Theory?” by Christopher J. Devron - Moreau FYE Week Ten https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2021/06/03/critical-race-theory-catholic-h igh-schools-black-lives-matter-240792 Citation: Devron, C. J., 03, G. P. N., Pope Francis, Dulle, C., & Ivry, B. (2021, June 3). Should catholic schools teach critical race theory? America Magazine. Retrieved November 3, 2021, from https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2021/06/03/critical-race-theory-catholic-high-schools-black-lives-matter-240792. 4. “With Voices True: 2020 Summary Snapshot” by the University of Notre Dame Marketing Communications - Moreau FYE Week Eleven https://voicestrue.nd.edu/snapshot-summaries/ Citation: Marketing Communications: Web | University of Notre Dame. “Snapshot Summaries.” With Voices True, https://voicestrue.nd.edu/snapshot-summaries/. 5. “Holy Cross and Christian Education” by the University of Notre Dame Campus Ministry - Moreau FYE Week Twelve https://canvas.nd.edu/courses/23733/files/192471/download?download_frd=1 Citation: King, R. J. B. (2013). Holy Cross and Christian Education. Ave Maria Press. https://canvas.nd.edu/courses/23733/files/192471/download?download_frd=1