"We go to high school in Warsaw. We're part of an event that happens every few years that involves a high school in France. It all started because of two teachers who happened to be friends and wanted their classes to explore other countries. A group of high schoolers from France spend a week here, go to our classes, and stay in our homes. Then later, we get to go to France and do the same thing: spend a week there, attend their classes, and stay with them."
"It's been a crash-course in friendship. And somehow, I'm really protective of them! If one of them gets lost in our high school, I drop my books to run after them and point them to the right class."
"I'm amazed by how enthusiastic they've been. About everything. Everything is amazing and exciting to them. It makes me excited to be showing them around."

"We're on a week-long visit from France. We've been visiting Notre Dame since 9 this morning."
           "So what do you think of Notre Dame?"
"It's huge. A lot of walking everywhere."
"I loved the stadium. We got to go in, and they gave us a tour of the locker room, field, and press box."
"That was huge, too!"

"My friend from high school is an art and music major. When I committed to Notre Dame senior year of high school, he made me these shoes. I wore them three times, but I was so paranoid about getting them dirty that they're now on display in my room. They're art without needing to be worn."

"I spent the summer in Ha Noi, Viet Nam, teaching English. It was the first time I'd been there since I was adopted. It was an exercise in immersion, trying to rediscover an old self, you might say. The orphanage from which I was adopted turned out to be a twenty minute walk from where I stayed over the summer. There were twenty-nine orphans there under the age of five; after age five, orphans are relocated. The paperwork in the orphanage wasn't strong enough to locate me personally. There, I met four social workers, and my conversations with them made me appreciate all the little things in life. They weren't concerned about the things we are concerned about here sometimes: am I going to get the right job? Am I going to get married? They were asking me about clean drinking water, what I eat for dinner, about the friends I go with to see a movie. They saw it almost as a success story, of 'this is a guy who got out of the system and chose to come back and see us again.'
"At the orphanage, I ended up getting to see the kids. And it was the definition of the phrase 'smiling like it's Christmas.' I can't ever forget the joy on their faces. Life was their gift. Two of them clung onto me, playing with my glasses, and they exuded innocence, pure joy. Here, we sweat the small stuff, even though we try not to. But with those kids, I kept telling myself, 'This joy is what life should be like.' It wasn't a case of an American playing with kids from Viet Nam. There were no national demarcations of sorts--just two people kicking a soccer ball. The simplicity of the moment was incredible.
"My parents were the first two to travel to Vietnam and adopt a child after the Viet Nam War. On July 12, 1995, Bill Clinton restored diplomatic relations; two weeks later, on August 3rd, I was adopted.
"When I was growing up, a part of me wondered, 'Is the person I'm supposed to be in Ha Noi?' But this trip taught me that it's not like that. Your experiences make you who you are.
"And I'd had people ask me, too, about my mothers. About if I'd ever wondered who my 'real mom' was. But saying the word 'real' relegates the mother I have now to being less. And I've also been asked why my 'real mom' didn't love me enough. But I don't think that's the right way to look at it. I look at the one mother, who went through nine months of labor. She knew she was going to give me up, left me at the hospital the day I was born, and loved me enough to recognize that she couldn't take care of me. And then I look to another mother, who went to band concerts and spelling bees, who took care of me when I had a fever, who taught me patience and kindness. The one who raised me. So when people ask if I would want to meet my birth mother, I say that I know what I need to know about both of them. Honestly, I'm okay with having two mothers."

"Sometimes she wears a pink jersey."
                 "For game days?"
"Usually when I take her to classes."

"I was abroad in Ireland last year when I received the application for ND Theatre NOW. Students of Professor Garcia-Romero are offered the opportunity to write a play that will be produced and performed by students. I'd been toying with a few scenes for a piece at the time. So I decided to complete a play to tie together these scenes and ideas. I composed 'Out of Orbit' specifically for the parameters of ND Threatre NOW. It's meant to be a workshop experience from start to finish. On day one, I was at the casting call; since then, I've been involved with rehearsals. It's a growing, living thing--I find myself writing changes after each rehearsal. But especially yesterday, I could really see it. It's coming to life."
               "So are you nervous?"
"I'm...excited!"

             "What do you anticipate your greatest struggle to be this semester?"
"Managing my time between extracurriculars. It's not even that I'm overloaded academically--I'm only taking 15 credits. I don't feel overwhelmed with the number of activities I'm in, but between SSIC and the Writing Center, each one requires my full attention. So managing each one, giving it the energy it deserves, is my goal this semester."

                  "How far did you have to travel to come to today's training camp?"
"Only two miles. We're big Notre Dame fans and big Chicago Blackhawks fans.  We can't normally get to games in Chicago. So training camp is our chance to support our team. I'm really grateful, because it's such a cool event.

"We've only been to practice football games at Notre Dame before. And now we're here to see the Hawks at training camp!"

Seen in Cavanaugh.

"I represent Campbell of Argyll. The overlaying of colors and patterns on the fabric helps to identify your clan. And the red strap I'm wearing indicates that I'm a drum major; we wear these because we're a military band."

Seen at Indy Irish Fest.

 "We got tickets to the Shamrock Series and have been texting my friend Travis about it. He said I should take a picture with a cheerleader. So I took a selfie with my girlfriend and said, 'Here's my cheerleader!'"

            "What would you tell your freshman self?"
"Call home more often."
"And don't take chem."
"We were both in chem. We started out as pre-med. And now we're both business."

"I'm a senior, and I've heard the marching band practicing in the afternoon for three years. So after the Career Fair today, I decided to stop by and finally sit in on a practice."

            "What are you playing?"
"Nothing really. Just improvisation. This is my time to relax after dinner. In high school, I was really big into improv and jazz. And I thought about being a music major here, but I'm not. I'm an engineer. Music just wasn't what I was called to do the way engineering is."
            "So what is it you're called to do?"
"Well, I'm a student athlete here. I'm on the track team. And prosthetic limbs are a big topic in track right now. I visited Haiti recently and volunteered in a facility that tended to amputees. That's where I put it all together. I guess you could say it's what I feel called to: working with and developing prosthetic limbs to improve lives."

"We're making cyanotypes for class. This one's from earlier. We picked and pressed a flower, and the light made a silhouette around it. We also use metal wires as a kind of cage around the cyanotype to make a pattern out of the shadows. So we get to chill out on the steps of Riley waiting for the cyanotype to turn out."

"I attended a non-denominational all-girls high school, so coming to Notre Dame was a bit of a culture shock for me. The classroom dynamics shifted dramatically since I study mechanical engineering, a male-dominated field. I also learned about existing stereotypes of Notre Dame women and St. Mary’s women from older students, Domerfest, overheard conversations. Even as I got more involved on campus, I knew that I wanted to create a more supportive environment for women on campus. During sophomore year, I started exploring my options but didn’t have a clear idea of what would be most effective. During my time abroad in Ireland as junior, I was able to organize my thoughts and began to plan for my dream club. When I got back to campus last January, I decided to go for it. I wrote the constitution, decided on a tentative schedule, and created a budget, all in hopes that my vision would come to fruition. After waiting and thinking and talking and waiting even more, I’m back at Notre Dame for my fourth of five years as a student, and Notre Dames is finally a reality.

"The club is open to all students at Notre Dame and St. Mary’s. Ultimately, it’s of the Dames, by the Dames, for the Dames. We’ll host events, listen to speakers, and get together to discuss anything and everything that relates to women—things that we as Dames want to explore. Talk It Out Tuesdays (TIOTs) are designated as meet-ups, rather than meetings. They’re drop-in, flexible, low-maintenance. They fit well within Dames’ schedules and busy lives. The idea of a TIOT is based on the senior hallway of my high school: with girls sprawled out on couches, sitting on desks, walking to classes, you could hear about recent break-ups, women’s role in the developing world, drama on the soccer team, the gender pay gap, etc. All aspects of women’s lives were addressed fluidly and honestly. Notre Dames aims to serve as that hallway, to provide an atmosphere that is honest, energetic, fun, and approachable. Topics related to gender can be hard to discuss, especially if you don’t have an opinion carved in stone. Talk It Out Tuesdays are a safe space to explore your own thoughts and listen to the thoughts of others who might have different perspectives. Similarly, we also want to engage with the Dames who have come before us: female alums. A great mentor in my workplace solidified my desire to reach out to alumnae: they have stories about their time at Notre Dame, their paths since graduation, their struggles, their triumphs. I think it would be great for current students to hear more about these women and these stories.
"The image and branding of a new club is crucial; it sets the tone, represents the mission, and serves as a first impression. Our logo, designed by my fabulous friend Rachel, is a pair of lips. Lips work because they capture Notre Dames’ emphasis on discussion and using our voices, while standing out next to the masculine images traditionally found on campus. Also, the logo depicts femininity without defining what it means to look like a girl. Dames come in every shape, size, and color. They have different backgrounds, majors, ages, colleges, campuses—but we are all united as Dames and should see each other as such.

"My experiences in high school helped me to develop my voice. Notre Dame gave me a reason to use it. And that reason is to provide other women with the opportunity to strengthen their own voices."

"She only eats one very specific kind of weed. Not grass--just one weed that grows under hedges. We've been driving for a long time today. And when she hopped out, she found the perfect gourmet meal under the bushes."

"You are among hundreds of thousands of people starting their college experience right about the same time. The vast majority of them, and the vast majority of you, are at a place you’ve never lived before, with professors and students you’ve never met before, on a campus and in a culture that’s largely unfamiliar. Most of them, and most of you, would probably spend a lot of time and effort trying to fit in. Please. Don’t. Let me tell you why.

“Better yet, let me use Father John’s words to tell you why. About five years ago at commencement, Father John said this: ‘Several autumns ago, you came to Notre Dame from home. Now, Notre Dame has become home. And it always will be, for home is not where you live. Home is where you belong. And you will always belong here, at Notre Dame.’ If I could paraphrase those words, it would be: don’t try to fit in; you already belong. Professor Brene Brown, of the University of Houston, writes about the difference between belonging and fitting in. She says that fitting in means changing who you are so you can be accepted. Belonging doesn’t require you to change who you are; it requires you to be who you are.

“When we invited you to Notre Dame, we did so because we wanted you to be who you are. Whatever it is that’s distinctive about you: where you come from, what your family does, what you want to major in, what books you read, what movies you watch, what instrument you play, what you fear, how you pray--don’t try to hide it, don’t try to change it to fit in. You don’t have to worry about fitting in here. You already belong; you belong here, at Notre Dame.

“In fact, the Notre Dame culture, the Notre Dame family, depend on an environment in which people believe they belong. As Professor Augustine Fuentes will tell you in his anthropology course, which I highly recommend to you, when people belong, when they naturally can be who they are, when they fit in, they are kind and good by nature. That’s an anthropological view. In his homily today, Fr. John said something similar from a theological perspective, that when people are at their best with the grace of God, with the help of the Holy Spirit, they are good and kind. We believe that a defining feature of Notre Dame is that members of the Notre Dame family are kind and good not only to each other but to all with whom they come in contact. It takes the right climate, it takes the right soil, but that’s what we try to cultivate here. At Notre Dame, we try to develop the whole person: spirit, body, intellect. We don’t measure your success by the size of the paycheck you get when you graduate. We measure it by how good you are as a person. And that’s why we want you to be yourself, to feel like you belong here, for the rest of your life.”

"In high school, I was a screw-up. I went to Clemson University my freshman year of college, and that was where I pulled myself together. And the next year, I transferred to Notre Dame. As you can probably see, I'm a pretty liberal guy. The dialogue here is so important. You can always hear the other side of every story. People don't just form opinions because it's what their parents believe. But honestly, I'm here for the PLS program. I love it. If it weren't for PLS, I wouldn't be in college."
"What do you miss about Clemson?"
"Free football tickets."

"You sure you want me in the picture? I'm sweaty from running around after her all day!"