ND Honors Program grad aimed to earn professors' respect
By ANNE MARIE MATTINGLY
News Editor
Though she admits that she invested much of her time in study and that her prime focus at Notre Dame was academics, Class of 2000 valedictorian Elizabeth Wild never expected to merit the honor.
In fact, she says she was flattered even to be considered.
"I wanted to do well, … but I never really expected [to be valedictorian,]" said the history and computer applications double major, noting that she was unaware that the University bestowed such an honor until her junior year. "I never really gave it much thought."
Instead, Wild focused on earning the respect of her professors through her academic work, which she found to be more personally rewarding. For her Honors Program thesis, Wild composed a 200-page novel addressing the role of the influence of technological advance in the lives of children. The project was one of four chosen for presentations in the program's final colloqium.
Although academics were a focus, Wild found time to pursue a number of extracurricular activities as well. In addition to being a four-year member of Lewis Hall football and basketball teams, Wild served as a peer counselor for freshmen in the Honors Program and volunteered at the Early Childhood Development Center. In reflecting on her Notre Dame experience, Wild noted that she has found it difficult to fulfill the image of the "typical" Notre Dame student because no one person can do everything while doing it well.
"It was a lot more work than I thought it would be," she said.
But the work was not without its rewards. Wild was pleasantly surprised to discover that the legendary "Notre Dame family" was in fact a reality and counts meeting Father Theodore Hesburgh, University president emeritus, for lunch among her greatest Notre Dame memories. Spending a semester at Notre Dame's Washington, D.C., program presented her with the opportunity to meet Rosa Parks and President Bill Clinton, as well as to see the opening procedures in last summer's impeachment trial.
Wild attributes much of her success to the example set by her parents and grandparents, whom she describes as hard-working and inspirational.
"I come from a very supportive family environment, and so many of my family members have dropped everything to be out here with me this weekend," she said.
After graduation, Wild will return to her home state of Pennyslvania to work in Pittsburgh at the McKinsey & Co., managerial consulting group, where she will be part of a team performing research, analyzing data and generating reports for two years. She plans to use that time to gain perspective on what she will do next.
Wild feels certain she will pursue an advanced academic degree at some point; attending law school, pursuing a masters in business administration or working for a Ph.D. in history are among the options she is considering. Wild, who hopes to continue her creative writing and will try to publish her novel, also emphasized that family life is extremely important to her and hopes to be married with children in 10 years.
All News Stories for Friday, May 19, 2000
