Notre Dame Leadership: "Mind, Body, and Spirit"

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  Kylemore Abbey

Inspiration

The Kylemore Abbey Global Centre, located in the picturesque Connemara region in County Galway, has been challenged to keep its doors open due to restrictions imposed the will not allow U.S. students to study in Ireland, in addition to the cancellation of educational programs. Programs that provide the financial assistance to operate the Centre.

"Every dark cloud has a silver lining" and the lockdown provided us with an opportunity to use design thinking to ideate our project "Notre Dame Leadership: Mind, Body, and Spirit" by helping us focus on our vision.

Former Notre Dame President Father Theodore Hesburgh's statement that "the very essence of leadership is vision", has taught us that vision has no borders and that vision, combined with collaborative efforts and strategic partners, can become a reality if undertaken.

And so we are.

Notre Dame Leadership: Mind, Body, and Spirit has been created to challenge, inspire, and enlighten participants who will virtually walk, or cycle, the Wild Atlantic Way. The program is open to the Notre Dame affinity group, but also open to anyone. We encourage people form different backgrounds, geographical locations, and those physically challenged to participate.

Along the way, meetups will educate participants on a variety of Irish topics that will range from religion to storytelling; literature to tourism, to leadership principles and practices. A fee to participate in the program will generate funds that will be used to support the Notre Dame Kylemore Abbley Global Centre.

Our program's motto is based on the following leadership principle: "If you can't lead yourself, how can you lead others". Thus, the importance of physical activity being paramount.

We anticipate walkers to complete the virtual Wild Atlantic Way in 11 months, while cyclists will take 4 months. Participants will follow a virtual Wild Atlantic Way, through our host - myvirtualmission.com. We create the route using the platform and will have special stops at the Father Peyton Centre in Attymass, County Mayo. Father Peyton was a Notre Dame graduate. Another special stop will be at Kylemore Abbey where a special virtual tour of the Abbey will be conducted to promote tourism and educational opportunities, once things are allowed to return to business as usual.

Another objective is to promote Irish tourism to participants, who will have a better idea of where they would like to visit based on their virtual experience.

We have also reached out to the Irish Camino Society to be a strategic partner, and to promote their organization an offerings. A Wild Atlantic Way Compostela, complete with a stamp from the Irish Camino Society, will be presented to those participants who complete the virtual journey.

We believe this project is, indeed, one that can become a reality due to the strength of the strategic partners. Additional help, through this Global Design Challenge will help us to replicate potential experiences at Notre Dame Global Gateway locations around the world.

Built With

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