Riley's Moreau Integration 2 Riley 1 Philip Riley Moreau Integration two 12/2/2021 My Complex view of Notre Dame Prompt: What have I encountered, and how will I respond? When I first encountered this prompt question, I was confused about where to start, so I decided to take my Professors advice and tackle this question instead “What have you experienced or realized since coming to Notre Dame?” When I first committed to Notre Dame my senior year of high school, I had high expectations for my freshman year of college. I arrived on campus the first day nervous about classes, excited about football, and worried that my expectations for a great freshman year would be let down. The year started off slow and challenging due to COVID, but I was still seventeen at the time, trying to be as positive as I could because I knew that the summer would be different and fun, which I was right. The summer was fun and very positive; we had a lot more free time, and I felt like I was connecting with the coaching staff and players on the team. But then training camp and the regular season started, which was a challenging time for me. All the relationships that I had fostered with the coaching staff seemed to dwindle away, and I was left feeling alone, which was hard because of the demands of classes and football and trying to keep up a healthy social life. But I would have to say that this past week has been my hardest time here at Notre Dame so far; the head coach of the football team Brian Kelly surprisingly left the program to take a job at LSU. I went into complete panic mode, not knowing the future in-store for me at the time, frantically trying to figure out who the next Riley 2 head coach would be. But finally, after a week that seemed to be complete chaos was followed by a positive. The beloved defensive coordinator Marcus Freeman was chosen by Notre Dame to be the next head coach, making everything better. Week nine QQC deals with responding to external and internal dissonance. Since I am a division one athlete, I am constantly dealing with external dissonance; I continuously have outside forces like coaches, teammates, and professors that are drilling their own philosophy at me, which is changing the way I think about school, football, and life itself which is sometimes bad and good. When I first arrived at this university, I was struggling academically and socially, which made me bitter for choosing to come here in the first place. Still, since then, I have been working on internal dissonance, which has been helping me change the way I think and my mindset. I have been more positive, trying to take everything day by day, and have been way more sociable. This quote from (“Why Letting Go of Expectations is a Freeing Habit” by Julia Hogan - Moreau FYE Week Nine) “These are the things we tell ourselves when we let our lives be dictated by expectations. These expectations can come from others or from ourselves” really put things into perspective for me. I used to make wild expectations for certain things like significant events or fun activities that I did with friends and family, which nine out of ten times would leave me feeling let down or disappointed. Still, now I have learned that I can’t focus on how others live their lives and just focus on enjoying mine. Since being here at Notre Dame, I realized that I couldn’t allow myself to be brought down to rock bottom only because I am going through a hard time at the moment and just remember that better times are following behind the bad ones. Riley 3 Week ten QQC focus question was "What are the central challenges of my community, and how do I respond?". Since being here at Notre Dame, I have realized that the community is facing a problem that we see too often in today’s society: specific groups of people being outed or left out because of their own personal decisions, which is very unfortunate. The University of Notre Dame is known for being a school that is not well diverse. Sixty-seven percent of the students who attend Notre Dame are identified as white; this speaks volumes to the fact that Notre Dame is not a community where everyone is accepted as who they are. The Notre Dame community can tackle this problem is by celebrating diversity. This can be accomplished by attending different cultural groups events and meetings. “The ongoing conflicts over critical race theory have followed a predictable pattern of polarization. For Catholic and Jesuit schools, this division is inimical to our mission and damaging to the body of Christ”.(“Should Catholic Schools Teach Critical Race Theory?” by Christopher Devron- Moreau FYE Week Ten). Week eleven QQC focus question is "How do I strengthen bonds of interconnection with others, especially in the midst of conflict or dissimilarity?" I almost have been here at Notre Dame for a year now. Since most challenging being here for that long of a time, I have seen myself in the middle of countless arguments/disagreements and what I have learned from those arguments and disagreements is that the only way you can strengthen a bond with someone in the middle of conflict is that you have to be willing to learn from the other person and understand their way of thinking. If you genuinely listen to the other person, then finding a solution to the problem becomes significantly easier. “Whether we know it or not, like it or not, honor it or not, we are embedded in the community. Whether we think of ourselves as biological creatures or spiritual beings or both, the truth remains: we were created in and for a complex ecology of relatedness, Riley 4 and without it, we wither and die.” (“Thirteen Ways of Looking at Community” by Parker Palmer- Moreau FYE Week Eleven). Week Twelve focus question is "How do I live and grow in hope?". Recently toward the end of the semester, as the season comes to a close, I can feel the depression creeping back up on me again, so I have decided to look for hope towards God’s plan for my life. I know that everything that is happening to me now (Adversity) is for a reason and that the good that follows is much more bountiful. “Hope is trusting in the cross and God’s promise of the kingdom” I follow this quote closely because I genuinely believe in it. (“HOLY CROSS AND CHRISTIAN EDUCATION,” by A publication of Campus Ministry at the University of Notre Dame - Moreau FYE Week Twelve).