"I'm 25, and I’m a junior. To my knowledge, I'm currently the only undergrad here who is also a US military veteran. I moved from South Korea to the US when I was in 9th grade. Notre Dame was my dream school, and somehow it was the only one I got into. I started in 2008 as an archie. During that year, I realized that I was running out of money. But technically as an international student, there was no source of state or federal funding to lean on. I didn't want to forfeit my Notre Dame dream because of financial reasons, but it seemed like that’s what was going to happen.
"Help came from an unexpected place. Halfway through that year, it just so happened that the US military began recruiting a small number of foreign students as interpreters and cultural advisors. It offered US citizenship and GI Bill benefits as incentives. The more I looked into it, the more I realized that it was meant for me. It wasn’t hard to decide to go for it.
“I remember staring at the Golden Dome for the last time before going away. It was a Great Gastby-esque moment, with the Golden Dome shining like the green light on the other side of the sound. That’s when it really hit home. I wondered what would happen to me. I struggled with the thought that something would go wrong somehow and I wouldn’t be able to make it back. After all, I was joining the military during wartime. So I lit a candle at the Grotto for myself and prayed that I would find my way back here as a student. Remember that this was the only school I got into? I felt that it was God’s purpose for me. If he meant for me to come here, then surely he would let me finish my education. But I wasn’t so sure at that time. It felt like a gamble.
"After four years of enlisted service in the US Air Force as a Korean cultural advisor, I eventually returned as a student in spring 2014. I hardly knew anyone on campus by then. It was a new beginning for me, which was exhilarating but also challenging. The first few months made me realize the huge gap between the civilian society and the military. Military service is largely seen as something that 'others' do. The ROTC programs ensure the military’s presence on campus. But it doesn’t prevent many of the students here from being disconnected from what the country has done and continues to do in their name, both good and bad. I wonder what the often-quoted motto ‘God, Country, Notre Dame’ really means to them. 
“My time in the Air Force changed me a lot. Those four years were an education of a different kind, and as a result I have found meaning and purpose in service as a career in some shape or form. Toward that end, I changed my major from architecture to history. Military service earned me the right to call this country my own. I would like to go further than that.
"I would love to see more people like me here—older students who have more to say about their experience outside of the classroom. I think they would enrich the campus. My own experience has taught me that life is not a straight path. There are detours, and some have to take them earlier in life than others. There are steps back, but they are not necessarily setbacks. There’s no shame in taking a step back if the purpose is to go two steps forward later on. I’ve learned to be content in whatever situation. I think my new peers can embrace that for themselves as well.
“The greatest benefit I have received from all of this is a change in perspective on what it means to be a student here. The four years I spent in uniform and away from campus turned my Notre Dame education from cheap grace to costly grace, to borrow from Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s theology. I can’t be more thankful for that. Every day I spend as a Notre Dame student is a privilege beyond measure. It’s easy to lose sight of that. Not me.”