I have been patiently waiting for the day that I would live in a Notre Dame dorm, and as of this week, I can officially call myself an on-campus resident. For what feels like the millionth time, I’m hanging up my Target fairy lights, meeting a new roommate and knocking on my RA’s door. Starting over, like I did my freshman year and again when I transferred this Fall, has made my 2025 a year of reflection on change.
Notre Dame students experience even more change than most. We live on campus for at least three years; that means students will move in and out at least once a year. For students who study abroad, there is yet another semester of a new living situation. Many of my friends from home, who moved into houses or apartments by their sophomore year and will stay there until they graduate, told me they can’t imagine how we do it. It’s hard to explain to them that students here love living in the dorms; many even choose to stay on-campus for their fourth year. They choose to study abroad, sometimes even during the summer, and to move all over the country to work after graduation. At Notre Dame, students embrace change.
Young people today, more specifically Generation Z, are associated with a lot of stereotypes. We’re lazy, we’re antisocial because of COVID, we’re chronically online, we’re naive about how the world “really works.” It’s easy to see Notre Dame students, a group of hard-working, intelligent and social people, as exceptions to the broader “Gen Z culture.” I think, however, that we are the perfect embodiment of what a Gen Zer really is.
Gen Z is the most adaptable and accustomed-to-change generation of all. We’ve proved it time and again — is TikTok banned? We’re already on Instagram Reels and RedNote, among even more alternatives. High school out for COVID? We’re having FaceTime movie nights, suffering through breakout rooms and inventing TikTok trends to virtually bond. AI on the rise? Gen Z learned it flawlessly; there isn’t much the average 20-year-old can’t do with ChatGPT.
Most of us have lived lives defined by change, long before 2025. The nature of the world we live in, complete with devastating climate-related disasters, constant global tragedies and a divisive (to say the least) political climate make the little things like moving all of our possessions every semester seem minor. We have evolved based on our circumstances, and rather than a weakness, our open-mindedness and readiness for change have been our greatest strengths.
As a transfer, I hesitated to apply for a semester away from campus because I worried about losing the little time I already have at Notre Dame. I didn’t want to move to another city and then back to South Bend over Christmas break, or to lose out on the connections I could be fostering at the campus I worked so hard to live on. However, I recently realized that my lifetime of experiencing new things has helped me build a skill so unique to our generation; a readiness for anything.
I will be spending the fall in Washington DC, trying something new because I have proved to myself that I can do it. I will spend the rest of this semester getting to know my new dorm, getting settled and then (all too soon) getting ready to leave again. I see Notre Dame students every day challenge themselves to grow, even when it feels hard; I hope to embody that value now and after I graduate.
I recognize all my fellow students’ strength in facing change on campus and in the world, especially right now. No matter what happens with TikTok, our government or even the championship (I am writing this before the game, Go Irish!), I will be admiring and taking comfort in the resilience of our generation and our students.
Sophia Anderson is a sophomore at Notre Dame studying political science. She is a transfer student and plans to go to law school. You can contact her at sander38@nd.edu.
