When Danielle Green ’99 was a high-scoring, 5-foot-8 guard for Roosevelt High School in the Chicago Public League, she had an overarching goal: utilize basketball to earn a degree from the University of Notre Dame. It seemed a distant dream at times, coming from a chaotic background in a tough neighborhood. But persistent effort made it happen.

“I used to watch the football games on television all the time,” Green recalls. “Notre Dame just seemed like a special place. I felt like I belonged there.”

As a disadvantaged teen who lived with her grandmother and practically raised herself on the streets of Chicago’s South Side, the path to Notre Dame wasn’t an easy one. But Green exhibited a relentlessly strong will and a determination to set goals and achieve them.

“I think the resiliency I learned growing up helps me deal with where I am now and in my work,” Green says. “I saw my mother self-destruct, and I wanted to break that cycle. A Notre Dame education was a way to do that.”

After her time on the court with the Fighting Irish, Green joined the military and while serving with the U.S. Army in the Iraq war in May 2004, lost her lower left arm and hand when she was wounded by a rocket-propelled enemy grenade. She received a Purple Heart, and she was honored with an ESPY Award, the Pat Tillman Award for Service.

Danielle today balances family as the mother of a 6-year-old with her role as readjustment counselor for the Department of Veterans Affairs, helping fellow service vets cope with the physical and psychological trauma they have encountered on the battlefield. 

“I can relate to what these guys have been through. Hopefully, they see that in me.”