Capstone Integration


Luzmariaelena Flores

04/21/2022

What Has Notre Dame Done To Me?

This spring semester has brought upon a lot of growth in my identity and my goals.

Starting this spring semester, I was confused about what convections were and how that

impacted my life. I have never thought about what convections in general and how that had to do

with the things I wanted. At first, convection was a type of cause and concern to me. I learned

that true convection is something that makes you feel complete and accomplished. A cause and

concern are more like a goal while convection is a type of mindset you have. As time passed by

in the first half of the semester, I also realized that I have not been in tune with my internal

happiness. During Moreau, I self-reflected about my academics and my meaning of happiness.

For the first time, I had dropped a class and focused a little on my mental health and the way I

wanted my life to turn out. I spoke to people about my concerns and mentors I had back at home

to help me make a plan/ route I wanted to follow. All these things helped me make it through the

first half of the semester. I learned about myself while also trying new ways of thinking and

identifying.

The rest of this spring semester for sure has been a tough journey. During the last week of

Moreau, we had to view our Notre Dame education as a sort of path on a mountain. Reading the

excerpt "Stalking" by Annie Dillard, made me reflect on my journey and what I had

accomplished this semester. ( Annie Dillard, 1974) Now that I had reflected, I realized that my

first semester was like a walking trail to a difficult hike. Yes, it was tiring, but it didn't involve

much self-reflection. I did well but I didn’t understand why people found college difficult. I had

enough freedom and time to adjust to all my classes as well as social events. I believed that I was



prepared to start the second semester. However, the second semester is when you start the hike.

You begin to feel the rocks and the incline and the pressure from the air. Second semester was

the start of more difficult classes with new professors. I struggled with friendships as well as

problems within my family. Lots of different things came into play this semester that wasn’t a

problem before. This made my semester much more difficult and rockier.

The semester not only brought difficulties but also taught me lessons. Week 9, 11, and 12

all taught me something about myself and the people around me. Week 9 we watched a clip of

Harper Lee from her novel To Kill a Mockingbird, "to climb into the skin of another and walk

around in it. ( Harper Lee, 1960) We wrote about the skin we walk through and whose skin we

are drawn to walk. I wrote about my experience of being a daughter of undocumented parents. I

also spoke about the limitations and fears my parents had which lead to me being able to relate to

other people that were experiencing similar things. Most races have similar experiences and can

understand what others go through. However, I also spoke about what a different skin I would

want to walk through which would be that of a white person. This would be an important skill to

have to be able to walk through other people's skin to understand something more about

themselves and different people’s points of view.

In week 11 we discussed the Anti-Racist Vocabulary lecture. I learned about "School

Choice" by Courtney Martin. (Courtney Martin, 2021) I had no idea what this was going to be

about. I have never heard of the term School Choice. I thought about it being the school system

and how that is something that needs to be changed. Martin stated that parents' actions are all

behind one quote “ I just want what's best for my child.” All parents want what’s best for their

children. Martin elaborated that this mentality makes for a ladder to appear in a parent's mind of

what is best and what is worst. On the ladder, a parent chooses what is deserving of her child and



who deserves the worst. This already makes a gap between the kids since all they are surrounded

by is the same people with the same mentality. This is the beginning of the gap caused between

those in public schools and those in private institutions. These were a few things I learned by

watching Martin’s video.

In addition, week 12 taught me about philosophy. During this semester, I made a new

friend who has a great passion for philosophy. When we talk, he is able to bring up different

names in our conversation and mention their perspectives on different things. It amazed me how

much he knew about each topic we talked about. He said that knowing a bit of philosophy helped

him make his own decisions in life. It also allowed him to self-reflect on his inner self. I admired

how confident he felt in each step of his life. Reading, Good Life Method: Interview with

Meghan Sullivan and Paul Blaschko, made me reflect on the fact that I have never thought about

what sages I turn to or about the different perspectives on every topic. ( Jack Maden, 2022) I

knew that there were different perspectives, but I did not try to branch out. I want to try and

branch out to see different topics and different views in order to better understand the world.

Overall, this semester has been a rocky hike. But after dropping a few things and finding

my core friends, I was able to pass through this rocky hike. In the end, I will get above the

timberline and be able to look back to see the forest and all the rocks that I passed through to

make it to the top. All these lessons drive me to reach the utmost peak of my mountain when I

graduate from Notre Dame. Graduating would be my pinnacle since this would be my reward for

all my hardship and all-nighter pulls.