"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."