Having trouble finding the perfect guy at Notre Dame? Want to do a good deed to help brighten up the holidays for women who could use some TLC? Do you still need to buy a calendar for 2004? If you've answered "yes" to at least one of these questions, perhaps the "Men of Notre Dame" 13-month calendar might interest to you.A group of Farley juniors came up with this idea to create a calendar focusing on a few particularly talented, likeable and photogenic male Notre Dame students. Farley junior Melissa Harris finally decided to make this idea a reality. With the help of Maya Noronha, a Farley junior who served as Harris' assistant in this project, a committee of other Farley women, a staff of volunteer photographers and, of course, a select group of ND men, Harris' calendar was made.The Farley women had heard about other schools making calendars featuring students and decided that Notre Dame students certainly are worthy of being in their own calendar. The "Men of Notre Dame" Calendar is unique to other school's student-pictured calendars because of the uniqueness of Notre Dame students in their ability to balance and excel in so many different aspects of student life. These aspects include athletics, a rigorous academic life, community service activities, working for the varsity athletic programs, working for publications, a commitment to advertising events on campus, coaching, working to pay loans and portions of their tuition, and attending social events such as football games. The Farley women involved in this project felt that the numbers of really awesome students on campus deserved to be acknowledged. These girls also felt called to contribute to those in need, so they decided to make this calendar a fundraiser for women in need. They hope that the production of this calendar will become an annual event.Harris and her Farley team began this project by putting up posters around campus that requested people to submit nominations for men to be in the calendar. These submissions also had to include reasons as to why these particular men would make good candidates for the calendar. Harris said she received approximately 60 nominations, all from members of the Notre Dame student body, except for one that was submitted by Notre Dame's philosophy department. "Some of the most common reasons for nomination included all-around nice guy, cute, photogenic, and had worked really hard for a specific project," Harris said. After reading over the nominations, 25 guys were selected to be the best fits for the calendar; at this point, Harris and her committee possessed no pictures of the nominees. To learn more about these men and to try to eliminate some, all 25 of them were interviewed in person by a small panel of Farley women.Most of these men were surprised that they had been nominated and some wanted to know who had suggested them. (Of course, Harris maintained confidentiality about the nominators.) Some of these men resigned from being considered because they felt that being photographed for a calendar was not for them.The men were evaluated based on their charisma, involvement at Notre Dame and photogenic potential. Eventually, the group of men was narrowed down to 18.All the months' pages on this calendar are paired with pictures of male Notre Dame students. Eighteen talented, good-looking and just all-around nice guys are featured, one month containing two students, another containing three, and the other months containing one. The calendar also contains surveys created from these men's responses to questions.The "Men of ND" will go on sale Tuesday, Dec. 9 and will be available in both dining halls and in Notre Dame's residence halls. Fliers will be posted around campus advertising the date, time and location of an opportunity to meet the men pictured in the calendar and the women responsible for the calendar's production. Calendars will also be sold at this event."Men of Notre Dame" calendars cost $10, and all proceeds will go to Hannah's House, a shelter for pregnant women located in Mishawaka.
