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Mr. Comuniello
Moreau FYE-Capstone Integration
29 Aril 2022
Don’t Stop Believing: My Journey to a Life Well-Lived
	My parents have always told me to follow my dreams. They taught me that as long as I am happy with my life and the decisions I made, they would support me and love me through it all. I have been raised in a world surrounded by faith, hope, and love, and I want to carry that forward. I have learned to lead, to listen. To be kind, to care, to be passionate about the things I love. To be independent- something I have always been good at. I plan to live a life well lived through the choices I make, the relationships I forge, and through my pursuit of happiness in all aspects, focusing on, as sister Aletheia mentioned, “where am I headed [and] where I want to end up?” (“Meet the Nun Who Wants You to Remember That You will die”, NYT, Moreau FYE Week 3).
	My time at Notre Dame will be full of moments of joy, moments, of failure, and moments to learn. The classes I take will challenge me academically and the rigor of the classroom will prepare me as I venture toward my future career plan of going to medical school and becoming a doctor. Here, I will be able to help others in the way I have always felt called to do (My Mission Statement, Developing a Mission, Moreau FYE, Week 13).  The Merulo Family Center for Career Development offers so many opportunities to explore this, but they also offer a lot of advice to undergraduates, one being “there is no ‘best major’ out there - but there is a ‘best major for you,’” which I think I have found (“Navigating Your Career Journey” Moreau FYE Week 4). I have landed the biological sciences major with a minor in bioengineering to encompass everything.  My biology classes at Notre Dame have been going well, and I am going to start volunteering at Memorial Hospital if I stay in South Bend this summer. I am also going to volunteer as a counselor at Camp Kesem in August. It is a summer program for kids whose parents or family members have been impacted by cancer. I am excited to get this opportunity to be a leader but to also help people when they need it most. To listen, to bring joy to their lives. And once I graduate from undergrad and medical school, I want a job in the hospital system, because to me, it is there where I can make the most impact with my skills. Another opportunity could arise in going on a medical service trip such as doctors without borders. With all my knowledge and education, there will be so many opportunities out there for me to continually push myself to learn more, to experience more, to be more. Furthermore, the people I meet and the clubs I join at ND are there to push me physically, but they are also there for me mentally, spiritually, and emotionally. They are the kind of people that you can sit down and have an honest conversation with, about your future, about life (“Discernment Conversation,” Moreau FYE Week 5). Beyond the amazing community, I want to take advantage of all the wonderful opportunities Notre Dame has to offer to make the most out of my time and to create the best version of myself as I venture into the unknown. Pico Iyer said in his TED article, “In the end, all journeys have to bring us home (Pico Iyer, “Why we Need to Slow Down Our Lives, Moreau FYE Week 1).
So far, I have found two clubs to call home. The women’s water polo team has taken me in even though I had never played water polo before until the start of this year. Each and every woman on the team challenges me to be the best version of myself, and it makes me happy to be around them and be part of a team, something greater than myself. I have also joined the Club Coordination Council, a branch of student government that allows me to make a difference here at Notre Dame. I get to work with every club to make sure they get to put on all the events that make the Notre Dame community what it is, and it is something I have cherished being a part of. Beyond what I have already done, I plan to study abroad my junior year and use Notre Dame’s many career services and job boards to get myself an internship or find research opportunities in the biomedical field that will help me explore my passions and give me experience before I venture off to medical school, because asking ‘“what’ questions help us create a better future” (Tasha Eurich, “The Right Way to Be Introspective (Yes, There’s a Wrong Way),” TED, Moreau FYE Week 6).
	Switching gears, family has always been near and dear to my heart. My life will not be one well lived if I don’t have people to share it with, because as Pope Francis exclaimed “each and everyone's existence is deeply tied to that of others: life is not time merely passing by, life is about interactions” (Pope Francis, “Why the Only Future Worth Building Includes Everyone,” TED Conference, Moreau FYE, Week 7). For me, it is my parents, my brothers, my sisters. I want to stay close to the people who made me who I am, because out of everything I have ever been blessed with, they mean the most to me. Some advice I got from a teacher of mine in high school was to call you parents at least once a week so they know you are okay. I have taken that to heart here at Notre Dame. I facetime them every Sunday night at 8:00 right before Cav mass. I get to see them, tell them about everything that happened to me, because there is no one I would rather talk to. To stay close with them in the future, I will still call them whenever I want to talk or catch up, even if I am hundreds of miles away. Not only that, but I also want a family of my own. A loving husband, beautiful children. People I can share my experiences, my sorrows, my laughter, my passions. I want to show them the world and how to be good stewards in it, because as Professor Reifenberg states, “My life has been enormously enriched through those relationships, and the concept of accompaniment has given me a new lens through which to understand my own experiences, teaching, international development, and much more” (Professor Reifenberg, “Teaching Accompaniment, a Learning Journey Together,” Moreau FYE, Week 9). I studied abroad in Spain sophomore year of high school and met so many new and wonderful people, but I never got to travel or experience this with my family growing up. I plan to take my own family on the adventures I had dreamed about as a girl. Traveling the world and sightseeing has always been a passion of mine, and who better to share it with than my family? I also want to teach them to care about others, to be kind in the way my parents taught me, because I think that is something they got right. I want them to have dreams, and I want to be there to support them in every which way. Be their own personal cheerleader. My parents have always done that for me- encouraged me to dream about what would make me happy, because as Fr. Hesburgh said, “It’s impossible to have a complete and honest human story if it doesn’t speak of human failings as well as human successes” (“Hesburgh”, Moreau FYE Week 2). Lastly, I want to teach them how to listen to others, to their stories, as there is so much we still need to learn about loving one another so we can love ourselves, which Mr. Walsh echoed in his article (Jacob Walsh, “Growing up Gay and Catholic,” Moreau FYE, Week 10). And in doing so, I can keep learning myself, because having the passion and desire for it is not enough (NPR, “Passion Isn’t Enough (Hidden Brain Media),” Moreau FYE, Week 11).  I have always taken pride in my love of learning and want to pass that on to all the people I meet in my life, because to me that is a life well lived (My Eulogy, Defining a Life Well Lived, Moreau FYE, Week 8). Show them there is something more, that there is still hope for a better world, a better us if we take the time to communicate with each other rather than fear each other as Dean G. Marcus Cole stressed in his article (Dean G. Marcus Cole, “I am George Floyd. Except, I can Breathe. And I can do Something,” Moreau FYE, Week 12).