Capstone Integration


	
	It is the mission of  to live a life of learning and make the world better for someone else. He would like to be the person that people can trust and rely on. Some most influential people have been his teachers and coaches throughout his life. Through them, he has learned patience, how to compartmentalize, and most importantly the rewards of effort. However, the most influential person has been his grandmother as she has taught him how contagious happiness can be through another’s, and kindness and love. Seeing someone who can face anything with positivity is truly inspiring. It is people like this along with others that allow Hugh to be the role of a friend, family member, and student. Through this role of friend and family member Hugh strives to show that he can be trusted and relighted upon in any situation. More importantly, he works to be a source of joy in the lives of others. As a student, he keeps an open mind knowing that there will always be more to learn about a topic a person, or a culture. He uses this role all that he can so that one day he can fulfill the role of Engineer. As an engineer, he hopes to fulfill the mission of being able to give others the option to feel secure. He has learned that effort alone isn’t enough and how one affects the lives of others is subjective. But, has he gained the most joy when helping another he hopes that through engineering prosthetics he can provide people with the option for another way to feel secure in their body and abilities The most important thing to Hugh is a positive impact on those around him, 
	In other words, Hugh has two goals, one is to live a life of growth, and the other is to make a positive impact on the things around him. Hugh believed he could complete that second goal by becoming a mechanical engineer. he thought that through that position he could create something that can only be seen as good. This was a hard task as Pico Lyer once said “The one thing technology doesn’t provide us with is a sense of how to make the best use of technology” (“Why We Need to Slow Down our Lives” by Pico Lyer - Moreau FYE Week One) He spent the end of his high school career and most of his college career working on a program that would help those with disabilities connect to the world around them, whether it's driving a wheelchair or typing on a computer. He put all his effort into creating something that will not only allow people to use technology but to feel in control and independent within their lives again. He worked tirelessly driving 2 hours every day over the summer to work on it in a lab at Stony Brook University. 
	Despite the effort, Hugh exhibited to reach his goals, it would not be incorrect to say that Hugh experienced failure time and time again. While working on the project, playing sports, and even in academics. Hugh never shied away from failure and took every failure as a growth opportunity. In the movie Hesburgh, it is said that “one doesn’t speak of human failures as well as human success” (“Hesburgh” by Jerry Barca and Christine O’Malley - Moreau FYE Week Two). Hugh seemed to speak more of his failures than of his successes. He believed that discussing his failures like not making his high school basketball team or not being able to finish his project he felt talking about it allowed him to learn and move forward. When he was in danger of failing his calc II class in his first semester at Notre Dame he talked about this failure with his professor and his parents. Because he talked about his failure, he was able to plan with those he discussed his failure with and create a plan to try again. However, you don’t always get to try again. When Hugh didn’t make the basketball team and discussed his failure with friends, they convinced him to try wrestling ich he continued throughout college. Hugh found that sharing failure allowed him to create connections, learn and discover new things. 
	Nevertheless, it was the pursuit of his goal to create something good for others and his growth through failures that is a part large part of the engineering that made Hugh become a mechanical engineer. When reading about how one should choose a career path, Hugh considered the question: “Is this vocation / this role / this profession / this way of life that you are considering something you are good at? [...] This can only be determined by other people” (“Three Key Questions” by Fr. Michel Himes - Moreau FYE Week Three). Hugh did not believe this at all. When Hugh chose to go to Notre Dame he did so, in the belief that Notre Dame will provide him with the lessons and experiences required to be the person he wanted to be. He believed that he could learn to be good at anything. When he started wrestling a coach told him not to do leg moves in matches or practice because he wasn’t good at it and was better with other moves. However, because he pushed on anyway and it allowed him to win matches that he would never have with the limited skillset his coach wanted him to focus on. 
Another quote Hugh considered was, “You have to know yourself first— your values, interests, personality, and skills (VIPS)— before you can make effective career choices (“Navigating Your Career Journey” by Meruelo Family Center for Career Development- Moreau FYE Week Four). Hugh New above all valued effort, kindness, and friendship, and he was interested in learning how things worked. However, going into college after a pandemic he felt as though he didn’t truly know his personality and he didn’t have any skills. Nevertheless, he knew that through effort and the help of others he could develop the skills necessary to be a mechanical engineer and do something that aligned with his values. 
In an interview with one of Hugh’s closest friends, Hugh inquired, “What do you think I most value and desire in life?” Hugh’s friend responded that Hugh valued “meaningful, long-lasted connections and the ability to make a positive impact in the lives of others” (“Week Five Discernment Conversation Activity” - Moreau FYE Week Five). Hugh desired more than anything else to be a source of good and joy to others. 
	His desire to be good for others didn’t come without struggle. He thought often about the question. “If God is good, why does he allow suffering...?” (“5 Minutes” by Aria Swarr- Moreau FYE Week Six). Even though his greatest desire was to be a source of the good he knew that not everyone would think of him that way and he could even become a source of suffering. But, something that Hugh’s uncle once said is that one can only appreciate and truly experience joy and happiness if they have also experienced sadness. The things and the people that others appreciate in life are those that can offer them happiness or remedy their sorrow. Hugh understood that he was living a life well-lived if someone smiled while he was around, and even if the memory or reminder of this led to some form of happiness. 
	As stated by Pope Francis, “Life is not time merely passing by, life is about interactions” (“Why the only future worth building includes everyone” by His Holiness Pope Francis- Moreau FYE Week Seven.) These interactions with the people both here and not made Hugh’s life well-lived —to have a good group of friends that mutually cared for one another and enjoyed the time they had together. It is also the bad interactions with those who were strangers, or even bullies because every interaction provided the opportunity to learn and to grow. Hugh would want to be remembered due to the connections and growth experienced by others because of him. Hugh will lead a life well-lived if he had an impact on the lives around him. 
	He chose to become a mechanical engineer to give people options that would place positivity in their lives. Hugh acknowledges that he couldn’t solve the world’s problems because the world doesn’t have problems, individuals do. Professor Steve Reisenberg’s story supports this when he states. “I wept, partly from the illness, but mostly out of frustration at how little the vision of me sick in bed resembled the one in my head of an autonomous me helping the needy them. That equation had been flipped.” (“Teaching Accompaniment: A Learning Journey Together” by Professor Steve Reisenberg - Moreau FYE Week Nine.) This story and quote were interesting to me as I recently had to watch Adichie’s “Danger of a Single Story” for a paper in another class. This is because the problem and effects of a problem that is preconceived notions appear to be the same. Throughout the text, the author states that accompaniment allows one to learn and get rid of this ignorance but how might people be able to grow up without these preconceived notions. This story shows how people can fall into accompaniment and how trying to take control to “help” is not helpful. The aspect of this quote I found particularly interesting was that it took the person who felt almost better than to be made much weaker than those they sought to help to realize that they never really needed it

	Moreover, there is no guarantee that anyone will ever need or want the things Hugh creates. However, Hugh knows that just through kindness he still may be able to make someone's world better. In an article by Jacob Walsh, it was stated that “'God doesn’t make shit.' He told me that I could not convince myself that God loved me. 'You can ask Him to show you, though. And you can pay attention to the relationships where you know you’re loved.'” (“Growing up Gay and Catholic” by Jacob Walsh- Moreau FYE Week Ten). Just by the little act of loving another as a friend or as a family, you're giving them the option to find joys in their life just as the design of different prosthetics can give those with certain disabilities the ability to regain control. It is this aspect that Hugh Has learned from Notre Dame thus far. That even if he fails to “objectively help” as long as the option is there for another when they want or need it he made someone’s world better. 

	This is not the only change Notre Dame has made in Hugh and there will be more. Through the challenging courses and new friends, Hugh realized there are different ways of growth than just becoming more responsible or more knowledgeable. There is a growth in maturity and security. Hugh used to believe that the more he knew and the better he could do then the better person he was. But sometimes you don’t have to know everything. In a story within Hidden Brain Media it is stated that “You know, you’ve already read the newspaper. You’ve already listened to all the radio. What possibly more could you be getting from this?” (“Passion Isn’t Enough” by Hidden Brain Media- Moreau FYE Week Eleven). Hugh realized you can’t learn everything there is to know. However, if you know what’s relevant and leave yourself open to change then you will be able to tackle any situation. 

	Hugh is still learning how to do that, as there are situations where he feels unequipped ignorant, and unjust to try to tackle. Hugh wants to make someone’s world better and found a path to do that with disabilities and general friendships but what about the more prevalent problems like race. Dean G. Marcus stated, “We will return fathers and mothers to their sons and daughters, particularly when their only “crime” was to be born the wrong color.” (“Dean G. Marcus Cole: 'I am George Floyd. Except, I can breathe. And I can do something.” by Dean G Marcus Cole - Moreau FYE Week Twelve) Through Heavy contemplation of this topic, Hugh realized that there are some problems an individual cannot fully solve. However, through educating himself, treating everyone with respect, kindness equality, and supporting the efforts to disband such issues then maybe people may not feel like criminals for the color of their skin, at least not around him. This doesn’t feel like enough for such a large issue and there are many other issues where anyone can certainly do more. However, if one takes their passions and uses them in the best ways they can and treat everything and everyone else with the respect and kindness they deserve then anyone can make the world a little bit better. 

	In conclusion, Hugh’s mission is consistently to learn and to be a positive force in the world. Hugh will fail, Hugh will do the wrong thing and there will always be more Hugh could have done or can do. However, if every setback and if every failure is learned from then Hugh will be the person he wants to be. This is completely how Hugh Wants to live his life. Others can see this process through every effort Hugh makes especially in his reaction to any failure. These failures are what make the mission most difficult but are required for it to be successful, and thanks to Notre Dame Hugh Has learned there is not one path he can take to achieve this as long as his failure doesn’t lead him to give up. The only true failure leads him to give up.