integration one Learning to Believe in Myself Integration One I believe that being vulnerable is the first step in getting involved at college. Our QQC in week one was all about the power of being vulnerable. Looking back seven weeks later, I realize now that I didn’t know a whole lot about vulnerability at the time. Since writing that QQC, I have encountered many more times when I have had to be vulnerable. It’s funny because my question that very first week was how could we make vulnerability more tolerable? While it is often still uncomfortable, I have become much more used to it. Bréne Brown said in her Ted Talk, “Vulnerability pushed, and I pushed back”, and I now find myself very much relating to this scenario (“The Power of Vulnerability” by Bréne Brown- Moreau FYE Week 1). I feel incredibly vulnerable whenever I get homesick, which thankfully hasn’t been that often yet. I have learned in great amounts to accept the awful feeling and allow people to help you when you’re down. I also had to make myself very vulnerable in the first few weeks of school when struggling with my maths homework. I had to ask many people for help as I just couldn’t get used to the American way of doing maths. At the beginning it was hard to put myself out there as finding the coursework hard, but I knew it would benefit me in the long run. I am definitely reaping the rewards of being vulnerable now! I hope to keep going on this track of knowing when to ask for help because it’s so important. I believe that I can be an ambitious woman, while also maintaining my personal morals. Our QQC in week two was all about self-knowledge and what kind of person we want to be. I remember that during this QQC I was majorly questioning who I wanted to be and what I was living for. Even though I still don’t fully know yet, Notre Dame has already pushed me to balance the two aspects of ‘Adam One and Adam two’, from the Brooks video, in my life (“Should you live for your résumé or your eulogy” by David Brooks- Moreau FYE Week 2). For a project in my management class, we were tasked to work together in groups of six to help a non-profit organization. The project showed me that I could work hard and create a really strong project, all while maintaining what I believe in by helping a non-profit. Our project was about wealth generation through Forest Gardens in the Sahel region of Africa. David Brooks says that, “In order to find yourself, you have to lose yourself”, and although that may be slightly dramatic for me, I certainly felt this quote during the project. At first my team didn’t want me in the group and then they rejected my idea! While hugely embarrassing at the time, I certainly learned to stand by my Adam two morals and stand up for myself. I was making sure I got on that team. It is my plan to keep working hard but also to make sure I don’t get overlooked again. I believe that my faith is deepening while also being challenged at Notre Dame. Our QQC was all about faith and searching for a framework in week three. Over the last seven weeks, I have learned so much more about faith than I ever could have imagined. This has mainly come in the form of my Foundations of Theology class taught by my amazing teacher, Professor Yuan. We are dissecting the Bible in ways I have never done before, and it has been extremely informative. When Fr. Pete said, “Be patient, if you’re in a hurry faith becomes so much harder to understand”, and I completely understand this now (“The Role of Faith in our Story” by Fr. Pete McCormick C.S.C- Moreau FYE Week 3). Every week in my theology class, I learn so much more about my ‘faith’, that I thought I had a pretty good grasp on. There is a vast amount I didn’t know and sometimes I find this leaving me questioning what I believe. Just like students in the reflections from this week, I can already feel my faith changing here. I love going to dorm mass and the grotto and having this shared experience with everybody else. Instead of just accepting my faith, I hope to grow and understand it here at Notre Dame and I honestly think this school is perfect for that. I believe that meaningful relationships are formed by mutual respect and supportiveness. Week four was all about forging life-giving relationships and recognizing toxic relationships. In my opinion this was the most important week of Moreau just in terms of what is important for college students. For the first time in my life, I can feel myself going out of my way at Notre Dame to make sure I am forming meaningful relationships. From the text on the five signs of a toxic friendship I learned that “A good healthy friendship is one where two people are mutually growing and on a path toward become better people” (“5 Signs you’re in a Toxic Friendship” by Olivia T Taylor, Grotto- Moreau FYE Week 4). This is certainly I criteria I look out for in making new friends here. I think our friends at Notre Dame hold us up, whether that be physically during touchdowns pushups, or emotionally when we need support. Because of this it’s so important to make sure we have friends that don’t allow us to fall hard. It has amazed me how Notre Dame students will almost go to any length to help you. As I mentioned above, I needed much maths help and I honestly found the amount of people willing to help absolutely incredible. It really goes to show that many people here want this mutual growth. My main aim for everyday here is to be as much of a help to somebody else that all those great friends were to me! I believe that Notre Dame, and Mendoza in particular will teach me to become a servant leader. In week five my learned about Fr. Sorin leaving France to set up Notre Dame. It was extremely eye opening as to where our great school has come from. We also listened to the commencement speech by Carla Ann Harris where she taught us all about the importance of being a servant leader in today’s society. She was an amazing speaker who actually helped me public speak for my management project that I talked about earlier. I watched her video again to gain confidence in what I had to say. Her quote “to help anyone, anyway and anyhow you can, simply because you can”, (“2021 Laetare Medalist Address” by Carla Harris- Moreau FYE Week 5), is really a great indication of how to live and the more time I spend here, I believe to live like this is the Notre Dame way. Here, we can see our non-stop drive to help in all the different dorm charity events. We, in Breen Phillips are currently preparing for Hoops for Hope where we play charity basketball, and the proceeds go to the Sisters of the Incarnate Word. I hope that over the next few years I can learn about servant leadership, which we have already learned much about in my management class and put this education into action. I believe that where we all come from has shaped us into the people we are today, but I also believe that we all have the power to change if that is what one desires. In week six we all wrote poems with the title ‘Where I’m from’ (“Where I’m From” by George Ella Lyon- Moreau FYE Week 6), where many of us wrote about our hometowns, families and hobbies. When we were tasked with reading our poems out in groups of three or four, I immediately found myself being vulnerable. Our poems only had to be 200 words long, yet when I read the poems of those around me, I felt instantly connected to them. I learned so much about the two boys sitting right and left of me. It’s a hard thing to do to let someone read your poetry, but it’s a beautiful thing that they get to see another side of you. I also learned much about myself when writing my poem, it was almost as if I was unlocking memories of the past. Once I heard other people’s poems, I could really see how they were in some cases shaped from home, and in some cases not. Many people wrote about allowing Notre Dame to change them positively and because of this I know that Notre Dame is having such a positive impact on those around me. It is my hope that if I was to come back and write this poem in ten years’ time, that Notre Dame would be a significant part of my story. I believe that educating ourselves is the most important step in eliminating implicit bias and viewing world situations from a single story. In week seven we read an article about implicit bias and we watched a Ted talk about the danger of a single story. The speaker in the Ted talk taught us an important lesson in saying “I have always felt that it is impossible to engage properly with a place or person without engaging with all of the stories about that place and person” (“Danger of a Single Story” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Ted- Moreau FYE Week 7). In my QQC I spoke about being guilty of viewing certain situations from a single story in the past. In comparison to Ireland, there is a much wider range of culture and race in Notre Dame. I would say more-so at the start than now, but I was introduced to many new cultures, even America was new! I immediately had to catch myself whenever I would be stereotypical in my own head, but now I can label it by saying I am looking at the world from a single story. The material in week seven basically taught me to be open minded when encountering new people and not to jump to conclusions based off my own assumptions. This is hugely important in life and I will definitely take this advice forward into every day of my life as I grow older. I went to the Terrence Floyd Conversation in the Duncan Student Center and he spoke all about carrying love for everyone rather than having our own private judgments. It is in my education about the single story that I am hoping be able to grow from it.