NOTRE DAME EXPERIENCES
Notre Dame is a place you either love or hate, and plenty of people in this country fall into the latter camp. But it was nothing but wonderful to me, and I feel incredibly lucky to have gotten all the amazing experiences there that I did.
FANNING BUSINESS COMMUNICATION CHALLENGE
In April 2019, I took part in the Mendoza College of Business's Fanning Center Business Communication Challenge where participants were challenged to write a speech in five minutes or less speaking towards the college's motto "Ask More of Business. Ask More of Yourself."
THE OBSERVER
During my sophomore year at Notre Dame, I began writing for the University's student-run newspaper The Observer. I interviewed individuals ranging anywhere from a Notre Dame student rapper to a Rwandan genocide survivor and had some of the most incredible conversations of my life. Below are some of my writing clips.
CIVIL FORFEITURE INVESTIGATION
In early March 2019, I began working with South Bend Tribune reporter Christian Sheckler on a two-month investigation into the usage of civil forfeiture in St. Joseph County. Simply put, civil forfeiture is the practice of police officers taking the personal property of everyday citizens if the officers believe the property is connected to a crime, a system that is easily abused by law enforcement. After scouring through hundreds of pages of legal documents, cold calling a bunch of victims and lawyers, and spending hours going through interviews, I wrote this story and made this podcast to showcase my findings.
3D AND 4D INTERNAL BIOPRINTING - FORESIGHT PROJECT
Through the Mendoza College of Business Foresight program, I worked with a team of four other undergraduate students to complete a semester-long case study into using 3D and 4D printing to manufacture medical devices such as prosthetic organs and stents. Our job was to analyze the current state of the technology and use this data to forecast contingency plans for what impact the technology could have in the next 20 years.
WITH VOICES TRUE INTERVIEW
With Voices True is a project by the Hesburgh Libraries at Notre Dame aiming to create an archive of personal narratives on race, specifically within the campus community. In April 2019, I conducted one of these interviews with Notre Dame Class of 2020 student Kaleem Minor. Kaleem is from Snellville, GA and formerly served as the Director of Diversity and Inclusion for Notre Dame's Student Government. Our conversation focused on the experience of being a minority student at Notre Dame, shortfalls in the support systems offered to these students, and ways in which Kaleem believes these shortfalls could be addressed.
BUSINESS PROBLEM SOLVING
The Mendoza College of Business's Business Problem Solving (BPS) course is a blisteringly fast-paced program where national corporations offer students business cases to solve, a few weeks of turnaround time, and a presentation date. With that information, we worked in teams to come up with creative solutions to these business problems and make clear, concise recommendations back to the businesses. I worked with four other people on each of these cases competing against five other teams, and our team was fortunate enough to win two of the four case competitions.
VOYAGEUR OUTWARD BOUND SCHOOL
BOUNDARY WATERS, MN
After applying to Notre Dame as an Early Action applicant, I was lucky enough to be selected to interview for one of the university's prestigious four-year merit scholarships, an award which I eventually received. Part of being a merit scholar at Notre Dame involves attending an Outward Bound School before the start of your freshman year to help you bond with the other scholars (and partially as a hazing, very possibly). For this experience, I was sent to Boundary Waters, MN with 26 other students to partake in a week of canoeing, camping, team building, and personal reflection. It was one of the most impactful personal development weeks of my life and had a heavy hand in shaping the college experience that followed.
APPALACHIA SOCIAL CONCERNS SEMINAR
GRAYSON COUNTY, VA
The Center for Social Concerns (CSC) is an organization at Notre Dame that takes the school's deep Catholic roots and puts that into practice with socially oriented research, teaching, and service. Through the CSC, I participated in a fall break seminar where I traveled with five other students to rural western Virginia to clean up the hiking trails along the Blue Ridge Parkway and learn more about the social issues impacting the region.
CLASS OF 2021 CLASS COUNCIL
I served on Notre Dame's Class of 2021 Class Council all four years of college where I planned campus-wide social and service events like dances, cookouts, letter writing to military members, a fall carnival, a jump rope-athon, and a genuinely absurd amount of food giveaways.
LOVE THEE, NOTRE DAME
NOTRE DAME, IN
Not all my experiences at Notre Dame have a cute educational tie-in, but that doesn't make them unimportant to me. From playing on a basketball team coached by a priest to roasting a Thanksgiving turkey in an academic building to all the hours wasted sitting on the quad with friends, my four years were spectacular, and I am unspeakably thankful for all of the memories and amazing people I met.
