Dear Notre Dame freshmen,
When I arrived at Notre Dame, I didn’t think I’d end up in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro. In fact, I didn’t even know that Notre Dame would fund a student to go to another country apart from study abroad. Furthermore, perhaps more so as a second semester freshman, there was an overwhelming amount of resources to take advantage of, and I wasn’t sure which ones were even worthwhile. Now, as a junior, I can tell you without question that Kellogg ISP, the International Scholars Program through the Kellogg Institute for International Studies, was worth every second.
What makes Kellogg ISP so special is its innate desire to connect undergraduates with every corner of the Kellogg Institute, which, in turn, connects you every corner of the globe. There are professors of every college, students from nearly every major and support staff to connect you to your future.
Through ISP, I’ve completed research in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil with medical anthropologists, in the rural pueblos of Boaco, Nicaragua with a sociologist, and presented the former at an international student conference in Vilnius, Lithuania. ISP connects you to scholars across Notre Dame (check on the website, many professors you would have never guessed are there), and allows you to work as a one-on-one paid research assistant your final three years at Notre Dame. And past graduates of Kellogg research include students that have been valedictorians, Gilman, Truman, Fulbright and the past three Rhodes Scholars.
What makes ISP so special here is not in its name, rather that ISP allows your skills to shine through long-term mentoring. It allows mentoring through peers, professors and experiences: experiences where you might just find yourself in a favela.
And the best thing about ISP? There’s still time to apply for First Years.
Dan Olivieri
junior
Jan. 16
