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.
“Through my time at Notre Dame, I’ve had the opportunity to make a real impact on the lives of people across the globe through internships and leadership roles. Notre Dame is teaching me the skills I need to be a great doctor and to take care of others.”
Pre-med and Applied and Computational Mathematical Sciences (ACMS) major Kylie Boyer ’24 has always known she wanted to devote her life to helping others. In high school, she decided to do that as a doctor. Now, she studies at Notre Dame to become the best doctor she can be—one that is passionate, caring, and knowledgeable.
While her courses are instrumental to her professional development, she’s also found the experiences at Notre Dame outside of the classroom to be essential to achieving her goals.
She took an internship in Kenya and spent her time abroad volunteering, pioneering new opportunities for interns, and shadowing doctors at the second-largest public hospital in the country.
Through this opportunity, she shadowed a new department each week at Coast General Hospital in Mombasa, learning from the doctors and nurses as they worked.
Many people in Kenya cannot afford regular health care, so the hospital was filled with patients facing extreme medical conditions. As a student, she was not permitted to treat patients, and most people did not speak English, so she grappled with feelings of helplessness—but Kylie was determined to do more for the community around her.
“Every time I was watching, I just wished I could do more or connect with the patients, even just with a conversation, to help comfort them. Watching the doctors, I knew that's what I wanted to do; it only encouraged me more. It was life-changing to see and experience that.”
Kylie wanted to do more with her time in Kenya and requested time to volunteer in the community as well.
They took her to an orphanage, where she spent hours feeding children, holding babies, and folding clothes.
Kylie loved the children so much that she brought supplies purchased with her own money when she returned to the orphanage for a second visit. But after that, she brought a gift that would keep giving throughout the years—more volunteers. They continue to send interns to the orphanage to this day, amplifying Kylie’s impact on the children.
“It felt like I could make more of a difference than just going one or two times.”
As a doctor, Kylie wants to use the skills she is developing through Notre Dame to serve the people in her care better—both through the hard skills she learns in her classes as a Pre-Med and ACMS major, and the ways she has learned to care for others through her internships and leadership roles at Notre Dame.
Perhaps the most important lesson she has learned so far through her time at Notre Dame is that there are always ways to give back. Kylie intends to keep seeking out these opportunities and to give her all to them.
“To me, it's important that in everything I do, I give my all and I'm passionate about it. That's how it happens: I'm passionate about every single thing I do.”
Because of the generosity of the Notre Dame Family, especially through the Sorin Society and Notre Dame Fund,students and alumni like Kylie continue to shape Notre Dame and the world for good—thank you.