Thomas Toole
Taylor Kelly
Moreau Final Integration
28 April 2022
The Path to Living the Life I Want to Live
	I am a person who values helping others and improving myself and those who I love around me. I am always willing to help anyone in a time of need and distress, or give someone praise when things are going well. I want to pursue a life of service to others. I was shaped by my parents’ divorce, as I needed to embrace and develop these qualities further in a time when my family needed me to do so. I am striving in my own life to improve my skills of communication and time management. Coming to college has helped me gain perspective on the lives of others as I am integrated into a community where I spend a lot of time with people of different backgrounds than people I spent time with at home. I am learning to not judge others based on things I hear that he perceives to be crass and give people chances. I am always looking for ways to be more courageous and not be afraid of what could happen if I take a risk and it doesn’t work out. I find myself avoiding potential situations of conflict and trying to smooth things over when they should be addressed head on. College is teaching me the importance of working hard in everything I do. I plan on improving my knowledge in academics and human pursuits. I want to pursue a fulfilling life in spiritual, familial, and professional ways and I am striving to be the best person I can be (Personal Mission Statement - Moreau Week 13). 
	The opening to my mission statement, where I discuss my passion for helping and accompanying others is something that I will take to the Notre Dame community over the next three years. I often see a lot of division in social circles at Notre Dame (racially, socioeconomically, etc.), and I want to be a part of ending that. “Somewhere, in the jurisdictional locale where judgment used to claim us, a remarkable commonality rushes in, and the barriers that exclude are dismantled” (Jurisdiction by Fr. Greg Boyle - Moreau FYE Week 7). I often see this judgment and exclusion in social settings at Notre Dame, which leads me to believe that one of the most important things I can do is increase my jurisdiction to set an example for others and contribute to bridging the gap between different groups in the community. Groups need to be more inclusive at ND so we can create a community where we are all accepted and loved by those who look like us and those who don’t. "I am convinced that men hate each other because they fear each other. They fear each other because they don’t know each other, and they don’t know each other because they don’t communicate with each other, and they don’t communicate with each other because they are separated from each other" (I am George Floyd. Except, I can breathe. And I can do something by Marcus Cole - Moreau FYE Week 12). In a place like the Gateway program, it is especially easy to recognize this racial division and fear. We have zero black students in our program, and there are plenty of remarks and sentiments about people of other races heard. Through being more inclusive and communicating with other people of different races, I will live out my mission statement and set an example for inclusion to other Gateways.
	Part of my mission that also involves extending my circle as a former Gateway student is avoiding the echo chamber that can be created through the small community. The lack of diversity we have right now in Gateway forms a space where we hear opinions and stories very similar to our own. This creates a pattern where we are complacent with our status and forget about the struggles of others. “Bubbles become echo chambers when groups give up on tolerating diversity of opinion” (How to Avoid an Echo Chamber by Dr. Paul Blaschko - Moreau FYE Week 11). Within my own group and within Gateway as a whole, we find common opinions and we (including myself) are reluctant to speak up against the majority of opinion. I need to do a better job of helping others to feel confident in speaking their views which take into account the situations of marginal groups. Part of my mission is to become more courageous, and I can take the small step of speaking up and standing up for others, even if they aren’t represented in the conversation.
	I also plan on helping my current peers and those who I meet when they are struggling. Whether it be academically or personally, I don’t want anyone to be left behind. In a competitive academic environment like college, some of my friends have felt alone and helpless. I need to do a better job of being a friend in any situation. This quote from Fr. Hesburgh resonates with me because it stresses the importance of helping others who are down. “Well of course we could all do better if we worked harder, but it’s like holding a man underwater and saying ‘why don’t you swim?’” (Hesburgh produced by Jerry Barca and Christine O’Malley - Moreau FYE Week 2). I will be able to provide assistance to those who need help through becoming a part of service groups (which I will elaborate on further into the essay), but I also want to be a person to rely on for my close friends. We have all had times where we feel like we are slipping and there is no way to climb back up. By looking out for my friends, I can help foster a more supportive community through my next three years at Notre Dame. 
	I have discussed how I need to live out my mission by setting an example for other Gateway students and helping enhance the perspectives within our smaller group at the big university. Another part of my mission is actually expanding my jurisdiction and accompanying others. ‘“Some people are happy only if they are helping,” he added. “This is a question of friendship - you must learn to be beside, walking with another person”’ (Teaching Accompaniment: A Learning Journey Together by Steve Reifenberg - Moreau FYE Week 9). I need to expand my horizons and accompany others through joining clubs that will allow me to accompany those who are struggling. I plan on joining the Boys and Girls Club Volunteers and the Special Olympics Club to accompany those so I can better understand their struggles and be a true friend to them. I need to take the risk of accompanying others, and joining these groups will help me to do my job as a servant leader. “There is no point where you can say, “The issue of my calling is settled.” Vocations lead to vocations! It may raise other questions, and there’s no point where you can say that, “I do not have to ask any more questions” (Three Key Questions by Fr. Michael Himes - Moreau FYE Week 3). These new vocations that I intend to pursue should help me develop more and more connections, which will present more ways that I can accompany others. At a larger university, there will be plenty more avenues for me to serve, and joining service clubs is my first step. Once I become a part of an organization that I feel devoted to, I will be my best self because of my love for contributing to something that I feel is bigger than myself. I find a sense of purpose when I am a member of a group that I care about. I don’t necessarily have to be the leader of the group, but I feel an extreme sense of accomplishment and purpose when I have a role that helps achieve a goal. In a conversation with my dad about when I am at my best, he mentioned my role as a bench player on my state championship basketball team. Although I rarely played, I fulfilled my role to the best of my ability which helped my team win the state championship. I was the biggest cheerleader during games and in practice I gave my full effort to prepare our starters for the games. I love having a role in something that I consider important, and joining a service organization can become my new basketball team (Conversation with my dad - Moreau FYE Week 5).
	Another part of my mission that I can further pursue through the next three years is learning how to succeed academically. I find myself stressing often, and improving my time management would help me to eliminate that problem and further my growth as a student and person. I plan to set aside time to sit and think, without feeling overwhelmed like I need to do something or that I’m wasting my time. Setting up times for me to do work, exercise, and have free time will help me be more put together and confident in myself and my effort in school. “To me, the point of sitting still is that it helps you see through the very idea of pushing forward; indeed, it strips you of yourself, as of a coat of armor, by leading you into a place where you’re defined by something larger” (Why we need to slow down our lives by Pico Lyer - Moreau FYE Week 1). Sometimes, I feel like everything is coming at me so fast. If I become more calculated with how I allocate my time towards different things in my life, I will be more successful. At Notre Dame, my academic workload will increase, so I need to be diligent in actually sticking with this plan so I am not overwhelmed by my heightened responsibilities. 
	The source of everything that I have talked about so far in this integration is God. I have loved my faith experiences at school so far, and I want to expand this crucial part of my mission statement at Notre Dame over the next three years. When I am struggling with school and overwhelmed with a grade or I feel like I am not smart enough, I need to do a better job of remembering that God is there for me and I can always call on Him in prayer. “You can’t convince yourself God loves you, but you can ask Him to show you” (Growing Up Gay and Catholic by Jacob Walsh - Moreau FYE Week 10). Struggles in school can make me feel alone, especially when I am not near my family. I need to set aside time to pray everyday and continue to attend Sunday Mass. God is the light and He can always show me what I need to do and give me the strength to achieve my goals when times are hard. Being too hard on myself is an issue that I need to overcome if I want to be successful at Notre Dame. If I keep my promise of calling on God, He will give me the strength I need to realize that I don’t need to dwell on my failures or worry what will happen if I don’t do well enough. This quote reflects the idea that too much self-reflection can be harmful.  “We can spend endless amounts of time in self-reflection but emerge with no more self-insight than when we started” (The Right Way to be Introspective (Yes, There's a Wrong Way) by Tasha Eurich - Moreau FYE Week 6). I don’t have to over-criticize myself if I lean on God to give me the strength to overcome adversity. I find myself in difficult situations when I try to rely only on myself, and forget who the most important person in my life truly is. Ensuring that I live my life in the way God wants me to and sticking to a schedule of worship and prayer shouldn’t only help me succeed academically but internally and in relationships that I build through the rest of my time in South Bend. 
	Finally, the last part of my mission statement that I am going to address is wanting to pursue the best future I can professionally. I need to do a better job of accessing the career resources available to me so I can ensure that what I am getting into is what I want to do. Sometimes I am scared of these conversations because I don’t know the answers to all of my questions. I need to be less afraid of taking risks and put myself out there in the search for what I want to do for the rest of my life. In Moreau Week 4, we took career surveys and read about the career search opportunities here at Notre Dame. This quote is something that should become a motto for me as I grow at ND. “You have to know yourself first - your values, interests, personality, and skills (VIPS) - before you can make effective career choices.  The only way to know more about yourself is to test the waters - just get out and experience life!” (Navigating Your Career Journey by the Meruelo Family Center for Career Development - Moreau FYE Week 4). I plan on pursuing opportunities presented to me to secure an internship for the summer after my sophomore year and line up a job before I leave Notre Dame. My career is something that can feel daunting, but I need to overcome that fear and take risks to discern what my passions and values are in the workforce.
	My mission statement is a paragraph that tries to encapsulate who I am and what I love. Does it include everything? Of course not. However, it is a useful tool for remembering who I am and what I am here at the university to do. This integration has helped me to line up a plan of steps I can take to live out the life that I intend to live. I need to continue reflecting on this statement and my values throughout my life to be the person that I want to be. If I uphold the values that I state in my mission statement through taking the steps I lay out in this integration, I will be extremely satisfied with my time at Notre Dame and onto the rest of my life.