"I made my shoes and decorated my cap myself. I'm not an art major--but maybe I should have been. "
            "Why does your cap say 'poms'?"
"I was a member of the pom squad!"
            "What will you miss most about being on the pom squad?"
"Running out onto the basketball court before a game. The crowd is roaring, the lights are down, and the energy is electric."

"Our son received his doctorate from Notre Dame, and now his son, our grandson, is graduating. He majored in Business Management and managed the Huddle for a very long time. We've seen him grow from that. He absolutely loves it here."

              "Who is someone who has inspired you at Notre Dame?"
"Oh, my professors. All of them. It's so hard to choose just one. Appreciate your professors, because you need them! I wouldn't be where I am now without their attention and support. The first professor who comes to mind is Stuart Green. He was instrumental in my journey to a Fulbright scholarship. He wrote me recommendations, coached me, helped me with the smaller things that build up to the scholarship."

"Don't let your senior year overwhelm you. We all get a little scared, but it's important to be excited, too. I'm graduating from St. Mary's and am not sure what the future holds for me. And yeah, that's scary. But I'm grateful to have had the four years that I did, and I wish I could have been as excited about them then as I am now."

"I would tell my freshman self this: Desconecta lo que no funciona. My mother told me that at the beginning of last semester. It means disconnect what doesn't work, like unplugging the broken devices from your life."

"I'd tell my freshman self to be herself, to get out of her comfort zone. I didn't start doing that until this year, and it was a world of difference."

"I got the idea from Pinterest!"

"I knew Notre Dame was right for him before he did. He had applications for too many colleges and came to me with a load of them. He needed to cut some down, and he wanted Notre Dame to be one of those. But I encouraged him to keep the application. We're an Irish family, and his grandfather was always a big Notre Dame fan. The acceptance letter came five months after his grandfather passed away. He would have loved to see him at Notre Dame.
"We visited campus for the first time after he was accepted. And I could just feel it. I knew it was the place for him. And now, over the past four years, I've seen him grow. He's become much more decisive and thoughtful. We dropped him off as a teenager, and now he's graduating as an adult."

Congratulations, class of 2015!

"I did an eight-week SSLP at Good Shepherd Shelter in LA. It's a place for battered women and children. Like most people, I started my SSLP excited but unsure of what was ahead of me. I was excited to be in a new place, to learn about myself and others, to give of myself and participate in service. But, as has happened for countless other people during their SSLP, my SSLP changed my life. It entirely changed my life and career focus. After coming back to campus, I became a Firestarter at the GRC and an SOS Advocate for the Rape Crisis Center of St. Joseph County. For anyone who knows me, I'm very vocal about the issues of rape and domestic violence. It's something that we all know is very hard to talk about. My SSLP made it easier for me to talk about these difficult topics--and start conversations that needed to be started. After graduation, I'm going back to the Good Shepherd Shelter for a year of service. Rape and domestic violence affect everyone, whether they're talked about or not. Especially now, it's imperative that we're conscious of these issues. Without my SSLP, I wouldn't be talking about this now."

"I came into freshman year as a pre-med major, trying to do what I thought I needed to do, what I thought was important. But now, I'm graduating with a double-major in history and FTT, with a job I know I'm going to love. I followed my passions, and it's been a world of change. I would tell my freshman self to stop overthinking. Or...even to underthink. If I hadn't joined Humor Artists--we call it HA--on a whim freshman year, my life wouldn't be the way it is now. I met both my best friend and my boyfriend through HA. It's been an incredible family to fall back on when times get tough. We're vulnerable onstage. No matter what character you're playing, there's always a part of yourself in it, and that takes vulnerability. That atmosphere lays groundwork for being our weird, loving selves together."

"I grew up on a little farm in South Dakota. Father George's family were my next-door neighbors. He convinced me to go to Notre Dame! When I walked into my quint in Walsh, the four girls were already there: two of them had fathers on the Notre Dame Board of Trustees, one's father was the curator of the Snite, and one's father was the mayor of LaPorte. After we'd unpacked, they suggested we go to brunch, so we walked to the Morris Inn. We met Father Ted there. And he knew all their names. It was a little intimidating, but everyone was so kind and so welcoming. It didn't matter that I'd come from a house on a farm. And now, those roommates are some of my best friends, after undergrad and law school at Notre Dame."

"I'm going to be a freshman next year. I'm thinking about history or political science."

         "Have you already committed?"

"I did within an hour of opening my letter! It's been my dream forever. My dad went to Notre Dame, my mom went to St. Mary's, and my name is Keenan."

          "Like the dorm?!"

"Yup! My dad lived in Keenan!"

"I HAVE A REALLY BIG STICK!"

 "We're planting a rose bush as a hall staff. An opening and a closing. We planted one at the beginning of the year...but it didn't turn out so well, so don't take a picture of that."

Seen at fieldhouse mall: Notre Dame Day dunk tank for employees.

"I'm waiting for the sun to reach the bench. I'm a professor here, and when it's nice out, I take all my classes outside. We're still trying to figure out how to get the pianos out here, though...Maybe we'll get a keyboard!"