NDBridge students frame summer immersions with research questions

February 7, 2023

Over mugs of chai and cookies, the roughly 120 students who make up the inaugural NDBridge cohort met for the first time at the end of January in the center’s coffee house. The students, all current freshmen, will travel together to 30 sites across the United States and around the world this summer, working with organizations in communities facing injustice. There’s one important thing that each student will pack in their bags this summer: a research question. 

During the spring semester, the NDBridge cohort will meet weekly in a course designed to develop an understanding of the common good, the ethics of encounter, and systemic injustice. Students will also consider personal, academic, and professional responses to these topics. Each class session will be designed both to dialogue about these topics and build community within the four-person teams that will travel to each site.  

One of the central components of the course will be developing a research question. Students will begin by reflecting on the concept of research as relentless curiosity. Next, they will write about an issue or topic that they are curious about and relates to the site they will travel to this summer. The reflection will include why the topic is worth investigating and its ties to bigger themes of systemic injustice. By the time the course ends this spring, each student will define one research question connected to their immersion site, field of study, and own interests. 

Through the summer, students will have readings and reflections that tie in to their research question. They will have community dinners and check-in nights with the three other students who live with them at their site, a space for both caring relationships and scholarly dialogue. Additionally, each group of students will have an assigned faculty member from the University that they will connect with several times over the summer to talk about their experiences. 

When participants return to campus next fall as sophomores, they will present their experiences as they relate to their research question. Emily Garvey, program director for NDBridge, noted that students will return with a lot of completed research and first-hand experience to answer their question. However, the program is also intended to instill a sense of continuous questioning and curiosity in students. “The goal is to have more questions at the end,” said Garvey. With this as a starting point, these sophomores will have opportunities to develop this area of research throughout their time at Notre Dame. 

Learn more about NDBridge at socialconcerns.nd.edu/ndbridge.

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