Freshman Elisabeth Lasecki said she wanted to continue to take ballet classes when she began college, so she signed up for a ballet course at Saint Mary’s. This choice made her the first student to take classes at all three Holy Cross-affiliated colleges simultaneously in South Bend — Holy Cross, Notre Dame and Saint Mary’s — Adam DeBeck, director of alumni, parents and community relations at Holy Cross, told her.
Lasecki said as a student in the Gateway Program, she registered for classes at both Holy Cross and Notre Dame. She said the opportunity to also take a ballet class at Saint Mary’s allowed her to continue pursuing one of her passions and was “a nice load off [her] shoulders.”
“I started dancing when I was three, so I’ve been dancing for almost 15 years,” she said. “I had an opportunity to dance in a more professional setting and I turned it down because I knew I wanted to focus on my academics so I don’t regret that either because that’s why I’m here.”
On Mondays and Wednesdays, Lasecki has four classes, which requires her to visit all three campuses.
“I’m never at one campus back to back so I’m at Holy Cross, then Notre Dame, then Holy Cross, then Saint Mary’s,” she said of her schedule on Mondays and Wednesdays. “Those days I generally wake up pretty early around 8 [a.m.], then I have a 9:30 [a.m.] class and then I don’t end up finishing classes on Mondays and Wednesdays until about 7:15 [p.m.] or 7:30.”
Lasecki said prioritizing has been key to balancing her schoolwork and traveling between classes. She also said “a good planner helps.”
“I guess the other tough thing is to just find time for myself too so I’m not getting overwhelmed,” she said. “I like to go over to the chapel here at Holy Cross and I play the piano for a few minutes just to clear my head if I’m getting stressed out from doing too much, but luckily I have just enough breaks in between class that I can kind of pace myself with homework and everything.”
Though she has not decided on a major yet, Lasecki said she enjoys all of her classes, in particular, American studies and her ballet course.
“I actually was not planning on taking American studies,” she said. “I really wanted to take philosophy and I hope to minor in philosophy. Unfortunately it overlapped with my ballet class which is why I couldn’t take it and so my advisor said ‘Well here, we can put you in American studies’ and it ended up being an absolute blast so I loved every second of that.”
Lasecki said she has been impressed by the kindness of students at each campus and has appreciated the opportunity to take classes at each campus.
“I guess I would say that it’s been a challenge adjusting to freshman year but then also to three campuses,” she said. “I have three emails to toggle between, you know, kind of three different groups of people to interact with but ... I don’t regret it for a second.
“I love it and I’m so glad I chose the Gateway program. I’m glad I chose to come to South Bend and I’m really glad I chose to take classes at all three schools.”
