“Before this trip, I’d never biked for more than two hours at a time and suddenly we were doing 12 hours a day averaging 85 miles. My goal was to be able to see the country very deliberately, and create connections with people I wouldn’t meet otherwise. I'm from a city and it was awesome meeting people who live in towns of 20 people and realizing that we're very similar or even know some of the same people. We biked for roughly 20 seconds with a group of people going from Minneapolis to Chicago, and within that time I met one guy who worked with someone who lives in the town next to me. It's amazing realizing how big the country is, but also how small it is in the way that you can pretty easily get across it and be able to rely on the people around you.” - Leo Brickner ’25 (pictured on left with friend Pat), biked 3,623 miles from Washington to Maine this summer | View photos from their trip: https://on.bc.edu/LeoandPat

“For a long time, there was a lot of shame around my story because I felt like the 10 years that it took me out of mainstream society really put me back and that I should just focus all my efforts on catching up and let whatever happened in the past just fade and be done, but that’s not how life works. You can't let go of a 20-year battle. You can't let go of something you dealt with since you were a kid, it's part of who you are. Once I finally realized that if I actually use my experience to help other people, I’m doing a service—so many doors opened for me.” - Dina Coughlan '20, Boston College - Woods College of Advancing Studies graduate and advocate for mental health awareness | READ MORE: https://on.bc.edu/DinaCoughlan

"I was really compelled to use data and research to do the most good with the least resources. As a member of Boston College Admission's Student Admission Program, I often get to hear from parents how lucky we are to be at Boston College and have the opportunity to not only have a prestigious education but have a formative education. Creating the Boston College for Effective Altruism Club is meant to coincide with that mission of being men and women for others and teach students a new way to look at the world. It's a club about striving to do better in trying to do good. I look forward to seeing the difference we can make on this campus and beyond in the coming years." - Brian Gardner '23 Photo: Patrick Mills '24

"As I approach my final year at Boston College, I have been reflecting on the unbelievable opportunities I've had through Boston College Campus Ministry. I am so grateful for the chance to connect mindfully with my classmates and peers each and every day. For me, BC has, and will continue to be, the birthplace of the life-changing encounters I've experienced. My work through the Kairos retreat program has been at the heart of that profound human connection. Being a co-director for Kairos my senior year is not only an immense honor, but one of the greatest gifts I've ever received. The place where I see the most humans having the most authentic connections is through our campus retreats; to be at the forefront of that connection my senior year is a true privilege. As a member of the Retreats Council, I have had the joy of watching retreat programs like Pause and Pray and Center become animated by the student body - a student body that craves a mindful approach to both academic and personal life at BC and beyond. Now, as I begin to look beyond the Heights, I feel immense support from the Campus Ministry community to lean into life's challenging questions, to seek the Magis, and to continue to live Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam." - Christine Lenahan '23 Photo: Patrick Mills '24

"I definitely think the success of the women's USA Hockey Team contributes [to the growth of the sport]. I think winning the gold in 2018 was a really big step toward growing the game because we hadn’t won in twenty years. We saw a spike in girls wanting to play hockey after that. You find that when you talk to girls, they don’t really care about the color of the medal. They just think it’s so cool that that’s something that they can maybe do one day, and that’s our goal: If they can see it, they can dream it. If they can’t see it, they don’t know that they can be it. We just try to grow the game however we can, regardless of the color of the medal." - Cayla Barnes '23, member of the BC women's hockey team and two-time Olympic medalist | READ MORE about her experience at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Boston College Magazine: https://on.bc.edu/CaylaBarnesBCM

"A student who learned of my illness asked me if I ever get angry with God. I told her no, not for one second. I have lived a blessed life. I have received so many blessings through the Society of Jesus in terms of the education I’ve been given, the health care I’ve received through our benefactors. I’ve been able to travel as a Jesuit. I have so much to be grateful for. I can go back to many times where I can see God was leading me through circumstances, through people. If I had to go tomorrow, I wouldn’t be happy or thrilled about it, but I would also be able to look back at a very rich, full life. So it didn’t take me long to answer the student’s question: No, I’m not angry with God because God has been so good to me." - Thomas D. Stegman, S.J., former dean of the Boston College School of Theology and Ministry, who stepped down due to a glioblastoma diagnosis | READ MORE in Boston College Magazine: https://on.bc.edu/TomStegmanBCM

“It's been a lifelong dream of mine to reach the highest success possible academically because education is such a big thing in my family. It was so hard to get access to good quality education where I’m from, and it was a lot of hard work to get where I am today, so I just feel like I'm going to fulfill a destiny or something if I reach the end of the line. I'm applying for a master's now, but I want to be a doctor someday. It doesn't matter what I do with my life, I could be washing dishes in a diner, but I'm going to be Dr. Lidia Carvalho.” - Lidia Carvalho, the 2022 undergraduate student commencement speaker for the Boston College - Woods College of Advancing Studies | READ MORE: https://on.bc.edu/LidiaCarvalho

"When I thought about what my grandmother said to me - ‘someday you will know what this life wants from you’ - I realized that what it wanted was for me to sit with the truth. I learned to be really honest with myself, to be very vulnerable. That I was not superhuman and that I wasn’t this strong person who could get through everything. I changed my relationship with food. I changed my relationship with exercise. I changed my relationship with alcohol." - Yvonne Castaneda MSW '18 and Boston College School of Social Work part-time faculty who chronicles her journey through addiction, depression, anxiety, and bulimia in her memoir "Pork Belly Tacos with a Side of Anxiety" | READ MORE: https://on.bc.edu/YvonneCastaneda

"Cura personalis, a tenet of Ignatian spirituality that means 'care for the whole person,' is the most impactful lesson I’ve learned at Boston College. At the Center for Student Wellness, we refer to it as 'mind, body, and soul' care. Taking care of my mental and physical health has always been important to me, but honoring my spiritual health has been transformational. At BC, I find spiritual healing by engaging with my faith through communities. I have been lucky enough to be involved in Christian Life Community (CLC), to lead retreats such as Ignite, and to be vulnerable with the friends who have become my family. These experiences have not only been healing to my soul but have revolutionized how I engage with my faith and with the world. I am forever grateful for the opportunities that Boston College, and the incredible individuals that make up its community, continuously provide for me to grow as a 'whole person.'" - Brynn Dougherty '23 Photo by Patrick Mills '24

"The fact that I’m a Jesuit today has a fair bit to do with Kairos. That I was able to spend a significant part of my undergraduate career at Boston College doing ministry and helping other people encounter God through the retreat is a big part of what helped me recognize this was my vocation in a broader sense.” - Sam Sawyer, S.J. '00, M.Div. '14, future America Magazine - The Jesuit Review Editor-in-Chief who served as a student leader for the first Kairos retreat and concelebrated Mass and gave an address at the 25th anniversary celebration | READ MORE: https://on.bc.edu/25YearsKairos

"The most rewarding part is seeing that the work you’re doing is really making an impact on people’s lives locally. Because Jamaica is a developing country, this type of capital expenditure on infrastructure really drives the economy. It opens up areas for development, it generates a lot of jobs, and it really affects the country’s gross domestic product." - Stephen R.P. Edwards '02, the managing director of highways in Jamaica | Read more in Boston College Magazine: https://on.bc.edu/StephenEdwards

“I still feel like I don't really know much about the military, which sounds ironic. I think before this year, I could probably only name five different planes, and here I am going into the United States Air Force, which is known for their planes. I used to be embarrassed by that, but I've learned that I don't need to master everything, I just need to know who the right people are to ask. I think that just reinforces the teamwork and unity aspect of the military that I'm looking forward to.” - Soo Ae Ono ’22, a Boston College Connell School of Nursing graduate and member of the Air Force ROTC who is embarking on a career as an Air Force nurse | READ MORE: https://fal.cn/3qey4