Today marks the 1-year birthday of I Am Notre Dame!
Last Thanksgiving, we went live. A few posts appeared on three linked websites, with the promise that more stories of the Notre Dame family would appear soon. Since then, it's been an unforeseen but incredible ride: one year, 3,000+ likes, 300+ interviews, and still going strong. A sincere thank you goes out to those who made all this possible: those who supported the blog from its first steps, those who have just joined us, and those who have generously shared their time and stories in each post.
The more people I speak with, the more I realize I can never adequately capture their stories in a short blog post. But my hope is that you will seek these stories out yourself; this blog is just a stepping stone. No individual can be encapsulated in three paragraphs and a quick picture, and as soon as you realize this, your world view will begin to shift. People walking on campus are no longer "people"; they're individuals, each with hundreds of compelling stories to share. 
If you take something away from a year of this blog's existence, let it be this: Empathize with others. Listen when they speak. Share in their heartbreak and their triumphs. After you look down at your screen to read an interview, look up at the world to interact with these family members and their stories.
The Notre Dame family is expansive, multifaceted, complicated, compelling, beautiful. Let this blog be the beginning of a deepened lifelong relationship with these stories and the individuals who share them.

Seen on Bond Quad.

"I traveled to Kenya for the first time in 1990, when I was a seminarian in Holy Cross Seminary. I took this opportunity because I wanted adventure--but also felt God calling me to stretch, to move beyond what I was comfortable with and enter into the next part of his plan for me. In a sense, God can be calling you through the drive for adventure. That was how I felt. My time in East Africa was an experience that has affected the rest of my life: I attended graduate school for political science at UCLA, concentrating especially on African politics. When I became a faculty member here, I became the head of the Ford Family Program, which connects grassroots engagement and communities with research and student learning. After all my time spent in East Africa, I've found that the most valuable aspect of it is the human connection. It's not about what 'we' do for 'them', but what we realize together and become for each other. Students who have been part of the program often feel like they've come away with more than they've given. I know I have.
"This might sound corny, but what I love most about Notre Dame is its students--more specifically, their idealism. They have a desire to make the world a more humane, just, and peaceful place. People nowadays can become cynical, and I think that we need a good dose of idealism mixed with realism. And students here exude that. They inspire me."

"Back home in Vietnam, I started a program called the Foundation for Poor Children and Young Women. The focus of the program is on human dignity. We host workshops for young women, providing them time and space to listen to talks, build community, play games, and pray. Interactions with the children are different--they're always in different places in their education, and are often at a disadvantage, so every conversation is slightly different from the last. The goal is to inspire them to use their energy to be active in their education, to connect with the Christian faith. My time at Notre Dame has been proof that God has a plan for me to continue this journey. Since English is my second language, I may not be the ideal student in philosophy and theology...But being here has been preparation to return to Vietnam and serve the poor with my Dominican Sisters. Before coming to Notre Dame, I had the passion for serving the underprivileged, but I didn't have the means of enacting change the way I wanted. Now that I'm here, I'm learning how to approach this change through a religious venue. I return to my sisters in Vietnam over breaks to help serve, and plan to use this education God has blessed me with to make the Foundation for Poor Children and Young Women the best it can be, using and growing in my God-given talents."

"A few years ago when I was in college, I met this woman, Winnie, who was a frequent of this old coffeehouse on campus. She'd call me Princess Lauren and always loved to talk. One day, maybe three years ago, she gave me a pair of Notre Dame earrings. And I told her that I had absolutely no connections to Notre Dame. I hadn't even been there before, so someone else could probably make better use of them than I could. But she said, 'In time you will find a use for them.'

"My application towards being a rector at Notre Dame was unexpected and a little sudden, but the pieces seemed to fall into place. The day after my grad school graduation I boarded a plane for South Bend. It was my first time on campus.  I felt this overwhelming sense of rightness that many students feel when they visit for the first time, that feeling of 'Yes. This is it.' I felt so called, so at home. I prayed at the grotto, thinking about how I was ready to say yes to my vocation the way Mary said yes.

"After being offered the job, I ran into Winnie back home and told her that I'd accepted a job at Notre Dame. I wear the earrings now on game days.

"It's been a huge adjustment for me, to live in a dorm with 230 other women, on a new campus with new weather, but I've never felt like stranger. This is a place where everyone immediately feels like family. The most difficult part is balancing a 24/7 identity with a job that's not 24/7. It's hard to turn down your maternal instincts and not sacrifice everything for the women in the dorm. I've been figuring out how to maintain a balance of support, of sharing in both their triumphs and their darkest moments, and of perspective. I know I've been called to work with student leaders in order to find their vocation. And not just a religious vocation, although that's certainly an element--finding their life's vocation, the focus of their energies, as well.

"Sunday masses are the epitome of my experience here: it's amazing to see these women gathered together as a community. And it's both heartbreaking and beautiful to see them opening themselves up to God when I know about the joys and sorrows they've experienced. Sometimes I use my role help the girls put their problems in perspective, but seeing them at mass, they help me put my life in perspective, too."

Seen on North Quad.

Seen at Fieldhouse Mall: car smash for Camp Kesem, sledgehammer and all.

"These questions are too generic. I don't know what I'd say. I could say all my extended family lives in China. But I can't add anything deep about it--if it's the only thing you've known, you don't know what you're missing. I could say that I won a $25 prize at a high school talent show by handfarting, but I never cashed the check. The thing is, what's interesting to me isn't interesting to you. And I'm not interested in the stuff you and everyone else are interested in."

"Recently, 43 students in Mexico went missing. Their bodies were found later, gruesomely killed. The Mexican people are in uproar because the government has been inactive. It's just one more example of violence escalating in Mexico. I've seen media coverage of protests and marches in Mexico City, passing by places I used to know well when I lived there. The question, it seems, to all Mexicans is, 'What are you going to do?' And a part of me wants to be there, in the protests, making an immediate different. But I know that my protest, my impact, is occurring through my attendance here, at Notre Dame. I've only been here a year and a half, and I've already seen myself growing. I've become an officer for clubs, started communities, and was accepted to do research over the summer. I know my impact is being made here. Being Mexican is a part of me, but it's not all of me. Some people expect me to be carrying the flag, so to speak--to know, hold, and articulate the positions of all Mexican people. But I don't. It's a part of me that I will hold onto forever, but I'm not one-dimensional. It's one of many things that has made me who I am.
"Solely being Mexican doesn't make diversity--each individual's experiences create diversity. They say two heads are better than one not because of the sheer number of heads, but because of the backgrounds, stories, opinions, knowledge shared by two minds.
"I'm changing and growing and learning through my spectrum of activities here. I've been making connections through clubs and communities, looking outward, making things happen I couldn't have otherwise. And it sets me on fire.
"I have faith that I will be successful just from the privilege of being here. But what I know is that I will be successful not for the sake of retribution, or supremacy, or selfishness. Success is two-way: you give your talents, but you also learn from your situation. Being aware of that, I can just feel it--I know my success will be different."

Seen at St. Mary's Convent.

"I'd always been interested in doing Baraka Bouts, but I kept saying to myself, 'Next year.' But when I was approaching my senior year, I realized it was now or never. So I trained in boxing over the summer, including with one of the boxing captains, who I'm rooming with in Texas next year. There are qualifications to box, including winning a certain number of practice rounds, and coming to practice four days a week. It took a lot of time-management, but I qualified.
"I had a bye in the Baraka Bouts semi-finals, but I was nervous and didn't know what to expect, so I begged the captains for a fight anyways. They didn't change it, though: they said I was ready.
"Before the match, I went to the pit to warm up with my opponent. We're friends, so we practiced some smack talk, but it just ended up being funny. Then before the match, I was dressed in a blue jacket, hood up, and I walked into the arena. Before we fought, a priest said a blessing over us. Which made it feel a little bit like we were fighting to the death or something. The arena was unreal--nerves nerves nerves. Lights, and hundreds people looking at me. But once the fight started, all the sounds went away.
"My future roommate was my cornerman. After the second round, she said, 'It's all about heart. You've got a chance at getting a split decision.' But when the match was over, and the referee held both our wrists, I heard a voice overhead say, 'In a unanimous decision...' and I thought, what?! But when I heard 'the boxer in blue', it felt a little unreal.
"I'd been on such a strict sleep and dietary regiment to prepare for my match...so afterwards, my friends and I to Olive Garden and ate as many of the breadsticks as possible.
"Our season's basically over now, and that makes me a little sad. But I definitely intend to continue boxing in the future. And I'm so glad that I finally mustered up the courage to participate, after years of thinking about it."

             "What's your first memory of Notre Dame?"
"I didn't visit until...oh, it must have been junior year. I didn't know anyone going in--I hadn't had any family attend before me. But it was the perfect spring day, with the trees budding and a blue sky. The typical college tour. It was magic to me."

                 "What's a lesson you've learned the hard way?"
"Resiliency. There's always going to be some life problem. Nothing's gonna be perfect. It's all about the way you look at things--having a positive life attitude."

"I'm a member of Net Ministries: for a year, I'm part of a group of missionaries who travel across the Midwest and hold retreats for schools and parishes. Some of the most powerful moments of my experience so far have been days when I don't want to get out of bed. I'm physically exhausted, mentally drained, I haven't had coffee in two days, and I just want to say, 'God, can I get the day off?' Sometimes, I won't even have time for personal prayer with God. I hit the ground running. But I know I need to get out of bed to serve His children. And it's those days when He hits me hard--the whole day will be inspiration after inspiration. An entire day that's just an act of prayer. And by nighttime, I'm not tired. I'm energized by the day's events, by God's obvious influence in my life. Honestly? I run on coffee and God's grace."

Seen on God Quad: the quadruple threat.

"I'm 86 right now, but you wouldn't know it. I'm telling you: music makes you young. I was a music major in college, playing the slide trombone. I went on to teach vocal performance in elementary schools, then eventually moved to special education. When I graduated--I mean, when I retired! Sometimes I think of retiring as graduating. When I retired, my husband bought me a dulcimer, I bought him an autoharp, and we both learned how to play them. Then he had the brilliant idea to play them at nursing homes. Eventually, I became Hat Lady."
                 "How did that happen?"
"Well, one day, to brighten up a few guests' days, I brought a couple hats and started placing them on guests' heads. Men and women alike, I'm telling you: they bloom. They absolutely bloom. Now I find supplies at Goodwill to make hats for all occasions. I bring them when make rounds to the four nursing homes I visit, where I spend time with the guests and play them music."