The Four Summer Enrichment Experiences— Wilderness Leadership, Social Justice, Global Inquiry, and Professional Venture— offer Hesburgh-Yusko Scholars unparalleled opportunities to develop and explore passions outside of the classroom. During these summers, Scholars will meet and learn from people with vastly different life experiences. They will travel the world. They will learn to persevere through challenges and obstacles, even failure. They will discover new interests, refine lifelong pursuits, identify passions and lay the groundwork for future careers. The Program will encourage scholars to plan their summers with their long-term interests and goals in mind.
Wilderness Leadership: Hesburgh-Yusko Scholars will complete a wilderness leadership course during the summer before their first year at Notre Dame. They will be stretched physically and mentally, and some will experience the challenge of living without creature comforts for the first time. In addition to mastering wilderness skills, scholars will learn how to work with a diverse group of people to meet a common goal and how to look out for the interest of the group.
Social Justice: Scholars will devote one summer to social justice. They will work with community-based service organizations either in the United States or abroad, applying the values they have learned in the classroom to meeting needs in a tangible way. In this way, Hesburgh-Yusko scholars will fulfill part of Notre Dame’s mission, as “learning becomes service to justice.”
Global Inquiry: Scholars will work with a faculty mentor to develop a research project that requires international travel. The research project can be an extension of a scholar’s course of study, or a scholar may decide to use this summer to explore a topic or region of the world in which he or she has always been interested, but has never had the opportunity to explore.
Professional Venture: Scholars will work as summer interns in whatever industry or field they choose, gaining real-world work experience and exploring possible careers. The Hesburgh-Yusko Scholars Program will work with scholars to find a placement in a corporate, governmental, nonprofit, or faith-based organization.