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Student Stories

Notre Dame endeavors to be a place where each student can grow individually in both mind and heart, and become a part of something larger than themselves. By celebrating the unique gifts each student brings to our shared community, student life is enriched immeasurably.

The stories below share just some of the ways Notre Dame students are celebrating and taking advantage of the wonderful diversity on our campus – through both scholarship and development and formation outside the classroom.

Access to opportunity?: Researching the experiences of the Windrush generation in the London urbanscape

Access to opportunity?: Researching the experiences of the Windrush generation in the London urbanscape

Ida Addo

Ida Addo's capstone project builds on her interest in examining the welfare of marginalized groups across the world and the characteristics of the barriers they face. In London, she conducted research on the policies and urbanscapes that have contributed to the hindrance of economic progress among Afro-Caribbeans in the UK. 

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Meet the Class of 2027

Meet the Class of 2027

Enrollment Division

The Class of 2027 includes a record 20.5 percent of first generation and Pell recipients, including 96 students admitted through the QuestBridge National College Match program. The class also represents a historic multicultural composition, with 42 percent identifying as U.S. students of color or international. Students currently reside in all 50 states and 48 nations. 

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Toward a more sustainable future

Toward a more sustainable future

Erin Blasko

Growing up in a suburb of Cleveland, Audrey Miles dreamed of being a writer. Then a high school teacher introduced her to the so-called central science. “I had a really excellent chemistry teacher who made a huge difference,” she said. It may have helped that, like writing, chemistry seeks truth and understanding from within.

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One whistle changes everything

One whistle changes everything

Sue Ryan

If you follow Notre Dame football, you’ve seen John Sexton on the field for every home game for the past four years. You may not have noticed him much for his first few seasons. He was usually one of the last guys to take the field. As a senior, though, John got his turn at the front of the rotation....

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The liberation of literacy: Stephane Dunn found her way with words

The liberation of literacy: Stephane Dunn found her way with words

Notre Dame Magazine

Stephane Dunn ’94 M.A., ’00MFA, ’00 Ph.D., has always savored reading. Her parents kept books around her childhood home in Elkhart, Indiana, and she frequently visited the public library with her older sister. She’s still in contact with her now-88-year-old sixth-grade teacher, who encouraged her to write and create skits in class, and also with her high school English teacher...

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‘Off the Court’: ND Law hosts event in New York City with Muffet McGraw and Coquese Washington ’97 J.D.

‘Off the Court’: ND Law hosts event in New York City with Muffet McGraw and Coquese Washington ’97 J.D.

Jonathan Bailey

Notre Dame Law School hosted a special alumni event on June 6 in New York City with two legends from the Fighting Irish women’s basketball program. Muffet McGraw, who served as head women’s basketball coach at Notre Dame from 1987 to 2020, and Coquese Washington ’92, ’97 J.D., the head women’s basketball coach at Rutgers, sat down for a fireside chat with G....

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Fulfilling her purpose with hands, heart and mind

Fulfilling her purpose with hands, heart and mind

Carrie Gates Jantzen

In her dissertation research, Abigail Jorgensen found that many women associate motherhood with struggle. It’s something she can relate to. While pursuing her doctoral degree in Notre Dame’s Department of Sociology, she brought home her newborn in the midst of the pandemic. Then, five months later, she contracted COVID-19 in November 2020

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Blazing a family trail: First-generation student Karen Angeles earns doctoral degree in engineering

Blazing a family trail: First-generation student Karen Angeles earns doctoral degree in engineering

Brendan O'Shaughnessy

Not a single member of Karen Angeles’ extended family in southern California had ever attended college. It just didn’t seem like a realistic possibility because it had never been done before. But Angeles didn’t stop at college—she continued onward to Notre Dame to get a doctoral degree in structural engineering.

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