Finding the courage to walk through the door

Growing up in a small town in rural Ohio, Ryan Fitchpatrick ’28 learned early on through books that the world was much bigger than the one she could see from her own front door.

She graduated in a high school class of just 36 students and dreamed of possibilities beyond her hometown. When her Notre Dame financial aid package arrived, one of those possibilities suddenly became real.

“Notre Dame was no longer just a place that had accepted me—it was a door that had actually opened,” Fitchpatrick said. “Financial aid gave me the courage to say yes.”

Finding her place at Notre Dame took another leap of faith.

Fitchpatrick struggled to find her footing during her first year and, at one point, seriously considered transferring. She looked around at classmates who seemed sure of themselves and wondered, “Did everyone else receive some kind of instruction manual that I somehow missed?”

Instead of leaving, she took a chance. Fitchpatrick applied for a position on the Pre-Law Student Board, despite knowing first-year students were not typically selected, and earned a spot.

From there, her Notre Dame experience began to expand. A demanding political science seminar led to publication in the Notre Dame Journal of Political Science. She led “Conversations of Purpose” in Breen-Phillips Hall, helped facilitate leadership training for Moreau Program mentors, and spent the summer gaining experience with Florida State University Law, which solidified her goal of becoming a family law attorney.

A Cavanaugh Council and President’s Circle scholarship first gave Fitchpatrick the opportunity to say yes to Notre Dame. The experiences that followed have helped her find a sense of belonging—and a path forward.

“Notre Dame has taught me that even though we all come from different stories, we find belonging together,” Fitchpatrick said. “When I was a little girl reading in rural Ohio, I thought I was just reading about other people’s extraordinary lives. I didn’t realize that, one day, I would be writing my own.”