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Professor Chan
Moreau First Year Experience
29 April 2022
Moreau Capstone Integration
My Mission Statement is: As a man who has many interests, passions, talents and opportunities, I resolve to make the best use of every opportunity that I am faced with. By putting in my best effort into all my endeavors, I seek to elevate myself and others to the best possible people that we can be. I will do this by growing in wisdom by educating myself in order to grow in awareness about problems that face others as well as learning how to improve myself to be better able to combat these issues. I must be courageous in order to reach out to others and improve their lives. By doing this, I will be able to respond to suffering in the world in a meaningful way that benefits the most people. In order to live a life well lived, I believe that it is both my responsibility, as well as necessary for me to embrace humanity and do the most good I can with my time on this earth, including social justice, career accomplishments, and raising a family. Therefore, I must dedicate myself to becoming as best suited for this as I can be. By doing this, I will honor myself, my family and community, as well as God.
In the first section of this course, we learned that “The best career choices for a person are those that allow him/her to implement as many parts of his/her self-concept as possible” — (Meruelo Center for Career Development – Moreau FYE Week Four). However, as I have examined further my feelings about what it means to truly make a difference in the world I have come to disagree with this statement. I personally do not think that any career, working a nine to five job would be the best choice for me. I believe that the way to get the most out of my life is to serve others with my work as best I can.
I believe that I must live out this mission statement both in my actions as well as how I plan my life. The first step for this is recognizing the problems that exist in the world. According to Dean Marcus Cole, “It is urgent that we recognize that human rights are under threat all around the world, including here in the United States. This reality must be acknowledged, and addressed.” (“I am George Floyd. Except, I can breathe. And I can do something.” by Dean Marcus Cole. Moreau FYE Week 12). Therefore, I must be aware of the issues that others face in the world as well as how I can best solve these issues. Through both self reflection as well as my experiences at Notre Dame, I have discovered that money, as well as simply working a normal job is not necessarily what I feel called to do. I feel that it is necessary to use my knowledge, like from my studies as well as my life experience, and my opportunities, such as those provided to me by the University of Notre Dame, in order to create the most positive difference in the world as possible. Some specific examples of actions I can take here at Notre Dame are becoming more involved with service as well as attending meetings for the engineers without borders club. By doing that, I can put my actual talents to use and set up my future to truly make a difference in the world where it counts. I can start this process by mankind conscious decisions to research the problems that plague America as well as the world in general. I can do this by seeking out people with different backgrounds and learning about the problems that face those different societies. By finding out that “In surrounding ourselves with people who agree with us, we’re losing our sense about how someone might reasonably disagree.” (“How to Avoid an Echo Chamber” by Dr. Paul Blascho. Moreau FYE Week 11), I have further learned the vitality of learning more and forming more meaningful relationships with others. 
This importance of relationships with others is one of the most important takeaways I had from this first half of the semester. It taught me that what truly matters in life, and what I would truly want to be remembered for is my impact on others and on the world around me. As Pope Francis said, “Life flows through our relationship with others” (“Why the only future worth Building Includes others” by Pope Francis- Moreau FYE Week Seven). Therefore, I feel called to use my time at Notre Dame to grow close to my good friends and to experience the fullness of the student life and opportunities that are available to me. These friends have shown me the importance of relationships in my life, not just to help others, but to help myself as well. I fully agree with the statement that “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.” (“Teaching Accompaniment: A Learning Journey Together” by Professor Steve Rifenburg. FYE Week 9). They have made me a better person and helped me to find what I want out of my life. Moving forward, I can join clubs that interest me and hang out more with people from those people I meet with varying backgrounds. Furthermore, by experiencing this fullness of the human condition, I hope to grow closer to myself, and by extension God. As I have learned, “You can’t convince yourself God loves you, but you can ask Him to show you.” (“Growing Up Gay and Catholic” by Jacob Walsh Moreau FYE Week 10).
This mission will be difficult to live as it will require me to devote more time and effort into others and less of my time can be spent on things I enjoy. I’m sure that there will be times when I falter and fail to give my all for others. However, by surrounding myself with a strong support network and a good background in education through Notre Dame, I believe that I will be able to handle whatever challenges come my way.