Moreau Integration Writing my Notre Dame Dash My mission statement is to make my dash count. In my first integration I spoke about my dash, the little line that sits between my date of birth and date of death. It is just a meaningless line to those passing by, but, to those who knew me, it contains every moment of my life on earth. When I say I want to make my dash count I mean I want to leave a memory that makes people smile but more importantly inspires others. While this dash will extend throughout my entire life, I want to specifically focus on the little part of my dash that is college. When I committed to Notre Dame I prepared myself for the best four years of my life, but I also prepared myself for four years of opportunities to ignite change. At a school like Notre Dame academic excellence and community involvement are prerequisites with the expectation that over these four years we will build upon these and become leaders and advocates; I hope to live up to these expectations. Similar to Father Hesburgh in his film I hope my memory is filled with helping others and taking risks. Father Hesburgh was not afraid to speak his mind even when his opinions were unpopular, he spoke with fortitude and eloquence making it impossible to ignore him even if his beliefs did not align with your own (“Hesburgh” - Moreau FYE Week 2). When addressing the challenging topics of race and inclusion he was never barred by societal expectations, and, in the process, inspired all that walk onto the Notre Dame campus to find strength and confidence in your beliefs. Similarly, Dean G. Marcus Cole spoke of the importance of forcing ourselves to create a more inclusive community saying “we must all make a conscious decision and effort to expand our circles” (Dean G. Marcus Cole: I am George Floyd. Except, I can breathe. And I Can Do Something by Dean G. Marcus Cole- Moreau FYE Week 12). Creating an inclusive society means diving outside of our comfort zones and taking the risk of expanding our own circles. He https://notredame.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=10159379-7eca-4549-8581-ab9500c9ecd9 https://law.nd.edu/news-events/news/dean-g-marcus-cole-i-am-george-floyd-except-i-can-breathe-and-i-can-do-something/ https://law.nd.edu/news-events/news/dean-g-marcus-cole-i-am-george-floyd-except-i-can-breathe-and-i-can-do-something/ inspires everyone to step up and actually ignite useful change rather than just whispering about the issues racing through our country and world. These men are incredible but they were also controversial and their beliefs did not align with everyone around them. They inspire me to not find safety in agreement but rather to find strength in my own beliefs. As the Nun in our week 3 reading said “We naturally tend to think of our lives as kind of continuing and continuing”(“Meet the Nun Who Wants You to Remember You Will Die” by Ruth Graham - Moreau FYE Week 3). We only have so many years to ignite change and hopefully leave this world better than we found it so it is vital that we do not waste time trying to fit in or be complacent. For myself, over the next three years this means standing up firmly for pro-choice, improving accessibility for anyone disabled, and promoting acceptance other religions. While I think the Catholic faith is great and I am excited to grow in my own religion I think doing that includes standing up for what I believe even if others strongly disagree. When I read the Bible and interpret the sermons, I believe God loves everyone no matter if you believe in him or not, if you are married to a man, women, or someone gender non-conforming, if you are the same gender you were assigned at birth, or if you make the gut wrenching decision to have an abortion. “Jesus sought out and welcomed all people into the Kingdom of God — the gentile as well as the Jew, women as well as men, the poor as well as the wealthy, the slave as well as the free, the infirm as well as the healthy” (“The Spirit of Inclusion at Notre Dame”- Moreau FYE Week 10). To actually try to implement change and stand up for my beliefs I need to work on being okay with not always being “nice and agreeable” but rather being confident and outspoken about my own views. Typically, I try to please people, but in that I think I get lost in my own beliefs trying to satisfy everyone else. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/14/us/memento-mori-nun.html https://dulac.nd.edu/university-mission-and-vision/spirit-of-inclusion/ A major theme of this semester has been about creating an accepting environment and while I think having conversations about this in Moreau is great I also think Notre Dame can do more to promote inclusivity specifically through history courses about marginalized groups and a required theology that is not about Catholicism. I believe helping to implement these is especially important at a Catholic school because even if we do not agree with some of the lessons the classes would teach it will help us grow in our own beliefs and have a complete perspective when communicating with others. “In surrounding ourselves with people who agree with us we’re losing our sense of how someone might reasonably disagree”(How to Avoid an Echo Chamber, Dr. Paul Blaschko- Moreau FYE Week 11). If we let ourselves become trapped in a bubble we will not be well educated citizens and with that we will be unable to make productive change. In order to try to escape this bubble and just overall be a better member of society I want to work on surrounding myself with people who are different from me. I think there is so much we can learn from everyone elses experiences whether it is a difference in location, beliefs, race, sexual orientation etc. Through hopefully creating change over these next three years I also want to help bring awareness to those with disabilities which is why I am a part of eNABLE. This club has genuinely been one of the best parts of my freshman year and I am excited to continue with the club and hopefully pursue a career in biomedical engineering. In bringing awareness to those with disabilities one thing we often talk about during the club is how we should amplify the voices of people with limb differences but not speak over them. This reminded me of our reading from week 9 where they said “The goal should be that those who have no voice today will have a voice and will be heard” (“Teaching Accompaniment: A Learning Journey Together” by Steve Reifenberg- Moreau FYE Week 9). Through eNABLE I have also realized how important https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaIVxQcqnLs&t=1s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaIVxQcqnLs&t=1s https://canvas.nd.edu/courses/39695/modules/items/144764 interactions are in the college experience. Through the friends I’ve made and the people I have worked with I have learned so much about different lifestyles and been challenged to create better solutions and use my intelligence for good. “Life is not time merely passing by, life is about interactions” (“Why the only future worth building includes everyone” by Pope Francis - Moreau FYE Week 7). The experience that really stands out to me is actually getting to talk to the people we are making the prosthetics for and it has made me fall in love with the field. It has also reinforced the conversation my mom and I had during week 5 when we talked about what I valued (Conversation with Mom- Moreau FYE Week 5). At the top of that list was helping others and through this club I have truly discovered how great of an impact we can have on this world outside of just speaking out against social injustices. This club has also combined my goals of helping others with my goal of enjoying life because eNABLE genuinely brings me so much joy. While I believe both eNABLE and standing up for my beliefs are essential for my college experience, I also believe that part of having a good college experience and life in general is to have fun and enjoy each moment. I repeat this phrase “enjoy every moment” often but I believe it really sums up what it means to have a good life. Life is so far from perfect so we need to find a reason to smile even when life is challenging. “Every experience shapes you in some way, whether you realize it at the time or not!”(Navigating Your Career Journey -Moreau FYE Week 4). Even if some of the experiences we are having right now kind of suck to say the least they are all teaching important lessons. For instance, this semester my engineering group had to create an app. It was a mess and we didn’t finish until 30 minutes before it was due, but this experience taught me how essential teamwork is and how to stay calm even when school is stressful. Then, after we finally finished the project we walked to the Huddle in the pouring rain and got ice cream and overall it was one of the most memorable parts of this semester. This experience https://www.ted.com/talks/his_holiness_pope_francis_why_the_only_future_worth_building_includes_everyone/transcript https://undergradcareers.nd.edu/navigating-your-career-journey---moreau/ really reminded of me of week 1; “It’s easy to feel as if we’re standing two inches away from a huge canvas that’s noisy and crowded and changing with every microsecond” (“Why we need to slow down our lives” by Iyer - Moreau FYE Week 1). At this moment I was stressed, overwhelmed, frustrated and overall just having a horrible day; but I took a deep breath and just let life slow down. The moment I let life slow down we were able to finish the project and make some hilarious memories in the process. These lessons of learning to love the process of school, learning, hard projects and life in general has helped me be less stressed and enjoy school so much more so I want to bring these lessons with me throughout the next three years. Next year I will be on the Welcome Week committee and I want to particularly teach the incoming freshmen how important it is to appreciate all the little memories. I hope that is what people think of when they think of me, someone who could find joy even in the worst moments. Finally, as I write about the future I want to be sure I focus on the present and never dwell on the past. Even looking back at this semester I think of many moments where I wish I had done things differently and I have asked myself “why on earth would you say that?” or “why did you do that, that was dumb”. However I want to change my mindset especially over these next three years. ““Why” questions trap us in our past, “what” questions help us create a better future” (“The right way to be introspective” by Tasha Eurich - Moreau FYE Week 6). If I really want to ignite change and be the best version of myself to enjoy my college experience I need to focus on looking how I can improve rather than being disappointed that I made a mistake. To work on this I want to start journaling more and focus on being the best person I can be each day. Now, when I say this I don’t mean I need to be perfect but rather working on just being the best version I can be. https://ideas.ted.com/why-we-need-a-secular-sabbath/ https://ideas.ted.com/why-we-need-a-secular-sabbath/ https://ideas.ted.com/the-right-way-to-be-introspective-yes-theres-a-wrong-way/ Overall, I want to be confident in my own beliefs, use my time here to help those with limb differences, and just have the time of my life. Notre Dame has made this past year the best in my 19 years on earth and I am so excited to help share this world with the incoming freshman and find joy in every experience and opportunities for granted.