Taking Education Beyond the Walls of the Classroom
Madeline Owen is the newly selected Valedictorian of the University of Notre Dame's class of 2021 and is graduating with a neuroscience and behavior major and a poverty studies interdisciplinary minor. Madeline reflects on her experiences at the Center for Social Concerns over the past four years and how they've shaped her. During her undergraduate career she participated in an Urban Plunge in Washington D.C., the Spirituality of Justice Seminar at the Texas-Mexico border, and took numerous courses through the poverty studies interdisciplinary minor. Upon graduating Madeline plans to attend medical school and shares, "The opportunity to not just learn within the walls of the classroom but beyond the walls of a classroom; to physically travel to places, talk to people, look them in the eyes, hear their stories was something that I was incredibly surprised by and an opportunity I just couldn't pass up. I couldn't see my academic journey being without that human element."