On Purpose
On Purpose: Love in Action
Now accepting applications (Deadline: Thursday, October 15, 2026). To learn more, contact Allie Griffith at agriffi7@nd.edu.
It’s easy to treat “purpose” as something we aspire to achieve – a career path to map out, a resumé to build, or a big social problem to solve. We can feel pressure to find it, and worry that we won’t feel fulfilled until we do.
On Purpose asks you to pause, take a step back, and go deeper. What if your purpose isn’t about a particular job title or a list of noble goals, but about how you respond to the person standing right in front of you?
Through our On Purpose immersions, you’ll have an opportunity to shift your focus from abstract ambitions to the daily practice of loving others. Grounded in this living “love ethic,” On Purpose prepares you for a life of deep human solidarity oriented toward the common good.
The program includes five on-campus pre- and post-immersion reflection meetings with the larger On Purpose cohort and a week-long off-campus immersion, all designed to help you practice love not as a vague feeling or emotion, but as a daily commitment to honoring our shared humanity. By learning to see our own hopes, vulnerabilities, and commitments echoed in the stories and lives of others, we discover that being a force for good isn’t just about what we achieve in our lifetime, but an ongoing practice of building a sense of shared purpose one person at a time.
2027 Notre Dame Immersions:
Resilient Love: Education and Culture in Pueblo Communities
In partnership with Notre Dame's American Indian Catholic School Network
This immersion experience acknowledges the ways American society has historically marginalized Indigenous peoples through systemic erasure and the active discounting of their sovereign traditions. In partnership with Notre Dame’s American Indian Catholic School Network, students will visit Pueblo community schools in New Mexico unified by their commitment to nurturing and uplifting Indigenous history and culture. Through these encounters, students will reflect on what it means to practice love that centers communities history has sought to push aside.
Radical Love: Kinship and Belonging at Homeboy Industries
In partnership with Campus Ministry
This immersion invites students into a radical kinship that recognizes the inherent dignity of formerly gang-involved and previously incarcerated individuals. Throughout the week, students will engage with the community at Homeboy Industries, the largest gang intervention, rehabilitation, and re-entry organization in the world. By entering into the “Homeboy Way,” students reflect on how being a force for good begins with the intentional choice to love with compassion rather than judgment.
Restorative Love: Forgiveness and Justice in the American South
In partnership with Klau Institute for Civil and Human Rights
In partnership with the Catholic Mobilizing Network and Wheaton College, this immersion throughout the American South focuses on the transformative practice of radical forgiveness and reconciliation. Students will look closely at the modern penal system – specifically mass incarceration and the death penalty – and reflect on what it takes to move from a culture of condemnation to one of healing. Grounded in a profound commitment to human dignity, this journey will challenge students to witness how restorative love can heal victims, transform violators, and break cycles of harm to reshape our collective sense of purpose.
Humanizing Love: Flourishing in the Future of Medicine
As artificial intelligence and institutional demands for efficiency threaten to reduce patients to data points, modern medicine stands at a profound crossroads. In partnership with the University of Birmingham, UK, this immersion invites Notre Dame students into a week of reflective conversations and workshops together with Birmingham medical students around how medicine can resist technological depersonalization. Through in-person encounters with community partners and roundtable discussions, students will examine the structural and ethical realities of healthcare across the US and UK systems. While this immersion is open to all Notre Dame undergraduate students, those with a specific interest in medicine are encouraged to apply.
Read about Bjorn Mauritsen's 2025 On Purpose experience
Read about Alice O'Brien's 2025 On Purpose experience
2027 On Purpose Grants
For institutional partners interested in applying for an On Purpose grant, click here.