Giving Society and other generous members of the Notre Dame Family create a very real and powerful impact in the lives of Notre Dame students and all those whose lives they touch. This story is one example of many of how talented and dedicated students work to bring about change with help from the Notre Dame Family.
“My years at Notre Dame have been the best years of my life. I have met my best friends, made some of my favorite memories, and grown beyond measure.”
An award-winning chemical engineering major and supporting chair for the Engineering Leadership Council, Gracie has made a significant impact on Notre Dame and communities beyond by leading her residence hall and the Running Club, supporting cancer diagnosis innovations, and so much more.
An Award-Winning Leader in Sustainability
Sustainability has been important to Gracie since she moved to Germany in high school and saw the country’s impressive sustainability initiatives.
Through Notre Dame, she found a job at the Center for Civic Innovation with Thor Industries in 2021 to increase sustainability efforts, where she improved her local community through her efforts at work, even winning the Lou Holtz Leadership Scholarship award.
There, she helped create new ways to recycle large vehicles and RVs that are costly to break down and bad for the environment.
Her team of interns identified several feasible solutions, including firefighter training plans, for them to be used as homeless shelters, and for trade students to practice vehicular repair skills.
Her efforts will improve the sustainability of our area for years to come.
Improving Medicine Worldwide
For the past two years, Gracie has devoted her summers to improving the lives of people around the world through internships with Roche Diagnostics, a multinational healthcare company.
Last summer, she worked in Santa Clara, California, writing code to help identify defects in medical equipment.
Today, she is finishing up her final summer internship as a Quality and Regulatory intern at Roche Diagnostics in Arizona, helping streamline quality assurance product approval.
“After the product was created, I made sure that everyone would be safe using it. I'm excited about that.”
She works in the oncology department, checking the quality of tools that help diagnose cancer and optimizing the manufacturing speed so that patients can get what they need quicker, improving their chances of survival.
“The biggest thing for me is that I want to help people. It doesn't matter exactly what I'm doing, I just want people's lives to be better because I interacted with them.”
Because of the generosity of the Notre Dame Family, especially through the Sorin Society and Notre Dame Fund, students and alumni like Grace continue to shape Notre Dame and the world for good—thank you.