College Legacy Following the footsteps of family members to college

FINALS: COPING WITH CHANGE

Spring finals schedule creates more opportunity to study between tests.

BY MADISON HEIDE SPORTS EDITOR

As the end of the year approaches, finals are a looming fear in every student’s mind. But as an upperclassmen, my routine has already been established, and although it is a stressful time of year, I have finally found the best possible study habits for my personal success, both mentally and physically. But with the new schedule change, and finals being broken up over a weekend, it changes my normal routines that I have established since my freshmen year.

But as possibly unnerving as change can be, the new finals schedule offers the chance to study over a weekend, giving me the much needed extra time to study for those last couple finals. It also gets us out of school that much sooner, because instead of having to wait for the beginning of the week, we jump right into finals on Thursday May 14 and end the next Tuesday, May 19.

This particular finals schedule was created last summer by the administration. This schedule has happened before, but it comes as a rarity, only happening a few times before in years past over the winter finals. With the weekend as a break between the scheduled finals, it is not ideal for testing, but Systems Administrator Elizabeth Middleton says this schedule only falls this way because the administration must take into account the number of school days that are required. Exam days count as school days, and because of the day graduation is on, the schedule ultimately worked out the best when breaking up finals week. The current schedule is more of a last resort, rather than a newly implemented schedule.

But even if it’s a last resort, the change in the usually chaotic studying week may allow me, and everyone else, for a couple hours of needed relaxation. The weekend can give us a couple more hours of rest, or a couple more hours of studying. Finals week will never be enjoyable, but breaking up the testing may make it more tolerable.

Spring Finals Schedule Thursday May 14: World Languages 8 a.m. Friday May 15: Mathematics 8 a.m. Monday May 18: English 8 a.m. and Biology and Chemistry 11 a.m. Tuesday May 19: History 8 a.m. and Electives

Senior Year: The Timeline of our Lives Senior year was filled with many traditions such as the Father-Daughter BBQ and the Ring Ceremony to new things such as the SEED and Interfaith Assembly. It was a year to remember and say, “We made it.” Finding Home Under the Dome

Senior Mary B. Freeman (center) and family pose in front of the famous Notre Dame dome during a visit to her parents’ beloved alma mater. (Photo submitted by Mary B. Freeman)

Senior connects to family through college tradition.

BY MARY B. FREEMAN MANAGING EDITOR

Every torturous day waiting for my letter from the University of Notre Dame, he would text me.

“Has it come?”

“Has mom seen it yet?”

“Keep me posted.”

He was almost as excited as me. Later I learned that he was planning on flying down to watch me open the long-awaited letter. My 24 yearold brother Tommy, lost in the demand of medical school, wanted to stop his world to watch me open the same letter he opened six years ago.

The night I finally got the letter with the words “Welcome Home” painted across the cover, he called me offering congratulations.

“Did it say ‘Welcome Home’ on the front?” He said. “Mine said that too.”

It was a special moment. The realization that I would be following in my brother’s footsteps had sunk in. I was honored. Tommy was Magna Cum Laude, the second highest academic honor, when he graduated from Notre Dame. He moved on after graduating from Notre Dame to attend Vanderbilt University’s medical school. So you could say his footsteps were rather large.

But then the knowledge that we were both going to have a diploma from the same university took on a different meaning. When I attend Notre Dame, I am going to look around my new home and see my brother everywhere.

When I go to Notre Dame’s grotto to pray every Sunday after mass I am going to remember that he used to do the same thing. When I study in the Hesburgh Library I am going to picture him there four years ago, poured over books, doing the exact same thing as me. My brother will be everywhere I look, keeping me from being homesick, because to me home is where your family is, and Tommy will

The day after I was accepted I got an unexpected text. It read: “Notre Dame student tip of the day: South Dining Hall is superior to North Dining Hall in every way. But it gets crazy at normal eating times, so try to go around five or seven.. Another be everywhere at Notre Dame.

is to follow tomorrow.” I immediately smiled and texted him back that I would be sure to write that down.

Going to the same college as my brother also means that he is going to have the lowdown on many things, dining options for one, convenient “ND Hacks” for another. Tommy has continued to give me good advice about my future college, and because of him I will be ahead of many freshman.

But further than my brother attending Notre Dame, two of my aunts, my parents, my grandfather and my great grandfather also attended the university. Much like seeing my brother around campus, it is going to be very special for me to look around and see my other family members. Particularly my mom and dad.

Notre Dame is where my mom and dad met and fell in love. They first laid eyes on each other in South Dining Hall, where I will be eating every day in the future. My mom likes to tell the story that my dad walked her around both lakes on campus during a date of theirs without her knowing that this was a superstition meaning that they would be married and together forever. My father proposed to my mother on campus. When I look around I will see them. I will see them holding hands, accidentally meeting and falling in love. Because my family has attended Notre Dame, they will never not be with me.

Going to the same college as my family is very special to me. We will not have the same memories, but they will all be in the same place. College can be scary when arriving for the first time, but with the knowledge that the footsteps of my aunts, father, grandfather, great grandfather, mother and brother are everywhere I look, I know home will not seem too far away.

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