Coming full circle: Blake Ziegler finds politics, God and a good life at Notre Dame

Author: Tracy DeStazio

Blake Ziegler

“The mind will not be cultivated at the expense of the heart,” said Blessed Basil Moreau, founder of the Congregation of Holy Cross. This core University of Notre Dame mission and vision is one that spoke to the heart of graduating senior Blake Ziegler ever since his middle school days at Holy Cross School in his hometown of New Orleans.

“What I especially loved about all my years of Holy Cross education was its commitment to cultivate the mind, the heart, the body and the soul,” Ziegler said. “Being able to continue that at Notre Dame was really important to me because I wanted to be in a place that invested in me to grow spiritually, personally and socially into a holistic person — one who can do good things for the world as well as find fulfillment for myself.”

Ziegler, a Marshall Scholarship finalist, former Benjamin A. Gilman Scholar and double honors major in political science and philosophy, embraced this motto with zeal while pursuing research interests in constitutional law concerning religious liberty and the relationship between politics and religion. A six-time recipient of the competitive Menard Family Tocqueville Fellowship with the Center for Citizenship and Constitutional Government, Ziegler provided support as a research assistant in the center, which gives students opportunities to pursue constitutional inquiry.

Click here to read the full Commencement feature.

 

Originally published by Tracy DeStazio at nd.edu on May 15, 2023.

 

Originally published by Tracy DeStazio at diversity.nd.edu on May 23, 2023.