The Butterfly Story of 
	My life has been filled with many ups and downs since my first encounter with judgment in elementary school because of my skin color. As we talked about in week one I think that courage has been a strong emphasis in my life, and I think that not only has it helped me become who I am today I believe it is the reason I am who I am. I have had a very tough time in my life with allowing myself to be vulnerable and opening up. But through it all, I was able to use the courage that I had built and that my parents had taught me to push past the vulnerability that I felt during my first weeks at Notre Dame. Belonging is something that I have always looked for in life and I could not find it for the longest time before coming here because I was scared and ashamed of who I was so I kept to myself a lot during the first weeks at school. I was able to use this courage I built while I was a kid to find who I was. Not only did this give me a sense of belonging like researcher Brene Brown says about overcoming shame, I myself finally felt worthy and that I could do the same thing others could do (“The Power of Vulnerability” by Brené Brown - Moreau FYE Week One). It allowed me to be able to find out more about myself and that is why for me I believe that courage holds the most value to me, because for me without courage I would not be able to overcome my vulnerability, and not be able to find that belonging that we as humans search for.
	During the transition period coming to Notre Dame there were a lot of nerves, thoughts, and predictions I had on how things were going to unfold. During my first few weeks, I made it my goal to write a new chapter and start here the person I wish I would have started high school. As mentioned by Mr. Brooks in week two there are two kins or characteristics (“Should You Live for your Resume or Your Eulogy” By David Brooks - Moreau FYE Week Two).
 The ones that I had shown before coming to Notre Dame were those resume characteristics that I thought were most important to show because that is what I believed people found most important. However, I made it clear that I would begin to show off those eulogy characteristics and would make sure to start acting and portraying how I feel versus behaving based on what people opinions are here, and what better place to begin doing that than college where no one knows really who you are. I made that choice before hearing what Mr. Brooks had to say. But after listening to him I believe that to become my true self and become my most authentic self and be the person I feel on the inside on the outside as well, I have to focus on those eulogy characteristics. 
	During my time playing college baseball since I have arrived on campus, I believe it is my destiny to be where I am. The challenge mentally college baseball places on you is extreme. However, being in a place where faith and exploring your faith is part of the requirements pushes me to overcome the struggles of baseball because through my time exploring my faith and through the help of my first ever theology class, I have discovered that the things in our lives are planned and that everything in our world has a reason behind it. Not until college have I had any experience in my faith or in what I believed, I spent the first 17 years of my life focusing on those things that I can control and would pour everything into them to be sure to accomplish what I want. Not until college did I even consider god as being a factor in my life. From Professor David Fagerberg I found myself in agreement with when he mentions how faith brings light to a dark world (“Faith Brings Light to a Dark World” by David Fagerberg - Moreau FYE Week Three). Those words resonated with me because of what I felt when I began searching for my faith and what I agree with. Those were things I had implemented into my life maybe not by choice at first but certainly now by choice. 
	During my time in high school I found myself making friendships that did not benefit me but benefitted the other person. I found myself being so caught up in making the other person happy I did not pay attention to my own happiness and if they were making me happy. The video about the “I love you” highlighted what I thought was something very interesting, in the fact that I truly do things for my friends because I love them not even thinking about if I actually enjoy doing some of the things (#ThatsNotLove campaign | Because I Love You - Whiskey | One Love Foundation by JoinOneLove - Moreau FYW Week 4). This is something that after completing this week 4 I realized that I needed to have some conversations with some of my friends about what I needed out of our friendship that I was giving but was not receiving in return. Some took it well and others decided it was not worth it. I believe that to have a relationship that is strong those conversations need to happen and if they are willing to give you what you deserve then the relationship is worth keeping but if not then it is not worth it. 
	I believe that personal stories can tell a lot about a person. I also believe that they can be used to educate others and create a more transparent relationship between a group of people or even just 2 people. This week really opened up my eyes to how much the stories that have been shared with me shaped who I am. My grandmother grew up as a black woman in 1930 in Southern Mississippi and man does she have stories that make my hatred of homework seem the size of a grain of rice. One that resonates with me the most is the story that she told me when I was younger about her journey to and from school. She and her siblings would have to walk to school every day about 15-20 miles. They were not allowed to take the bus because it was only for the white children, so they would walk. She said that if you ever heard cars coming up behind you, that you better get in the ditch and lay as flat as possible so they don’t see you and she wouldn’t move until she was sure they were far enough away to not be seen. This story my grandmother shared with me is only one of the reasons I am who I am today. I now encourage my fellow teammates, classmates, and friends to share their stories to one another, because not only do stories create a connection, they allow the other person to see what youre going through and it creates a transparency that sometimes is needed to have and understanding within a relationship. So that is what I believe is important to do and what I try to encourage my fellow peers here at Notre Dame to do as well. I think Carla Harris say it well in her Laetare Madalist Address about how this one shared story of the pandemic has been a blessing in so many ways. (“Notre Dame Commencement 2021: Laetare Medalist Address”  by Carla Harris - Moreau FYE Week 5).
	Week 6 I thought was very interesting approach to displaying my background. I Think that it made me realize some of the influencers in my life. The main ones being my parents and how they shaped me to be me. As shown in the where I am from Poems they all have some similarities in that there are people referenced in different ways to show how much they mean to the author (“Where I’m From” by George Ella Lyon - Moreau FYE Week 6). Oddly enough what led me to my discussions in week 7 were stemmed from my week 6 puzzle. In week 7 )“Danger of a Single Story” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - Moreau FYE Week 7) is what my reference was to my mother in that she is smal in size but when needed she stands taller than ever. I meant this because on top of my mom working full time and raising me and my brother while my dad worked ridiculous hours she never failed to teach us how to deal with things that were yet to come, but things that she knew woud come up because of my skin color. She taught us what a single story was and she made sure that we never used single stories to define someone and always taught us to dig deeper. Which is something that I have been able to carry with me here at Notre Dame and I have met some of the best people because of it. 
	My learning has been both challenging and impactful. I have applied what I have learned from this class to my life but I have also used what I have learned from this class as a way of backing up what I already have learned. I will continue to apply this knowledge to help me with friendships, struggles, stories, and conflicting ideas so that way I will be able to combat these issues with the a level head and continue to become my best self. Not only has thios class opened my mind but it has given me information I will be able to use for my entire life.