Intg 1: Prompt 1

Prompt 1

Prompt 1: Finding A Real Home

          The Notre Dame Community. It’s an exclusive one, for the most part, built on the years and years of kids who spent their lives working to get to a place as amazing as this. But it is also an inclusive one, a family that opens its arms wide to all those who come here, and promising to be all the family and support you could ever hope to have. I personally knew very little about Notre Dame and its community before arriving here to begin the next four years of my life, in fact I enrolled here without stepping foot on campus, believing in the advice of those I’d talked to, the “sign” that NROTC gave me a scholarship here, and a good dose of good faith and pretty pictures of the Golden Dome. I was surprised to be invited to a Student Send-Off put on by the alumni a few hours from home, and even more shocked when I had my first experience with the Notre Dame Community. It’s real, and it’s amazing. Though I am but a young kid in her first semester at college, I have fallen completely in love with Notre Dame, and I feel as though Notre Dame has fallen in love with me. That’s what I have come to understand the word “community” means here, that no matter who you are, what you are, where you are from, or where you are going, you belong here and you are so truly loved for it.

         The Notre Dame community is the mixture of lives, cultures, and stories of 12,000 students and even more staff working harder than it seems possible every day to achieve their dreams, and there is a mutual understanding of that fact, making this community one of respect and acceptance. We are brothers and sisters here, joined together by the spoken expectation that Notre Dame students “have it all together” and yet also bonded by the unspoken understanding that no one really does. There is a fire burning behind the passion and the drive of Notre Dame and her loyal sons and daughters, built on the years of determination found here. Since arriving, I have been told the countless stories that make this school such a special place, from Fr. Moreau’s dreams for education and Fr. Sorin’s amazing confidence and foresight in the log chapel that grew into the amazing university it is today to Fr. Hesburgh’s opening of the University to a brave group of women that forged the path for girls like me to be here today (“Notre Dame’s Father Moreau: Holy Cross Congregation founder” by the University of Notre Dame). In Moreau, we have explored the genesis of Notre Dame, seeing that even from its very start., this University was full of dreams, and destined be, as Fr. Sorin claimed, a great force of good in the world. All the history, success, and legacy of this community can often be complex and intimidating, especially as a freshman entering a school of such high regard and caliber. Sometimes it feels as though everyone is so smart, so destined for greatness, that it seems impossible that I might belong here too, and yet each day I am reminded that God brought me here and I belong here, so I can make my way in the world and do great things just as any of my amazing peers might. The Holy Cross education’s five pillars of Mind, Heart, Zeal, Family, and Hope mean a lot to me in regards to the Notre Dame community ever since I learned and wrote on them soon after my arrival at the University, as I feel that through them, the students here are bonded by the common goal of trusting in God and working to be an educated person of the mind and the heart, and that we will work together as a family to achieve that very aim (“Two Notre Dames: Your Holy Cross Education” by Fr. Kevin Grove).

          My unique understanding of the Notre Dame community comes from my very transitory life as a military kid, as college will be the longest period of time that I will live somewhere consistently. But yet, my arrival to my new location was so much more than that, it was as though I was arriving home, welcomed with open arms and loving hearts. I have found my sisters in my dorm, Lewis Hall, and I have found an amazing brotherhood in the Naval ROTC program. Each day I wake up knowing that I am part of something bigger than myself, and I feel proud that my Notre Dame community includes this opportunity to live the motto, “God, Country, Notre Dame”. The ROTC program has been instrumental in my belief that the Notre Dame community exists, as I was accepted and welcomed to the ranks of men and women like myself who wished nothing more than to serve their country. It epitomizes the Family pillar of the Holy Cross Education, creating a family that lives, works, studies, and trains together, doing everything with the goal of doing our school and our country proud. It all truly hit me during the Duke Game Flag Unfurling when I was on the field for the National Anthem and Half Time, I could see the entire stadium full of Domers like me, and I felt an overwhelming feeling of family and love. I have finally found my home, for the next four years and for the rest of my life, and I am so blessed to share it with my brothers and sisters in arms and in study. I know truly understand the Notre Dame “community” and only hope that my efforts to make the most of the time I am lucky to have here will succeed, and that I will always remember the amazing foundation on which my university was built so that I may never lose sight of my goals here. And I will always live by “God, Country, Notre Dame”.

"NDNROTC Family" original media by Carissa Baldwin

Photo provided by NDNROTC

Intg 1: Prompt 2

Prompt 2

Prompt 2: A Major Problem

            “What’s your major?” The dreaded question arises again, in which I give my long spiel about my devastating realization upon arriving at college that I really hated my major. Physics was not for me, and it was scary to realize that my plans collapsed so soon.

            But why should I be defined by my major? I have so many interests and plans beyond the area of study that appears on my diploma. I am at the University of Notre Dame now, with the doors wide open for me to study anything, learn everything, try new things, and experience the world. I am no stranger to new places and adapting, it’s basically been the theme of my life, so I have been thrilled that this adjustment has been so full of fun and opportunity. To the give the abridged version of my interests, I absolutely love sports and being active, I’d be happy if I could learn something new every day of my life, and there is nothing I enjoy more than reading a good book. Together, these factors don’t exactly point to a particular major or even help me decide on something. My brain panics when I’m asked about my major, as the poster below illustrates, as I try to calculate and explain that I love my new major, Environmental Science, but it doesn’t define me. I am a former dancer who lost her grace but still loves to appreciate the art of others. I’m an athlete, having played softball, volleyball, basketball, and various other sports, but who has decided to try hockey, something new and fun for college. I am also a patriot and NROTC midshipman, who loves her country desperately and cannot wait to serve. I love to travel the world, learning about new cultures and taking advantage of every experience, I love to argue/debate, especially about politics and literary interpretations, and beyond all things I love a good challenge. The only thing that bores me is the idea of resignation, whether to ideas without cause or to a stagnation of learning. So, Notre Dame provides the perfect environment for me to be all of these things shoved into one crazy-busy college student.

         As we discussed at great length in Moreau, a “growth mindset” is key to living and learning at a place like this, and that is exactly what I intend to have in my time here. I have promised myself to keep trying and remembering that I can always improve. There is no reason to give up when failure comes, instead it is the perfect opportunity to leap into practice or study to improve myself ("Growth Mindset: Clearing up Some Common Confusions” by Eduardo Briceño). That is how success comes, and that is how I have been living my life, and it is how I plan to continue living my life. I cannot even imagine choosing to resign myself to failure and disappointment when my drive to learn and grow has been the reason that I have had so many amazing experiences in life, and the main key to my acceptance to this very university.

            So in my time at this University, I hope to receive the education promised by the Congregation of Holy Cross. I love the idea of an education of the mind and the heart, allowing me to follow my dreams of studying environmental science, serving as a naval officer, and then becoming a NASA astronaut, achieving my childhood dreams while also pushing me to develop my heart as well, participating in the activities that bring me to new ideas, cultures, and interests I never thought I had. I have promised to myself that I will do this by taking advantage of any and every opportunity I am offered, as I may never have the chance to do amazing things like them again. I want my cloud of words to extend even further, expanding until I feel my brain must bust, because then I will be happy knowing that my life is full and exciting and always changing.

So yes, my major is Environmental Science, but I’d prefer to answer the question, “I’m studying whatever comes my way and anything the strikes my interest.”

"My Brain" original media by Carissa Baldwin

"Word Cloud" original media by Carissa Baldwin via http://www.abcya.com/word_clouds.htm