The de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture congratulates the 103 student Sorin Fellows who completed their studies at Notre Dame, Saint Mary's College, and Holy Cross College in 2022. In all, 68 undergraduates and 35 graduate and professional Sorin Fellows participated in commencement ceremonies earlier this month.

Among the many award-winning undergraduate Sorin Fellows, valedictorian finalist Ali Mauritsen was honored with the Rev. Thomas A. Steiner Prize for "outstanding students in the College of Engineering who have displayed all-around excellence as students," while Thomas Deslongchamps received the Ray Siegfried Award for Leadership Excellence, “awarded annually to a senior at Notre Dame who exemplifies the qualities for which Notre Dame Trustee Ray Siegfried was known, including leadership, generosity, devotion to the Catholic faith, and affinity for the spirit of athletic competition.”

The dCEC's Polking Fellow Michael Bradley graduated from Notre Dame Law School summa cum laude and received awards for Outstanding Achievement in Law, Ethics, and Public Policy and for Public Law. Polking Fellows are awarded top-up scholarships from the de Nicola Center to support their studies in Notre Dame Law School, and are chosen for their excellent scholarship and commitment to building a sustainable culture of life in law and public policy. "The professional and financial support and the mentorship that attach to the fellowship have benefited me and my family in profound ways," Bradley said. "The dCEC funded research, professional, and conference experiences that it's not exaggeration to call life-changing—for example, studying jurisprudence with Professor John Finnis at Oxford, attending an academic conference at the Notre Dame London Gateway, and supporting me while I interned for Judge Amul Thapar during my 1L summer."

"Almost all of my pursuits and projects as a law student intersected the dCEC's mission and work; all gained from the Center and its staff's support," Bradley continued. "I'm a better student, writer, and thinker for it. And no less importantly, it's been a joy to contribute to—not just benefit from—a community of faithful scholars pursuing wisdom in the context of commitment to our Lord. The dCEC gives students like me so much." Bradley will begin a clerkship this Fall with Judge Thomas Hardiman of the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

This year's graduating Sorin Fellows class also includes eight who are actively discerning religious life and the priesthood with the Sisters of Life, the Religious Sisters of Mercy, the Society of Jesus, the Society of the Divine Word, and the Diocese of Fort Wayne–South Bend. Maggie Garnett, who plans to begin formation with the Sisters of Life, credits affiliation with the Center as key to her discernment. "The Sorin Fellows Program was truly the heart of my spiritual, intellectual, and vocational formation while at the University, and I am immensely grateful for the de Nicola Center's tireless generosity and hospitality towards me and my classmates, who became—thanks to the dCEC—my dearest friends as well as peers. It was the de Nicola Center that first introduced me to the Sisters of Life through an internship placement with the Archdiocese of New York after my first year. Thanks to that placement and the constant guidance of dCEC staff, I am able to give my 'yes' and enter formation with the Sisters this fall. If I have been equipped for this precious and privileged work at the service of the culture of life, it is in no small part because of the prayers and formation of the de Nicola Center, for which I am eternally grateful."

The Sorin Fellows student formation program, now in its eighth year, provides Notre Dame, Saint Mary’s College, and Holy Cross College undergraduate and graduate students opportunities and resources to integrate their social, intellectual, and spiritual values in the context of their collegiate experience and in the discernment and pursuit of their vocations. More than 350 students participated in the program in 2021-2022. For more information, visit https://ethicscenter.nd.edu/programs/student-formation/sorin-fellows/.