- Notre Dame High School (San Jose, California)
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Notre Dame High School Address 596 South 2nd Street
San Jose, California, (Santa Clara County), 95112
United StatesCoordinates 37°19′42″N 121°52′57″W / 37.32833°N 121.8825°WCoordinates: 37°19′42″N 121°52′57″W / 37.32833°N 121.8825°W Information Type Private, All-Female Motto "Teach them what they need to know for life." Religious affiliation(s) Roman Catholic Established 1851 Founder Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur Principal Mary Beth Riley Vice principal Janice Tupaj-Farthing;
John BraccoGrades 9-12 Enrollment 625 (2008-2009) Color(s) Blue and White Mascot Regent Accreditation(s) Western Association of Schools and Colleges[1] Tuition $14,250 Director of Development Anna Quinones Dean of Students Ellen Cohen Director of Enrollment Athletic Director Devin Engebretsen Activities Director Catherine Pandori Website http://www.ndsj.org Notre Dame High School is a private, Catholic, college preparatory high school for girls founded in 1851 by the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur and operates within the Diocese of San Jose, California, USA. The school is located in San Jose, California. The school's mission is driven by the teachings of Saint Julie Billiart, the foundress of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur: "Teach them what they need to know for life."
Contents
Notable alumnae
- Linda Park - actress (graduated 1996). Famous for her role as Hoshi Sato on Star Trek: Enterprise.
School history
Notre Dame is an all-girls Catholic high school situated in downtown San Jose. The school was founded by the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur and opened on August 4, 1851 on Santa Clara Street. Since the founding, the school has moved several times: to the Ralston estate, located in Belmont on the San Francisco Peninsula while the school underwent renovations; back to Santa Clara Street, and again to the location where it is currently, on Second and Reed Street in San Jose. The Second and Reed Street location was home to the O’Connor Mansion, which was donated in 1898 to the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur.
Since the moving of the school, many additional buildings were built in order to accommodate the growing number of students. In 1958, the construction of two buildings began. Julie Billiart Hall served the purpose of a gathering place for school functions, a gym, and a cafeteria. Madonna Hall, later renamed Donnelly Hall in honor of Sister Mary Emmanuel Donnelly, is a two-story building that contains classrooms, teacher offices, and now a fully functional computer lab.
Later, the O’Connor Mansion had to be torn down due to its deterioration and Manley Hall was built in its stead. The first time Manley Hall was opened and made available for students’ use was September 9, 2002. Manley Hall is a three-story building, designed by Anderson-Brulé Architects. The building, though modern in design and use, still gives off an air of age and history, as was the intent of the architects. To add to this feeling was the inclusion of the fireplaces and artifacts saved from the O’Connor Mansion, the more noticeable being the fireplace located in the library and the glass doors (though one is a replica) of the Alumnae Room. All of the floors of this building are decorated with the class photos from the school, the earliest dating before the 1890s. As of 2012, it is 161 years old.
Information paraphrased from ndsj.org
Class mascots and colors
Each grade has their own mascots and colors, which were voted on at the beginning of their freshman year. No two classes may have any overlaps in colors and no class may have black or white as a class color. Currently, they are:
Class of 2012 - The Pink and Green Cobras
Class of 2013 - The Teal and Yellow Super Heroes
Class of 2014 - The Red and Purple Phoenixes
Class of 2015 - The Maroon and Gold Goddesses
In the past, they have been:
Class of 2011 - The Royal Blue and Orange Warriors
Class of 2010 - The Purple and Gold Bandits
Class of 2009 - The Lime Green and Turquoise Ninjas
Class of 2008 - The Pink and Silver Tigers
Class of 2007 - The Red and Gray Pirates
Class of 2006 - The Sapphire Blue and Gold Phoenixes
Class of 2005 - The Light Blue and Purple Comets
Class of 2004 - The Green and Silver Dragons
Class of 2003 - The Orange and Yellow Flames
Class of 2002 - The Maroon and Gold Wizards
Class of 2001 - The Red and Brown Bulldogs
Class of 2000 - The Teal and Silver Dragons
Class of 1999 - The Purple and Gray Party Bombs
Class of 1998- The Maroon and Gold Jesters
Class of 1997 - The Green and Black Marvin the Martians
Spirit Week winner
2011 - Class of 2012, Cobras
2010 - Class of 2010, Bandits
2009 - Class of 2009, Ninjas
2008 - Class of 2008, Tigers
2007 - Class of 2007, Pirates
2006 - Class of 2006, Phoenixes
2005 - Class of 2006, Phoenixes
2004 - Class of 2004, Dragons
2003 - Class of 2003, Flames
2002 - Class of 2003, Flames
2001 - Class of 2002, Wizards
Extracurricular activities
Notre Dame High School of San Jose (NDSJ) provides a wide variety of activities outside of classes, including numerous clubs, sports, and interaction with the San Jose community. Clubs can range from different cultures (i.e. Filipino Student Association, Latinas Unidas, Vietnamese Student Association) to hobbies (i.e. Culinary, Art, Lit Mag, Improv/Comedy Sportz, Film Fest) to helping students reach their goals in the future (i.e. Future Business Leaders Association, California Scholarship Federation). Different clubs can hold their own activities that may interact with other high schools around San Jose, giving the girls a chance to socialize not only with the other classes of Notre Dame, but also with their peers from other schools. Each club is appointed a moderator, who is a teacher who oversees the club's meetings and activities, and a main council (president, VP, treasurer, secretary, athletic coordinator) that collaborates together to organize and set up meetings and club-sponsored activities.
Big Sister/Little Sister Program
Notre Dame's close-knit community perpetuates sisterhood through its Big Sis'/Lil Sis' Program. Paired by homerooms, each third year student is appointed a frosh student. The junior student takes on the big sister role as a mentor for the frosh, since the transition between middle school to high school may be difficult for incoming students. The Big sis'/Lil sis' pair continue the following year when the frosh becomes a sophomore and the junior becomes a senior. When the senior graduates, her Lil Sis' becomes a junior who then takes on the Big Sis roll and consequently gets matched with an incoming student the following year.
Community service
One graduation requirement of students is community service hours. The point in adding community service as a graduation requirement is to teach girls how to be "socially responsible and answer the call to be a person of justice." NDSJ tries to integrate justice into their students by making the girls look at their surroundings and try to make a difference in the San Jose community.
The service hour requirements are as follows:
Freshmen: 10 hours working with women and children.
Sophomores: 15 hours working with the marginalized and vulnerable populations (ex. elderly, physically/mentally impaired, refugees, and/or migrant workers).
Juniors: 20 hours of service at one agency to address a local issue of the student's choice (ex. environment, health care/hospital work, immigration, literacy, or socio-economic disadvantages.) 10 hours may be completed during the summer prior to junior year.
Seniors: Student designed Senior Service Learning Project. (SSLP) 25+ project portfolio and group reflection session. All hours may be completed during the summer before senior year.
Notes and references
- ^ WASC-ACS. "WASC-Accrediting Commission for Schools". http://www.acswasc.org/directory_search.cfm. Retrieved 2009-06-05.
External links
Categories:- Girls' schools in the United States
- Educational institutions established in 1851
- Sisters of Notre Dame
- Roman Catholic Diocese of San Jose in California
- Roman Catholic secondary schools in California
- High schools in San Jose, California
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