Integration Two 




Encountering Horizons: Growing in Mind, Spirit, and Community

I would separate three different learning or growing experiences from my short time so far at

Notre Dame: finding difficulty in knowing what I want to study where I thought I was certain before,

finding more strength in my faith where I was not so certain in before, and learning from the experiences

of others around me from such a variety of backgrounds.

When coming to Notre Dame, I was quite certain in what I wanted to study: engineering,

specifically aerospace or mechanical engineering. From a young age, I had always been interested in

science — especially physics — and math and the natural progression to those affinities from what I

heard from family and friends was engineering. I never doubted it and even took some engineering classes

in high school, enjoying them a lot. However, when looking at our major discernment assignment — an

assignment where we figure out what major in the engineering school we would like to continue to pursue

— for engineering class, I looked at my hobbies and interests outside of the classroom. What I found was

that many of my hobbies were geared towards computer science. I had always been interested in computer

science but strayed away as at a young age, I took robotics classes and did not like them. As a result, my

parents and others close to me assumed I didn’t like programming and computer science and I let them

believe that. Unfortunately, I am not one to actively alter someone’s idea of me: if someone thinks

something of me, I let them and don’t actively try to change their mind. I found the Julia Hogan article in

Week 9 to be helpful as she stated that “Instead of letting your life be ruled by the expectations of others

or your own expectation that you have to be perfect, what if you just did your best?” ("Why Letting Go of

Expectations is a Freeing Habit" by Julia Hogan - Moreau FYE Week Nine). I took this and saw that

other’s expectations of me — not necessarily expectations of performance but expectations of hobbies

and interests — were holding me back from doing what I possibly would want to do in the future. As a

result, I brought up the idea to my parents and am currently still deciding what I would like to study. I will

probably take a semester or two to decide between the two majors as the curriculums are similar and I

would like to take some classes to help decide.

https://grottonetwork.com/navigate-life/health-and-wellness/letting-go-of-expectations/?utm_source=fall_2021&utm_medium=class&utm_id=moreau
https://grottonetwork.com/navigate-life/health-and-wellness/letting-go-of-expectations/?utm_source=fall_2021&utm_medium=class&utm_id=moreau


The second growing experience at Notre Dame that I’ve had is my growth in faith. Before

college, I had always gone to church with my family but did it in a slightly haphazard way, never taking

my faith too seriously. In fact, coming into Notre Dame, I did not expect myself to attend church at all

while here. However, while attending some early masses and through my Theology and Moreau classes, I

found a community in attending mass and have attended most weeks while being at Notre Dame. I have

also made an effort to think more seriously about my faith and not just go through the motions because

my parents tell me to go to mass and pray. I found a quote from “Holy Cross and Christian Education”

especially true through my search for faith at Notre Dame: “The charism of education in the faith that the

Holy Spirit entrusted to the Congregation of Holy Cross through Blessed Basil Moreau … encourages

believers to embrace the cross of Jesus while progressing through this world toward the light of God’s

kingdom” (“Holy Cross and Christian Education” by Fr. James B. King, C.S.C. - Moreau FYE Week 12).

I definitely saw this encouragement towards God and Jesus at Notre Dame and intend to continue to

search for faith throughout my time at Notre Dame and beyond.

Finally, while at Notre Dame so far, I have met and connected with people from a variety of

backgrounds, many more that I had the opportunity to connect with before. In high school and before, I

had mostly only met people of similar backgrounds to myself, whether it be faith, cultural, or others. It

was not necessarily intentional that I did not interact with many others different from myself, it just

seemed to happen like this. However, this seemingly unintentional phenomenon could have been

unconsciously created as described in Fr. Jenkins’ address where he stated that, “we are like actors

following the script for creating factions: Develop strong convictions. Group up with like-minded people”

("Wesley Theological Seminary 2012 Commencement Address" by Fr. John Jenkins, C.S.C. - Moreau

FYE Week 10). Although I agree with him that we create groups and factions based on our beliefs, I have

not seen too much of the hostility he spoke of in my experiences of those different from myself and who

would belong to different “factions”. Instead, at Notre Dame especially, I have seen people search for

common goals even where there was disagreement, and never outwardly insulting others or creating

hostility. I think this connects well with the “Thirteen Ways of Looking for Community”, where it was

https://campusministry.nd.edu/assets/105621/
https://president.nd.edu/homilies-writings-addresses/wesley-theological-seminary-commencement/


stated that “The most common connotation of the word “community” in our culture is “intimacy,” but this

is a trap” (“Thirteen Ways of Looking for Community” by Parker J. Palmer - Moreau FYE Week 11). I

think sometimes people group up unconsciously with those like themselves to create communities so tight

knit and exclusive because they think everyone in their community has to be “intimate” with them and

just like them. One does not have to always agree, and thus become “intimate” with those different to us,

however one must respect and search for some sort of discussion with those different to us to create a

healthy and diverse community. As a result, I would like to continue to search to connect with those

different from myself at Notre Dame, whether it be religion, political views, culture, race, or anything else

that makes someone else different from myself. I think that we have a lot to learn from our brothers and

sisters that are different from us and have seen that through a short amount of time at Notre Dame so far,

leading me to want to continue this search for connection with others as I can see how much I can learn in

the coming years by continuing on with this search.

http://couragerenewal.org/parker/writings/13-ways-of-looking-at-community/