Notre Dame Traditions—Mentors

At no other university is tradition more important than at Notre Dame. That’s why we created this feature in ND Today. With “Notre Dame Traditions,” we want to uncover the most cherished traditions of our readers. In the last issue of ND Today, we asked you to share your memories about mentors you may have had at Notre Dame, and here we share two of them.

Dr. Kitty Green, associate professor in Education at Saint Mary's College, found me on a social networking site that I rarely visit. But I was thrilled to see that she is trying to stay in touch with her former students.

Dr. Green was my greatest mentor in college. As a Notre Dame student majoring in English and secondary education, I spent a great deal of time across the street at Saint Mary’s College in small classes with Dr. Green. She taught my first class there, Education 201 Teaching in a Multicultural Society, and her passion for teaching and her understanding of all our backgrounds and desires to teach not only welcomed me, but reaffirmed my doubting mind—this was where I was supposed to be and what I was meant to do.

As I progressed through the education program with Dr. Green as my mentor, she challenged me to look to new experiences that would help me grow as a teacher. For example, since I went through 12 years of Catholic schooling, she was not about to let me do my student teaching in a similar environment; she made sure I was placed in a large, diverse public school. I can't thank her enough for that. She recognized my strengths and weaknesses, talking through any issues I was having with my classes or students.

Dr. Green helped me grow in confidence with my unit planning, classroom management, and self-awareness. As I entered a classroom to teach full time second semester of my senior year, it was because of her that I was prepared for it.

I have now completed my fourth year of teaching English at an all-girls Catholic high school in St. Louis. Although sometimes I get caught up in the day-to-day routine and just trying to survive, Dr. Green is always somewhere in the back of my mind reminding me of my ideals and philosophy of teaching and learning.

And yes, I now have a new friend on Facebook. How could I not accept her?

                                                                                                             —Michelle Otto Fank ’05 
                                                                                                                 St. Louis, MO

The most valued tradition in my life was the influence of the C.S.C.s who were a daily part of our student lives in the residence halls, the classrooms, chapels, and even in our rooms. They were our prefects and advisors, our professors, and confessors. They taught us not only what to believe, but how to think and behave as Catholics. They revealed the nuances of virtue and strengths of the virtues. They taught us to live as colleagues, and they gave us a transcendent sense of life.

They were more than mentors; they were examples of mature faith and of a form of Catholicism that made us aware that what we do and say has consequences for many others.

                                                                                                             — Daniel Boland ’56
                                                                                                                  Carlsbad, CA