Moreau Integration Two Assignment Encountering Horizons: Reflecting on my First Semester at Notre Dame What are some of the most important questions I’ve asked this semester? One of the most important questions I’ve asked this semester focuses on the intersection between race and education. Specifically, I’ve wondered how Notre Dame can further emphasize the importance of diversity and bias awareness/recognition into our classes. During my high school years, I felt that my school made great efforts to integrate these critical topics into all courses. For example, while most schools choose to designate conversation about the issues of racism and implicit bias for subjects like English and history, my school connected these systems to math and science as well. One particular moment I remember is discussing the factors that have played in upholding engineering as the very male and white dominated field it remains today in my sophomore year physics class. Frankly, it was in these unexpected classes that the message of moving towards change was instilled in me the most. It showed me that race truly is an ongoing conversation that needs to be addressed in every regard. For these reasons, I feel that it is necessary Notre Dame continue this movement in their unexpected sectors as well. Agustin Fuentes’s “Diversity Matters” talk from week eleven supports this same need. In his speech, Fuentes states that “exposure and access to different types of people, to different life experiences, to different ways of seeing the world offers insight and allows us to be in a position to think about change.” I especially want to highlight the last part of that sentence, “different ways of seeing the world.” I believe that addressing racism through the lens of English and history is not enough - we instead need to tackle it on all fronts. While some of my classes like Marketing have begun to do this, I hope that more of my classes will continue to do so in my time here. (“Diversity Matters!” by Agustin Fuentes - Moreau FYE Week Eleven) What has grown or decreased in importance as a result of my Notre Dame journey thus far? When I first started my college experience I was hyper aware of the content that people were posting on social media. In fact, I was on Instagram so much that it began to damage my mental health. I was constantly comparing myself to the pictures I saw on my feed. Not only was I comparing myself to the people in my grade that I had just followed from Notre Dame, but I was also comparing myself to my friends from home who seemed to be having the time of their lives in their new colleges. I felt the pressure https://notredame.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=d14a0472-9c0e-44ea-bd39-53c67ee1d436 to make as many friends as everyone else seemed to be making and live the perfectly balanced social and academic life everyone seemed to be living. However, as I began to become grounded in my new surroundings, I realized that social media should not impact the way I see my life. I should instead focus on my own well being and happiness. Furthermore, I realized that social media is really essentially just fake. One particular quote that stood out to me in week 9’s “Advice From a Formerly Lonely College Student” article comments on the negative consequences of believing in the false expectations that social media perpetuates. In her article, Emery Bergmann talked about how Instagram “became a platform for comparison,” one that led her to evaluate every picture her friends posted, determining whether their college looked more fun than hers or if they had made more friends than her. Knowing that so many people had gone through the same comparison struggles I had gone through comforted me. It helped me understand that most people at Notre Dame feel the same way, even though their Instagram posts might not show it. I believe that it is important we begin to be more honest on social media, or at least in the conversations we have about it. This way we can begin to see that no one’s life is as picture perfect as it seems. (“Advice From a Formerly Lonely College Studenterly-lonely-college-student.html” by Emery Bergmann - Moreau FYE Week Nine) What was previously “black and white” that is now more ambiguous, nuanced, or complicated? I came from a very liberal leaning bubble of a school. Being constantly surrounded and supported by those who felt very similarly to me, I was never really challenged by the views of other people. In fact, anyone who dared go against the norm was immediately shunned and disliked by the majority of the school community. In all honesty, I too participated in this culture. I would label anyone who went against my views as a bad person, failing to recognize their entire humanity. It was very “black and white” to me - anyone who thought differently from me immediately became the “other.” However, coming to Notre Dame I’ve grown to realize that these divisions are much more nuanced than I once believed. At Notre Dame, there is much more diversity of thought. People are coming from all over the country, from cities and from suburbs, from big schools and from small schools, from religious families and agnostic families. There is no way we wouldn’t all think differently because of the cultures we have been raised in. And thus, I’ve begun to understand that it’s not healthy to simply disregard someone just because of their views. Father Jenkins’s address in week ten speaks on this same idea of division that is so present in our country today, calling Notre Dame students to look the other way and instead heal this warfare is through love: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/09/well/family/advice-from-a-formerly-lonely-college-student.html “Love is the greatest commandment — and hatred is at the heart of the greatest sins. Hatred is the great destroyer — the great divider. Hatred is more dangerous to us than any other threat, because it attacks the immune system of our society — our ability to see danger, come together and take action.” (“Wesley Theological Seminary Commencement” by Rev. John I. Jenkins - Moreau FYE Week Ten) This quote is important for me to remember since I’ve often focused too much on my differences with the “other” that I missed opportunities to compromise, come together, and take action. It won’t be easy, but no progress ever is. Another quote that comments on the difficulty of taking these actions is in the “Holy Cross and Christian Education” document of week twelve: “The contemplation of new ideas and needs beyond our comfort zones requires a sacrificial willingness to put at risk everything that we think we already know. We need to have hope in that process to stick with it, to believe that what is born of questioning beliefs previously taken for granted will lead us to a new and better understanding of our vocation as citizens in this world and for the next.” (“https://canvas.nd.edu/courses/23665/files/190606?module_item_id=107411” by Rev. James B. King - Moreau FYE Week Twelve) This quote recaps the truth that we must push the boundaries of our comfortableness in order to make progress as a society. This does not mean that we have to reach an agreement with every person that differs from us, but it does mean that we should always be open to listening. https://president.nd.edu/homilies-writings-addresses/wesley-theological-seminary-commencement/ https://president.nd.edu/homilies-writings-addresses/wesley-theological-seminary-commencement/ https://canvas.nd.edu/courses/23665/files/190606?module_item_id=107411