Notre Dame Academy

I visited the school as a prospective teacher, so that the perspective from which I observed will differ from many others. On the other hand, I have taught at more than one school and some major universities, so that my observations may be worth reading.
By the time that I interviewed here, I had already negotiated other independent part time activities plus the required state certification, and had just been able to finish a longer term assignment. The school and I thought that we could explore my teaching one Advanced Placement class, a standard five contact hours per week. That is actually quite a bit more than my usual full time teaching load at a research university, but of course at the secondary level, that is considered about a quarter full time or less.
I found the environment here very impressive. In my prospective class, I estimated that each student was allotted about $ 10 000 or more of personal-​use updated advanced equipment, of a kind not commonly available at this level, and no-​additional-​fee consumable supplies for this one class. I observed classes in session, and I thought that the facilities were not just for show, but that equipment and supplies were well integrated into instruction. The students were engaged and asked very good questions, and the teachers seemed engaged as well. The senior faculty and administration struck me as very solid and focused on achieving instructional and important broader educational objectives.
As it happened, I ended up accepting a different assignment that I thought would lead in unique and useful directions instead, but absent that unexpected opportunity, I felt that Notre Dame Academy would have presented both this teacher, and more important her students, some very worthwhile experiences and background for future growth.

Notre Dame Academy has been the best decision I made to send my 2 girls to NDA. It is a school that has given my girls a safe place to spend their high school years. They have been pushed to their highest potential because all of the girls and teachers are so motivited to do their best. My daughter got into 15 nursing schools all with great scholarships! I credit this to the training and the push to do well that NDA gave her. She has learned that hard work will pay off. She has learned the value of hard work. She has learned the incredible feeling that community services gives back to you. She has strengthened in her faith on her own. She has been an incrdible kid and I think going to NDA helped her to stay so focused and good and on the right track for the rest of her life. I think what she has learned there in so many ways besides academics will stay with her for the rest of her life. We loved it so much that we now have our younger daughter there now as a Freshman. This school is very very hard. The girls work so much harder than any public school but they do realize that it is the best thing for them. It is a stressful atmophere in some ways but it only does the kids good. I wouldn’t hesitate to send your daughter there. It is expensive and goes up every year which is really tough. We truly sacrifice to send our daughters there but I have seen the results in my older daugher to make it seem more worth it. Love the school!

Ahh, high school. Smell the memories.
So, I had to learn the hard way that when you leave home, you tend to idealize it. I tend to think of this place as a kind of breeding ground for radical feminism sprinkled with a little mass on the side.
With my ten year reunion rolling around, I was a little too pumped up to get an email from our ‘class rep’ addressed to everyone. It’s not that I intended to go exactly (in fact I had a conversation exactly to the opposite effect with my close friend from high school recently), but there was something about remembering all those girls. My memories of the nice nuns and the green tiled hallways (we used to refer to our school as a giant bathroom) all came rushing back.
ZZzziip (you know, that record noise where you come back to reality)— when I emailed our rep to inform her that I would not be attending, she made it totally apparent that she didn’t have a *fucking* clue who I was! How dare she! I was rememberable, damnit! I did stuff! No, I didn’t sleep with multiple members of the football team at our brother school, but I was there; I was.. .
Yea, so high school sucks. I know I should have remembered this, but I didn’t. This is just a word of caution to all of you out there who might be overly sappy about their whole experience: they won’t even remember you!