The Weight They Carry Summer 2026

Will We Ever Learn?

by Paul Blaschko ’18Ph.D.

Age-old laments about education have new urgency in an era of grade inflation and artificial intelligence. A philosopher sifts ancient wisdom and contemporary experience to envision a path forward.

Overbooked

by Brigid Iannelli

Maybe I’m romanticizing, but I feel vicarious nostalgia for the landlines, handwritten notes and carefree joy I find in my parents’ college mementos.

Old School

by John Nagy ’00M.A.

The Moreau Program deploys the venerable tradition of (commonplace) book learning, inviting first-year students to explore big questions from the beginning.

The Course of Their Lives

by Jason Kelly ’95

Lessons in the art and science of flourishing introduce sources of resilience for academic and career stress tests.

The Heart’s Contents

interview with Rev. Dan Groody, CSC, ’86

A close reading of their inner selves unearths fears and vulnerabilities that open a pathway for students to follow toward fulfillment.

Bound for College

by Mel Livatino

A grandfather’s letter to a high school graduate recommends a book of family history as a portal into fruitful conversations about past, present and future.

From the Ground Up

by John Rudolf

Notre Dame professor Michael Morris has built a national initiative that offers thousands of aspiring entrepreneurs a step-by-step path from poverty to profitability.

Home Fires Burning

by Tara Hunt McMullen ’12

Two Ukrainian priests taken captive and tortured by Russian authorities found a fierce advocate in Vitaliy Kosovych ’24LL.M. and Notre Dame’s Global Human Rights Clinic.

Send a Volley

by Caroline Collins ’25

A devastating medical ordeal cost Ron Rosas ’93 his limbs, but he still courts major tennis ambitions.