Senior sweetheart Michelle gives us the lowdown about switching majors, a great study spot, and some wise advice for making the most of your time at Notre Dame!
Name: Michelle Drappi
Major: Studio Art
Dorm: Ryan Hall
Hometown: Red Bank, New Jersey
Grad Year: 2015
You recently changed your major from chemistry to studio art. What brought that switch on?
Well, fall of my junior year I was in an inorganic chem class, and there were a lot of different factors and miscommunication, and I just hated that class. I could do organic chemistry and study for it for hours and hours on end, I loved it so much, and then I finally started the inorganic course and there was just nothing about it I enjoyed. I was in a couple studio classes as well just for fun, and I loved those.
I just looked at the larger picture, and I thought, “I have a year and a half left at my dream school, I’m not quite sure what I want to do with my life, so I’d rather do something that I’ll enjoy while I’m here.” It’s the best decision I’ve ever made – I have so much more time to appreciate Notre Dame as my favorite school instead of hating it because it has this major I don’t like anymore.
What do you do outside of the classroom?
I guess I’m really involved in transfer life, I was co-comissioner of transfer orientation this year. The first and foremost thing is that I bake with Father Joe every Tuesday in Ryan and that’s a very committed extracurricular activity, we make pretty much everything. I also like to volunteer at the Logan Center when I get a chance. It’s easier to do that spring semester, because of football weekends. Otherwise, I’m all about transfer student life.
Oh! I also work at the Eck Center, which is fun because I get to give tours and meet a lot of different people. I work in a chemistry prep lab, which is fun – I feel useless sometimes but I really like the guy who runs it.
Posing contemplatively with transfer son Chris
Do you have a favorite spot on campus?
Can I say three? I absolutely love my dorm, I live in Ryan, and I love baking with FJ. It’s a really special community. I’ve done a lot with Ryan, but FJ’s is just a fun place, and you can bake whatever you want, and there’s always something wild going on there.
Besides that, I couldn’t pick a better place to study than Stinson-Remick, I just love that building. It’s seriously twenty feet… Well, maybe more than twenty feet, but it’s so close to Ryan. I can’t study anywhere else.
For campus as a whole? When you walk around St. Joe’s lake, not quite to the Rudy bench, but there’s a small spot in between two trees where you can see the dome and the basilica from that side of the lake. Every time I run by it, I have to stop and remember that I go to this awesome school. I can’t run by and not stop, my feet just stop, I have to. I get this overwhelming feeling of satisfaction every time.
What music are you listening to right now?
Right now I’m really loving Meghan Trainor’s EP because it’s so catchy and so much fun to listen to. I’d say classically you can never go wrong with a Beatles song, and I also shamelessly love Coldplay. Oh, and Beyonce is the queen of everything, so I’ll go with her too.
Share a fun fact about yourself.
In general, I’ve had a lot of people tell me there are weird things I like and/or do… One thing is that I ran a lot of half marathons and some full marathons before I turned 16. My coolest fun fact is that I can peel a banana with my toes.
Do you have a favorite quote?
Well, anything from Remember the Titans I think counts as my favorite quote. And there’s this quote by Theodore Roosevelt that says, “Do what you can with what you have where you are.” Or a quote by Elanor Roosevelt: “A woman is like a teabag- you don’t know how strong she is until you put her in hot water.”
Wait, I need to make it clear that any Remember the Titans quote is Hall of Fame in my book.
What advice would you give to new Notre Dame students?
Definitely just never to take a day here for granted, whether you’re a freshman or a transfer. Coming to this school means, I think, a lot more than people give it credit for. I know everyone here really loves it, but how can you really… we’re humans, we have bad days, but how can you really have a bad day when you think about where you are.
Your life is at its point when you can walk across this campus and see the Dome whenever you want, and this school has so many opportunities both while you’re here and later on in life. It’s hard to ignore the fact that this is one of the most beautiful places to be in the world, so just keep your options open when you come here and really keep your eyes open for new experiences, new people, and just take in what it means to be at Notre Dame.
Thanks for sharing, Michelle!
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Images provided by interviewee