Bennett Schmitt has been named salutatorian for Notre Dame’s Class of 2025. Schmitt, an environmental sciences and applied and computational mathematics and statistics (ACMS) major, earned a minor in energy studies while maintaining a 4.0 grade point average. He will graduate summa cum laude from the College of Science.
For Schmitt, Notre Dame was a lifelong dream that nearly wasn’t in the cards. Schmitt described how, when it came time to apply to colleges, he knew his parents had just put his older brothers through college and he understood that Notre Dame probably wouldn’t be an option. This changed when he received a scholarship from the Lily Endowment which would fund his full tuition at any school in Indiana, enabling him to attend Notre Dame.
When Schmitt went back to his elementary school with his graduating high school class to open their time capsule, he found that he had written that in 20 years he wanted to be a Notre Dame student. Schmitt reflected on his moment as he expressed how much of an honor it was to be named salutatorian, noting that while the math was off, he had aspirations of attending Notre Dame before he can even remember.
This appreciation was a catalyst during Schmitt’s time at the University. “Notre Dame quickly became this possibility and coming here opened up so many opportunities and doors that I would not have thought even existed. I tried to just embrace all of those experiences, try as many things as possible,” Schmitt said.
Schmitt was drawn to environmental science after growing up on a farm in Jasper, Indiana, sparking a lifelong passion for environmentalism and sustainability. His love for math led him to ACMS.
He was involved in research throughout his four years at Notre Dame, beginning with a solid state chemistry lab his freshman year. He stayed over the summer to work in this lab before deciding he wanted to move to the environmental science space, switching his major from chemistry to environmental sciences. Still, he noted how much he appreciated assistant professor Adam Jaffe of the chemistry department’s support in shaping his research experience.
He went on to participate in research more closely focused on clean energy storage, materials for clean energy, and carbon cycling in grassland ecosystems. He also conducted research on green hydrogen while abroad in Dublin.
Professor Antonio Simonetti, who he researched with for the longest, has been a huge mentor for Schmitt. Schmitt took several of his classes and said he “learned so much from him.”
He has now been working with professor Ryan Sensenig in an ecology lab, providing a grounded perspective on ecology and human relationships.
His favorite class experience was from ND Energy’s Puerto Rico seminar he took during his junior year, a course focused on the challenges Puerto Rico’s energy grid faces and potential solutions such as distributed energy and microgrids. The trip culminated in a trip to Puerto Rico.
Schmitt was heavily involved in Student Government’s Department of Sustainability throughout his time at the university, spending his senior year as the director of sustainability. He described this role as a balance between policy and programming, engaging students while collaborating with administrators on sustainability initiatives.
During his time with the department, he led a project on energy at the University which examined how the University is transitioning towards renewables for its carbon neutrality goal, collaborating with people in utilities and administrators before sharing the information with students.
Schmitt works as a calculus and linear algebra tutor at the Learning Resource Center as well as a teaching assistant for biostatistics and a freshman biology lab.
Asked what the biggest life lessons he learned during his time at Notre Dame was, Schmitt discussed how switching labs when he realized he couldn’t envision a career in the chemistry research he had been doing taught him to not force himself into any box or path.
“Learning to follow my passions and what gives me energy is one thing that really helped me think about what I was most excited to learn about and figure out what that would look like as a career,” Schmitt said.
He encouraged students to lean on the good people, whether that’s their friends or professors, on Notre Dame’s campus when they don’t know how to find their place.
Schmitt’s favorite memories at Notre Dame were studying abroad in Dublin and the last memories of senior year. “At the last football game, when we sang the alma mater for the last time with everyone in the stadium, it was just one of those moments that made me step back and think, wow, I enjoyed this so much over the last four years. I’ll miss it, but also it’s given me so much in the people, the lessons, the experiences and I’ve grown so much,” he said.
Following graduation, Schmitt will spend eight weeks researching in Kenya with Sensenig before pursuing his masters in urban sustainability at Trinity College Dublin through the Notre Dame Naughton Fellowship. He is excited to study “community resilience and how we build communities and cities that are equipped to deal with the impacts of climate change.”
