Nworah Ayogu
St. Charles Prep Class of 2006
Columbus, Ohio

Summer is supposed to be a time for rest, relaxation, and enjoyment-however, I spent a week of my summer last year tackling some of our world's most daunting problems: the seemingly unsolvable Israeli-Palestinian conflict, terrorism, perceptions that cause hatred and suicide bombings, and many more. I learned a lot about other cultures, religions, and ideology. I learned about and experienced mutual illumination, the process by which one learns about oneself by learning about others. How? I spent a week at the Global Issues Seminar at Notre Dame.

We tackled the problems of war and hatred from many angles and had interesting and spirited discussions. After every class I suffered a headache from excessive thinking, but it was all worthwhile. When you have a letter from the UN Secretary-General commissioning your work, and your dialogues are led by the finest professors in the world, it's worthwhile. You can "Google" a couple of our professors, George Lopez and Rashied Omar, to take a look at their accomplishments.

You wouldn't know from their demeanor these guys are some of the greatest men of our age. They are so laid back, and open to funny comments. It's this open, welcoming, and enjoyable atmosphere that made this the best week of my life. Every person there is a complete nerd, in the sense that they are eloquent, have SAT scores out the ying-yang, and are involved in one hundred thousand different activities. But these nerds are also athletes, musicians, and caring people. These are cool nerds. This patchwork of geniuses throughout the world has become a group of my closest friends. Every night was fun, whether we were bowling, swimming, playing Frisbee, or just hanging out. With our collection of 27 different languages, we still couldn't put into words what this experience was for us. But each and every GISer (what we call ourselves) has been changed by our experience. We are all bound to each other, and we are charged with a responsibility to affect change in the world. This collection of forty people want to the ones who steer our war-torn world toward peace.

This was the best experience of my life so far, and I am thrilled to share this program so that others might have a chance to experience it.

The program is fully paid for by the University of Notre Dame, everything from the trip, to the food, to the movie tickets and concessions. It's extremely competitive, but for more information contact Joan Martel Ball, director of Pre-College Programs, 574.631.0990; tell her Nworah Ayogu sent you.

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