My dear friends in Notre Dame,
The time has come. The Cereal Survey is upon us. But before we all carefully consider our cereal options and submit our surveys, I would like to tell you a tale.
For as long as I can remember, I have eaten Cheerios for breakfast every day. Now I understand that Cheerios, to most, seem very plain, but therein lies their greatest value. Cheerios provide the perfect base on which to mix many of the sweeter cereals that taste so good, but push you towards diabetes if you eat an entire bowl. So imagine my joy when I arrived at Notre Dame as a nervous, wide-eyed freshman and saw the two giant walls of cereal in North Dining Hall. All of those cereals, just waiting to be mixed with Cheerios! I tried a different mix every day. Sometimes I would combine four cereals in one bowl. At the end of my junior year, when I went abroad to Ireland, one of my greatest concerns was how I would get my Cheerios. But, providentially, the Irish eat Cheerios too (in the multigrain form).
I returned to campus for my senior year, extremely excited to be back and to taste once again my master mixes of cereal in North Dining Hall. But, after one week, my beloved Cheerios disappeared, never to return. I was horrified. My senior year, and they take away my Cheerios! Since then, my Dining Hall cereal has not been the same.
So as you sit in the dining hall today, marking off your choices on the cereal survey, I give you this warning. In your excitement about all of the fruity, chocolaty, and sugary cereals, do not neglect to vote for your basics. Our dining hall is not complete without Cheerios. I will be moving on from this university before this wrong is remedied, but for your own good, my friends, for the good of all at this university, I ask you: vote for Cheerios.
Marita Neidecker
senior
Pasquerilla East Hall
Mar. 21
