- Integration One Viggiano 1 Catherine Wagner Moreau First Year Experience 15 October 2021 Michael’s Moreau Journey of Self Discovery So far, throughout my first few months of being at Notre Dame, my Moreau First Year Experience has allowed me to deepen my knowledge in a wide variety of topics. Throughout assessing various sources and discussing them in class, I have started to form personal root beliefs that will carry me through my Notre Dame journey and beyond. In Week 1, we learned about searching for belonging. I can see why the University chose this to be the first topic, for being freshmen year of college, we take on new experiences that will form who we are as people. This week, I learned the most from Brené Brown’s TED Talk, as she stated, “They were willing to let go who they should be in order to be who they were” (“The Power of Vulnerability” by Brené Brown - Moreau FYE Week One). She, along with class discussion, helped me form my first root belief: I believe that allowing ourselves to be vulnerable to others is the only way that we can truly grow as a person. When starting anything new, especially something as meaningful as college, we are faced with new ideas and challenges. Relating back to my root belief, I feel as we should be open to this change, for if we stick in our own personal bubble and only do what makes us comfortable, we won’t be able to experience new things. In Week 2, we learned about searching for self-knowledge. This week, we took a personality test to learn of our character strengths and my lesser strengths (The VIA Character Strengths Survey by the Institute on Character - Moreau FYE Week Two). I discovered that my https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4Qm9cGRub0&feature=youtu.be https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4Qm9cGRub0&feature=youtu.be https://www.viacharacter.org/survey/account/register?registerPageType=popup https://www.viacharacter.org/survey/account/register?registerPageType=popup Viggiano 2 signature strengths were honesty, kindness, humor, creativity, gratitude and my lesser strengths were self-regulation, leadership, teamwork, zest, and prudence. From this week’s work, I discover my second root belief: reflecting on our lesser strengths is beneficial for self-growth. It is easy to think about what we are good at, our signature strengths. However, realizing what we aren’t as good at and trying to improve them takes strength. No one can have any weaknesses, but we can work hard to limit them and improve ourselves for the better. During Week 3, we learned about searching for a framework in our life. In the sources, they reference how faith can be a framework for our life. In Father Pete’s video, he discussed how faith plays a vital role in our life. He reminds us of the life that Jesus called us to live, no matter our past mistakes. That Jesus provided us a framework that will guide us through our central beliefs and help us fight through the tough times (“The Role of Faith in Our Story” by Fr. Pete McCormick - Moreau FYE Three). He helped me formulate my third root belief: I believe that to have a successful life, one must have a framework they aim to live by. Even though Father Pete was referenced faith, I think you can live a successful life without faith. About a framework, I am talking about having a structure in your life. Without structure, our actions have no meaning. In Week 4, we learned about searching for life-giving relationships. This week, we investigated the signs of a healthy and unhealthy relationship (“5 Signs You’re in a Toxic Friendship” by Olivia T. Taylor - Moreau FYE Four). Throughout the evidence and discussion in class, I formulated my fourth root belief: I believe that I should forge life-giving relationships by promoting healthy relationships and eliminating unhealthy ones. At Notre Dame, we are bound to meet a ton of new people. When we form relationships with them, we have to make sure that we are promoting healthy relationships. However, this does not only apply at college for the rest https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcZMeqWWOIs https://grottonetwork.com/navigate-life/relationships/signs-of-toxic-friendships/ https://grottonetwork.com/navigate-life/relationships/signs-of-toxic-friendships/ Viggiano 3 of our lives, but we will also be meeting new people and experiencing new things. Identifying what people you have healthy and unhealthy relationships with will lead to how much you grow as a person because unhealthy relationships can limit your growth by holding you back from the person you are aiming to be. In Week 5, we learned how to identify narratives. In the sources, we read the letter that Father Sorin wrote to Father General Moreau ("Letter to Father General Moreau" by Fr. Sorin - Moreau FYE Five). In this letter, one principle stood out to me that let me formulate my fifth root belief: I believe that we should take educated risks to live life to the fullest. Imagine a life where you never took a chance, played it safe every time, stuck to what you were comfortable with; this life would be very unfulfilling. In taking these educated risks, we can experience the well worth highs and lows of life. In Week 6, we were tasked with writing a poem depicting where we were from. ("Where I'm From" by George Ella Lyon - Moreau FYE Six). During this week, I further learned that where we are from defines who we are. After writing my poem, I realized my sixth root belief: I believe that everyone comes from a unique that defines who we are. After everyone reading their poems in class, I realized that none of us had all similar experiences. We all had various places where we are from that defined who we were. These were not by any means bad differences; they just showed how diverse they were. We can look at the surface level and see we are all Notre Dame students; however if you dig deeper, we can realize we all have different pasts that lead us to the point where we are today. In Week 7, the last week of Integration One, we learned about identifying perspectives. The source that was the most unique to me was Chimamanda Adichie's TED Talk. When she talked about her college roommate, she said that "My roommate had a single story of Africa: a https://drive.google.com/file/d/1o56woQDq3QrRkziT8eYrvYly5CQaP2Vb/view http://www.georgeellalyon.com/where.html http://www.georgeellalyon.com/where.html Viggiano 4 single story of catastrophe. In this single story, there was no possibility of Africans being similar to her in any way" ("The Danger of a Single Story" by Chimamanda Adichie - Moreau FYE Seven). That story and quote helped me formulate my last root belief: I believe that we should broaden our horizons to different perspectives to pursue the truth. In college and beyond, we will meet people from various backgrounds. We must not stereotype them based on their previous race, culture, or any other status. We also should be open to learning about other people's cultures and stories, which will give you a more accurate understanding of others. In conclusion, discovering these seven root beliefs has led me to grow as a person over the past few months. In the future, in this class and beyond, I must apply these beliefs to my life. It is easy to acknowledge these beliefs, but by genuinely living them out, I can ensure that my Moreau First Year Experience positively impacted my life. https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_ngozi_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story