I breathe in; I breathe out. My shoes click with the wooden stage as they rub against the massive blisters that scar my heels. My heart beats rapidly while the girls that ridiculed me snicker. Meanwhile, my family, teachers, and classmates encourage me with their smiles. I think of the hours of drills, the hours of practice, and the hours of dreaming of first place. I breathe in; I breathe out. It all disappears as I point my toe and...

Michel de Montaigne, a 16th Century French Philosopher, once said, “I care not so much what I am to others as what I am to myself.” As an affluent bourgeois lawyer, Michel and I have very little in common. Nevertheless, his profound quote has remained taped to my bedroom wall since my early childhood. Unfortunately, year by year, I strayed from this creed. I tried to sit with the cool kids at lunch; I barely uttered a thought of my...

I have grown up surrounded by rich, Irish tradition. As a little girl, my favorite lullaby was “Too Ra Loo Rah;” my favorite holiday was St. Patrick’s Day. My grandfather was one of Cleveland’s first competitive Irish dancers. My first generation, Irish great grandmother never missed a radio broadcast of The University of Notre Dame’s Football games. I consider my heritage to be a major factor in who I am and who I hope to become. The...

I leisurely saunter into room A107, lunchbox in hand. This is not my Spanish class, but this room is a good place to study and eat lunch when the cafeteria is too loud and the library is too quiet. I scan the room and settle myself in a seat towards the middle of the room. Spanish, naturally, is one of my favorite classes because we are given the opportunity to learn about different countries. However, I attribute this global interest...

If your high school offers any scholarship advice or help, take it. Although I went to a large public high school, there was a representative from...

Staying organized is SO important. I ended up applying to 12 schools, although ND was always my first choice. I think...

I am a member of the Irish Dance Team and the Symphony Orchestra. Being a...

I plan on going to medical school, so from the beginning I found it very important to reach out to...

The University of Notre Dame has this Irish-Catholic identity that I felt connected to. I grew up Irish dancing and my...