February 14th is a day when it is traditional to send a card or gifts to a person or multiple parties with whom one shares a loving bond or connection. In the old-school tradition, this gesture was purposely meant to be anonymous, or done as a surprise for a new connection or love interest, hence the term “secret admirer.” Fans and alumni of the University of Notre Dame are perhaps the furthest things from the idea of “secret” admirers though, as some wear their pride and passion for the university on their sleeves.

We’ve all traded fun or silly Valentine’s Day cards with our elementary school classmates at some point in our lives.Out in Stockton, California, this special group of future Notre Dame alumni and fans couldn’t wait to share their love with us, and so this year, Her Loyal Sons received a special collection of Valentine’s Day cards from a spectacular group of young fans who are bursting with love for Notre Dame.

At the Taylor Leadership Academy, an Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) school in Stockton, California, 3rd-Grade teacher Allison Silva has been working to instill the value of a college education in her students. Her classroom has grown to become deeply passionate about the value of higher education ever since they adopted the University of Notre Dame as their “sister” school more than three years ago. While all her classes have shown deep admiration for the Notre Dame family and their football team, the most recent group (the class of 2029) has been noticeably more enthusiastic than previous classes.

Ms. Silva was recognized by the University of Notre Dame in October of 2015 for her wonderful work with her students, and through her Twitter account (which you must follow @alsil23) she was invited to campus for an official visit to all the facilities and to attend the senior day game against Wake Forest. If you have not seen the First Time Fans video of her experience, and her incredibly awesome students, check it out now:

This past Valentine’s Day the class got together and made some of the cutest, funniest, and most outstanding Notre Dame Football Valentine’s Day cards you will ever see. Here are the original tweets of the cards as shared by Ms. Silva via her class Twitter account:

@JaeeSmiff9ENT when students design their own V-Day cards! You are our hero! How can anyone handle the cuteness? #???????? pic.twitter.com/akemDwvI2z

— Ms Silva’s 3rd Grade (@alsil23) February 3, 2016

If seeing Jaylon as drawn by a 3rd-grade super fan doesn’t just warm your heart, nothing will.

@SheldonDay_91 when we design our own V-Day cards! Be a boss like SHELDON! You are our hero! We ???? you! #cutest ever pic.twitter.com/uF27dSjiOd

— Ms Silva’s 3rd Grade (@alsil23) February 3, 2016

BE A BOSS LIKE SHEDON!! I mean, come on. How can you NOT smile at that?

@Will_Fuller7 you have your very own V-Day card design in CA! Heart can’t take the cuteness! We ???? you! #cutestever pic.twitter.com/NpaYEbSLKH

— Ms Silva’s 3rd Grade (@alsil23) February 3, 2016

I hope you heart gets FULLER?! /dead

@THunterJr when our class designs their own V-Day cards! Can’t take the cuteness! We love you & you are our hero! #???? pic.twitter.com/ySoj77yMnp

— Ms Silva’s 3rd Grade (@alsil23) February 3, 2016

Pun game SO STRONG WITH THESE KIDS! They are my heroes.

@LuckyLefty8 when we design our own V-Day cards in class! We love you and you are our hero! #underarmor #we????Malik pic.twitter.com/QA2BDERNIr

— Ms Silva’s 3rd Grade (@alsil23) February 3, 2016

I cannot get over the fact that they got his heft-handedness correct. I just can’t. Too perfect.

@CoachBrianKelly while this student may have missed the V-Day mark its still a message worth sending! #we????ourcoach pic.twitter.com/GuzplvwEG9

— Ms Silva’s 3rd Grade (@alsil23) February 3, 2016

What Notre Dame Football collection would be complete without Coach Brian Kelly keeping the fellas in line? NONE I TELL YOU!

The truth is this: I saw these and completely melted inside. To see the next generation of Notre Dame fanatics create these amazing little works of art – and to see the love they poured into them – gave me an incredible feeling of joy and pride. I feel pride that the generation behind us will be even better fans than we are right now. I feel joy in seeing the purity of their love for a community that welcomed them with such great, big open arms. As a subway alum myself, it gave me a deep feeling of unity, and I felt overcome with love for this group of children on the opposite end of our country who happened to love the same school that I love so dearly.

I reached out to Ms. Silva in hopes that we could get our hands on some of these Valentine’s Cards, and Ms. Silva responded with as much enthusiasm as you would expect, and then some. After a lovely exchange, she agreed to have her students draw up some more cards which she would mail to us. When we got them, I could hardly contain myself. Don’t let me spoil it, take a look for yourselves:

As adorable as that all is, what we didn’t expect was that she would also have each student send us hand written letters thanking us for supporting them and for all the love that we have shared with them. Without knowing us personally, each student told us all about what they love most about Notre Dame, and how much they love us for supporting them. They sent us cool things about themselves, what their hobbies were and they all had innumerable questions about our Notre Dame experiences. We cannot wait to write them all back!

This is what Valentine’s Day and love are really all about. A day when it is traditional to send a card or gifts to a person or multiple parties with whom one shares a loving bond or connection. I know that after getting to know these wonderful kids, I can say this without hesitation: Her Loyal Sons loves Ms. Silva’s 3rd Grade Class!

Follow Ms. Silva’s 3rd Grade class on Twitter! @alsil23

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Now, if these young alumni will graduate in 2029, that means they will enroll as freshmen in 2025. While I haven’t any doubt whatsoever that each of these fine, leprechaun-sized scholars will make it to Our Lady’s University, Notre Dame will necessarily be a different school nine years from now. In 1879 we had a pile of charred timbers and blackened bricks; in 1888 we had a Golden Dome. One walk across campus today, and you realize that, as Heraclitus said, you can’t step into the same quad twice.

Thus, let us consider what our beloved Notre Dame will look like when Ms. Allison Silva’s third-graders begin their four-year adventure under the dome in 2025.

*** The bronze statue of Brian Kelly is unveiled outside the southwest tower of StadiumCity. The fifteen storey structure, now renamed the Kelly Tower, appropriately houses the Department of Irish Language and Literature, as well as Westish Dining Hall, the 150-bed McCorquodale Residence Allotment for Men, and part of Grounds-and-Maintenance. Kelly Tower matches the southeast tower of StadiumCity, itself recently renamed Burj Hesburgh. Retired head coach Brian Kelly himself was on-hand for the unveiling ceremony, during which he reminisced about the 2017 Championship Season which, at 17 games, was the longest Notre Dame football season on record.

*** Head Footbal Coach Louis Leo “Skip” Holtz, Jr., praised his predecessor in his own remarks during the event, but reminded Kelly that he – Skip – already has a bronze statue of himself outside StadiumCity, as one of the players standing behind his father Lou. Considering that The Arbiters of Excellence (formerly known as college football playoff selection committee) now require independent football teams to go undefeated for two complete seasons before being granted a playoff berth, there are alumni rumblings that Skip Holtz may have to wait a while to see a statue of his own. Fortunately, proud father Lou Holtz is able to watch all of Skip’s home games from the St. Andre Tower of StadiumCity, which houses the Alumni and Honorary Alumni Retirement Village and Assisted Living Resort and Spa.

*** The statue unveiling and tower christening were presided over by Father George Rozum, C.S.C., now in his fifth year as President of the University of Notre Dame. Commenting on the amazing energy of the spry 86-year-old university leader, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Condoleezza Rice said, “Making Fr. George President was the only way we could get him out of Alumni Hall.” Rozum’s tenure as President of Notre Dame has seen continued growth of the University. The StadiumCity project was completed, making the home of the Fighting Irish the “Biggest, Tallest, Most Complicated” athletic, academic, residential, food-selling, pastoral care, self-sufficient “UniversiPlex” in the country.

*** Fr. Rozum has also tried to bring an end to the vicious cycle of ‘Musical Dorms,’ that began under his predecessor Archbishop John Jenkins, C.S.C.. This seemingly never-ending shuffling of student populations around the campus began with the opening of two new residence halls on Dragon Quad (so named because its remote location prompted campus map illustrators to write “Here be Dragons” to mark the site). The men’s dorm, Hesburgh Hall – affectionately called Teddy by residents who don’t want people to think they live in the library – sits next to New Pangborn Hall, which was filled with residents of the dorm previously named Pangborn in the original cultural experiment. The old Pangborn was renamed Pothole Hall, since anything would fill it. First Walsh and then Badin women were moved into the Pothole during major renovations; but the whole system broke down when the Morrissey men were scheduled to spend a year in the ‘Hole. When work began on the “Manor,” a construction worker removed a transom over a door and the whole structure nearly collapsed in a steaming heap. It has taken an international team of architects and engineers, a Novena-marathon in Sacred Heart, and roughly $14.5 million to save Morrissey, but Fr. Rozum hopes to reopen the hall next year. In the meantime, the Manor-Tent-Camp continues to occupy the remains of the Burke Golf Course, while the men of Zahm have moved into Pothole Hall (now without windows, because of the stench). When Fr. Rozum exempted Alumni Hall residents from having to move anywhere, Dillon seceded from the University and posted armed guards, prompting the administration to treat Dillon like Carroll and ignore it completely.

*** All of this barely controlled chaos is to be settled by the start of next year, in preparation for the visit of Pope Leo XIV, Class of 1981. The former Charles Cardinal Brown, previously the Nuncio to Ireland and Prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for Catholic Education, is a loyal son of Notre Dame, and also the first American Pope (though that is only of mild interest to the alumni). He will visit his Alma Mater in 2026, and will say Mass in StadiumCity, further consecrating the already hallowed ground. Much of this landmark event has been organized my University President-Emeritus Archbishop John Jenkins, now in charge of the Pontifical Council for Economic Expansion, also known as “Vati-Development.” Pope Leo will dedicate the new glass dome on the basketball arena with the help of Muffet McGraw and Mike Brey, two of the longest serving coaches in Notre Dame history. McGraw has vowed to coach until she wins her fourth National Championship; and though Brey has found his way to two Final-Fours and two Championships, he has stated repeatedly that he will not retire until he finds a fetching necktie.

*** As much as things have changed, much has stayed the same. The University remains a premier institution of higher education and a powerful force for good; the Dome still reflects both the sunlight and the hopes and dreams of millions; voices raised in prayer have never ceased to echo from the Grotto;  snow remains possible from October to April; parietals are still in force; and Notre Dame is always Our Mother.

That is just a guess at what Our Lady’s University will look like in 2025, when the young men and women of Ms. Silva’s class enroll. But don’t ask me what Notre Dame will look like by the time they graduate in 2029 – that’s four whole years later.

EFS CSC

Post-Script: The football game played on the weekend of the Kelly statue dedication saw the Irish defeat the Michigan Wolverines by the unusual score of 37-0, when Coach Holtz successfully went for three after the fifth touchdown.

Padre’s book Father Sorin Says: The Founder Comments on Today’s Notre Dame is available from the Hammes Notre Dame Bookstore and Amazon. A gift for loyal students, alumni, and friends of the University – a punishment for fans of all other teams.

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