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When I think about my time at Notre Dame, the moments that come to me first are the moments that feel too surreal, too unbelievable and often times too good to be true. The times when I thought to myself, “Where am I? And how did I get here?”

Certainly this, our last issue as the 2014-2015 Scholastic staff, is one of those moments. Without gushing too much, I will simply say that I am grateful for Scholastic and its amazing editors and contributors for all they have taught me, their passion and their creativity. 

More than anything, I have viewed Scholastic and journalism these last four years as an outlet for the practice of empathy.  So often schoolwork becomes about theoretical and practical studies that it can be easy to forget about the personal, to study the people around us, their feelings and needs. 

At Scholastic, the questions are always, “Where are you? And how did you get here?”

This issue’s cover story on Campus Ministry’s Spirituality Study describes a similar process. The Study is Campus Ministry’s attempt to better understand the Notre Dame student, so that it can meet emerging campus needs. In the process of the story, I was inspired by the intentionality of the student leaders, their journeys and their genuine love for this campus and for each other.

It is still unclear what exactly the Study will produce. This story it seems is not yet finished. 

It’s clear, however, that it begins with empathy.

I hope people will say the same about Scholastic.