Professor Thigpen
Moreau Integration 2
3 December 2021
How a Dream Come True Leads To Everlasting Happiness

	Over the past three months, I have gotten to experience my first taste of what college entails. Growing up I had always dreamed of attending Notre Dame, so every day here has been a dream come true. Even though I had always dreamed of attending Notre Dame, my experiences have varied from what I thought. From an outsider’s perspective, Notre Dame is viewed as a lively school that revolves around football, Catholicism, and a wonderful community. Now don’t get me wrong, during my first semester here I have been able to enjoy football Saturdays, attend weekly mass, and immerse myself in the greatest community on this earth, but I have also come across numerous obstacles throughout my time here. I envisioned my time here to be a breeze and to be full of fun; however, I have definitely had my fair share of struggles throughout these past three months. My time here at Notre Dame has been a difficult challenge, but I’ve loved every moment of it. 
	My first semester brought challenges such as creating a new friend group, being away from home for the first time, taking the most challenging courses I’ve ever taken, and finding myself as a person. Growing up in a small town, I have grown up with the same group of friends all my life, so coming to college and finding new friends was very new to me. Despite it being something different, I quickly found a great, supportive group of friends. The friendships I’ve made so far have been great and I anticipate many of them to last a lifetime. Being away from my family has been a huge challenge as well because my family is very close and tight-knit, so it has been hard to be away from them. Facetime calls and Snapchat selfies have helped me stay close and connected with my family. Then coming from a small, rural public school, I have never faced rigorous academics like I have these past three months. The classes I am taking have required extensive studying, hard work, and dedication. They have broken me down but then built me back up. Despite all of those challenges, I have been able to start finding myself as a person, which is exactly why I came to Notre Dame. 
Early on I started to see this question linger over my daily life here at Notre Dame, “How can I positively respond internally and externally if I fail to meet any expectations I have set out for myself?” Throughout my life, I have always set extremely high standards for myself, both inside and outside of the classroom. I knew that at college I would fail to meet some of the goals that I set for myself, so I was curious as to how I would respond to that failure. During a weekly reading in Moreau, I came across a quote that has stuck with me ever since, “Those expectations are the bars we set for ourselves. When we meet (or surpass) them, we feel like we are worthy. If we don’t meet those expectations, we feel like the exact opposite — that we aren’t good enough” (“Why Letting Go of Expectations is a Freeing Habit” by Julia Hogan - Moreau FYE week nine. https://canvas.nd.edu/courses/28177/modules/items/105261). To my surprise, I did not feel that negative feeling when I failed, instead, I used it as a moment of learning. The supportive community that surrounds me would pick me up whenever I felt like a failure, so now I know that regardless of what happens, I have people behind me who are proud of what I’ve accomplished. 
As I began to see myself fail to reach some of my goals, difficult challenges started to become roadblocks towards my success. I fell into the trap of comparing myself to other students and constantly worrying about what my GPA will be. I continued to find myself guilty of not being good enough to be here, or that I don’t belong at an elite university. During one week of Moreau, there was a quote that really stuck with me. It states, “Conviction. It is indispensable to every good deed. It defies the forces of inertia -- The prevailing winds and currents that fight to keep everything the way it is, or worse. Without conviction, there would be no hope” (“The National Cathedral” by Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C. - Moreau FYE Week Ten. https://canvas.nd.edu/courses/28177/modules/items/105274) After reading this quote by our university president, I realized that I was doing exactly what I should be, which is holding myself accountable through challenges. Notre Dame had brought different challenges upon me, but by holding myself accountable I was able to achieve success over my 4-years here. 
As soon as I began to find myself, I was challenged with finding my own community at Notre Dame. This university is home to the greatest community in the world, but in order to experience the incredible community, I had to find my own. As stated in week eleven of Moreau, “Community begins not externally but in the recesses of the human heart. Long before a community can be manifest in outward relationships, it must be present in the individual as “a capacity for connectedness”—a capacity to resist the forces of disconnection with which our culture and our psyches are riddled, forces with names like narcissism, egotism, jealousy, competition, empire-building, nationalism, and related forms of madness in which psychopathology and political pathology become powerfully intertwined” (“Thirteen Ways of Looking at Community” by Parker J. Palmer - Moreau FYE Week Eleven. https://canvas.nd.edu/courses/28177/modules/items/105304). I quickly realized that in order to find a supportive, caring community, I needed to open my heart to the world the great university that surrounds me. If I became vulnerable enough to open my heart to the world around me, I would be able to form life-long relationships with the amazing people who make up this university. 
Now that I have been able to find myself and my community at Notre Dame, I needed to realize how my education will help me live a fulfilling life. When choosing a university, I wanted a place that would challenge me as a person, but also as a student. I knew Notre Dame had excellent academic programs that would allow me to grow as a student every day. Not only do they have these programs that will help me grow, but they focus on not only teaching me exactly what the textbook says but how to use that knowledge in daily life. While here at Notre Dame, I will learn how to create a community, how to love everyone despite their differences, and how to become a force for good in business. As discussed in Moreau, education is based on “Zeal is the hoped-for product of Christian education in the two most influential environments of a young person’s life: home and school. These places are where they spend most of their formative years, learning not just from parents and mentors but also from siblings, other relatives, and peers, about what to think and how to act” (Holy Cross and Christian Education” by Campus Ministry - Moreau FYE Week Twelve. https://canvas.nd.edu/courses/28177/files/188503?module_item_id=105314). Finding a home inside the classroom and on campus will allow me to make the most out of my learning while here at Notre Dame. The rigorous academics can be a challenge, but if I am surrounded by the right environment, I am able to achieve all of the goals that I have set for myself in the classroom. 
Attending the University of Notre Dame is a dream come true since I have always desired of receiving the best education in the world. Coming from a really small town, adapting to Notre Dame was a difficult challenge at first, but after one semester I have found my place here on campus. I have surrounded myself with a great group of people, I have found resources to help me when I struggle, and I have been able to pursue amazing opportunities offered by this outstanding university. Notre Dame will form me into the person I’ve dreamed of over these next four years, and will forever be in my heart.