#ShesAHound - ND Provided Me With Strong Female Leadership

Mel Komus'98
I think most young women who have had the opportunity to attend Notre Dame, do not fully realize the profound effect the college has had on your life until you leave. For me, that is most certainly the case. If you’ve attended Notre Dame you know what I’m talking about, most hounds will. You know the school is special when you are there, you’re told it will have a lasting effect on your life and that the people you meet here will be lifelong friends. You perhaps just don’t realize how much truth there is to that until you graduate and move on.
 
It was never the plan for my parents to send me to Notre Dame, it was always my brother who was going to attend to pursue his hockey dreams. Well, that all changed after attending a week-long summer basketball camp at Notre Dame. I knew instantly in that week that this was where I wanted to attend school, there was just something about the atmosphere and philosophy of the school that spoke to me. I was eager to have the opportunity to spend time with students my age who shared a similar passion for sports and education as I did. Oddly enough I also wanted to live in the dorms and this was back in the day of Edith Hall, the five-man room, cubicles and grade 12 hall!
 
Notre Dame surrounds its students in a community of incredibly passionate and like-minded individuals. My closest friends are from Notre Dame, whom I still speak to often and spend time with to this day. The friendships you begin at Notre Dame stay with you forever. It is a shared experience like none other and only Hounds know what that is. Only hounds feel that and if you’ve ever attended a reunion, you feel it all over again. And when the reunion weekend is over and everyone goes home, it feels as though there is something missing. I never really felt homesick during my time at Notre Dame, I mean I missed my home, my parents, maybe even my brother. But for me, Notre Dame really was a home away from home. Still to this day when I drive out to Wilcox, it feels as though I’m going home!
 
I knew that I was very fortunate to have the opportunity to attend Notre Dame. What I was not aware of was how my three years at Notre Dame would one day end up being responsible for shaping me into the person I am today. I do not say that lightly and firmly believe that I would not be the person I am without having attended Notre Dame.
 
On a final note, as a female hound, one of the best things that Notre Dame provided me with was strong female leadership. The women who were my house parents, mentors, coaches and most importantly my friends have had a lasting effect on my life. They played significant roles in my life at a time that was most important to me. Without these women and their leadership, I would not be the female leader I am today.
 
Luctor et Emergo 
 
Mel Komus
ND Hound 1995-1998

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