One Story: Meghan Stromberg

Currently, there are 739 girls at NDP. That’s 739 Works in Progress. 739 Unique Individuals. 739 Stories to Tell. There aren’t enough days in the year to tell them all. So…where to begin? Rather randomly, as it turns out. Which is not to say objectively. I spent a lot of time at NDP last year […]

Swimming Lessons

I believe in the importance of sports in a child’s life. I believe that participating in sports contributes to the mental, emotional, and physical well being of a child. And I believe that sports help develop essential character traits and values that can be used throughout life. I also think that in today’s world of […]

Why a Religious School?

Before the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and the resulting tidal wave that washed over Indochina and Sri Lanka, I had never heard of the term ‘tsunami.’ Since that devastating event, however, the word has become part of my vocabulary and turns out to be the perfect metaphor for contemporary culture. A tsunami has a momentum […]

Blue and White and Green All Over

Consider this: If all 7 billion people on this planet consumed energy, resources, and materials at the rate we do in the United States, we would need 4 earths to accommodate that level of consumption and waste. In other words, it’s unsustainable. A lot of people have been trying to tell us this for quite […]

Collateral Education

A poster suggesting that we “Love people, use things” was tacked to the kitchen wall of my childhood home, hung there by mother in a spurt of creativity. “I like the sentiment and the colors work nicely with the decor, don’t you think?” she said, by way of explanation as she sipped her coffee. I […]

A Certain Je Ne Sais Quoi

For some reason, which to this day remains a mystery to us both, my good friend Patti Bailey and I were placed in an advanced French class upon entering Notre Dame Prep as freshman so very many years ago. Perhaps it was our grade school record that led them to make certain assumptions about our […]

The Age of Innocence

It’s getting harder to believe in innocence anymore. I’ve seen too many 6 year olds going on 16 and 16 year olds going on 30. What’s the hurry? The most popular TV shows among teenagers have titles like Pretty Little Liars, Gossip Girls, and The Secret Life of an American Teenager. Each has a plotline […]

Excellence By Design

‘Peer evaluation’. There’s a term that’ll send a shudder down the spine of any garden-variety neurotic: Employer questionnaire: Please evaluate your co-worker, Susie B. Employee answer: I’m so glad you asked. I’ve been wanting to bring this to your attention for some time now. I feel that Susie B. can be very insensitive (I wouldn’t […]

Penny Queen

Let’s face it; if you are or have a school age child, chances are you’ve been recruited to do more than your fair share of fundraising. I know this because, more than likely, I’m your biggest customer. Personally speaking, I have enough Girl Scout Thin Mint cookies in my freezer to open my own bakery […]

Dame Maggie Ward

Yes, this is a post about Maggie Ward, NDP’s drama coach for more than 30 years, but don’t expect something out of Glee. NDP is no William McKinley High School of TV fame (thankfully), and Maggie Ward is neither a Will Schuster-wanna-be, nor a diva in her own right. In fact, the only theatrics she […]