"Ever since I was a small Filipino kid running around and exploring in flip flops, life's questions and mystery beckoned and fascinated me. Now, whether it's through breath and movement in boxing, creating and sharing at the restaurant, reading and writing in coffee shops, analyzing linear mixed effects and brain imaging in the lab, listening to and weaving new narratives in the clinic, or teaching and learning in the classrooms: life's answers faintly echo through the tangles of lived experiences. After my dual masters at Boston College, I hope to pursue doctoral studies in the field of neuroscience in order to research, teach, and counsel on how suffering, meaning, and spirituality affect the living person. I'd like to explore deeper the efficacious mystery that gifted me with breath and remind others of the faint echoes of life's eternal question, 'Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?'" - Michael Mookie Cruz Manalili, MTS & MSW candidate in Boston College School of Theology and Ministry & Boston College School of Social Work

“My freshman year, I kind of got lost in friendships and relationships from home and wasn’t allowing myself to be fully present where my feet were. And then I was confused as to why I was struggling to fully adjust to being here at Boston College. I really had to learn to be intentional in forming myself and being fully present, asking myself what does it mean to turn off my phone and set it aside during a dinner or a conversation and not worrying about anything else except for whoever, whatever is in front of me. It’s something that, as a senior, I still fail at constantly, but what a joy it is to fail at something over and over again, because that is how I grow and learn and am able to be a better student, a better friend - through the millions of times that I don't do something perfectly.” - Gabrielle Silberman ’20

“It sometimes takes great courage to stand up for our faith and to stand up for what we believe.” - Karen Kiefer, The Church in the 21st Century Center (C21 Center) Director and author of the children's book "Drawing God" World Drawing God Day is Thursday: https://on.bc.edu/DrawingGod

“We had a lot of speakers visit the class - activists, journalists, people who work in the art world. For the first time ever in the history of French museums there was an exhibit at the Musée d’Orsay curated by an African American woman and her whole dissertation was about the presence of the black model in French art. Going back as far as the 18th and 19th centuries, she was looking at these black figures who are in very famous paintings but have never been talked about. We got to go to the exhibit. When I teach this class in the future I will of course talk about these paintings, but it’s something totally different to go there and for students to see the way that blackness is being affirmed and being talked about in this way in the context of art. That experiential piece adds so much.” - Associate Professor Régine Michelle Jean-Charles, who brought 11 students to Paris, France, for a four-week summer course exploring black identity in Paris through art, literature, and film. Learn More about the course and experience: https://on.bc.edu/ParisNoir

“Baseball is a brotherhood at Boston College. We go through everything together and always have each other’s backs, regardless of race or religion. I’m proud to be playing here and I wouldn’t want to play anywhere else.” - Samrath Singh '22, member of the Boston College Baseball team Read more about Samrath as teammate Jack Nelson '19 profiled him in Perfect Game USA: https://on.bc.edu/SamrathSingh_PG

“I was fascinated by human behavior and the variations that you can have. I could not learn enough.” - Boston College Connell School of Nursing Professor Ann Burgess, a pioneer in many fields and an inspiration for Netflix's MINDHUNTER | Read More: https://on.bc.edu/Mastermind

“I went to Nepal for the first time after my first year at medical school. It was just by chance that it all worked out and fell into place. It was such an awesome opportunity, and it made me realize why I was going to medical school and why I actually started the degree. You get so wrapped up in studying medicine, especially in the beginning because there’s just so much science and it’s overwhelming, but you have to remember the human aspect. That’s why I studied philosophy at BC, to understand why we end up doing the things that we do. Going to Nepal renewed that for me.” - Joseph Rizzuto ’15 on volunteering in Nepal | Learn more about his experiences and work: https://on.bc.edu/Rizzuto

“I was an English major at Boston College and at the end of my sophomore year I thought to myself, I need to figure out what I’m going to do with this major. So I applied for internships and a tv station got back to me, so I took it, and I loved it. It was so exciting to me. I couldn’t believe that I could have a front row seat to everything that was going on. Last fall, I interviewed [Boston Red Sox] pitcher Nathan Eovaldi, and then the next night during a marathon game he pitched six innings [in relief]. I’m on my couch watching him and he did a fantastic job and I’m like, ‘I just talked to that guy the other day, that’s crazy.’ “- Jennifer Eagan '06, WCVB Channel 5 Boston reporter & anchor More on six broadcasters in Boston using their BC liberal arts degrees: http://fal.cn/32HZm

"I never thought I would get an undergraduate degree from Boston College, and now I am getting a master's degree? It’s an accomplishment I never thought I could get. It was more for myself to say 'yes, I can do it.' I had a teacher in high school that told me 'you won't amount to anything, go into the service.' I wanted to get this degree to prove to myself that I am better than I thought I was.” - Kenneth Coleman '15, '19, BC Assistant Manager of Custodial Services, on completing his master's degree from Boston College - Woods College of Advancing Studies in three years despite suffering a heart attack in 2017 | Read More: https://on.bc.edu/KennethColeman

“As a nursing student, theology and philosophy can seem abstract. You already know what you are going to do after graduation and you wonder how they’re going to play a role in that. But after some reflection, I realized that’s kind of an arrogant thought. Now, I realize theology is something that frames my whole nursing career. [Troxell] spoke about the ‘Five Faces of Oppression’ and about all of these things that are so important when we care for patients. It’s not always going to be beautiful hospitals with VIP patients. There are going to be patients who come in really broken, who’ve had it rough.” - Maria Meyer '19 graduated from the Boston College Connell School of Nursing and earned the 2019 Finnegan Award | Learn More: https://on.bc.edu/Meyer