Vinnette Giscombe, Xavier University

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It has been one month, three weeks, three days and about nine hours since we received a reality that would radically change our lives; I use radical referring to something that favors fundamental change-in our case, our perspective of graduate school.

On June 9 th at 10:30am in the lobby of Pasquerilla East, an orientation meeting was held with Mary, Lideth, the McNair scholars and Dr. Pope-Davis. At this meeting the rigorous reality of our term at Notre Dame was expressed and we were given the option to stay/leave after Dr. Pope-Davis's predication. We all decided to stay with optimistic hearts about the program.

Over the next seven weeks, the radical change metamorphed into a dynamic one. Each new development opportunity presented, disclosed the authenticity of graduate school. We were presented with our research assignments, community service projects, a research methods course, weekly meetings and the incessant thoughts about what we had agreed to and how challenging this would be.

After some time, we met with Dr. Pope-Davis again who told us of more development opportunities that we would encounter, including workshops with Dr. Akai, and the GRE preparation course. This would be in addition to the established community service project, research methods course, weekly meetings and research projects.

As we approached July, each of us had to make difficult choices to balance our responsibilities. We adapted our schedules to accommodate the five major development opportunities with which we were faced and somehow, factored sleeping and eating into our schedules. We received presentations given by two graduate students who reiterated the radicalism of graduate school and who also offered themselves as mentors to us. About the sixth and seventh week, many students expressed challenges with papers, presentation formats, late evenings at the lab and avid thoughts of returning home.

This summer has been a dynamic one, inundated with ups and downs, executed expectations and un-expectations and today, a spirit of gratitude. Hence, the McNair scholars would like to leave you with a statement:

We, the CANDAX/McNair Scholars of the summer of 2003

•  Appreciate the research opportunities, research methods course, GRE preparation course, graduate school workshops, community service opportunities and networking opportunities rendered by this program.

•  We complement the institution for their attractive facilities, competent faculty, staff, and graduate student body.

•  We confess that this program is rigorous and that there have been days that we have wanted to go home. However, the academic and personal development, exercise of empowerment, interactivity with our peers, time-management development, expressions of empowerment, and bi-weekly contributions have influenced us to endure.

•  To the University Of Notre Dame, CANDAX/McNair, our mentors, the McNair Scholar Director Dr. Donald Pope-Davis, McNair Administrative Assistant Mary Nichols and our Graduate Student Mentor Lideth Ortega-Villalobos, we thank you for presenting us with an experience that radically changed our lives.