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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

NDP Open House: The Joint Was Jumpin’

One of the things I am most impressed with whenever I visit Notre Dame is the joyful energy of the school. It’s always buzzing with activity and the kids seem genuinely happy and engaged. I’ve visited on many occasions over the years and my experience is always the same. I’ve even been back to film […]

Art For More Than Art’s Sake

Do not conform to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind…Romans 12:2 There is nothing more thrilling than connecting in a very personal way with a work of art. Imagine how thrilling it must be for the artist to create it. To take the mundane material of life, run it through […]

Blue Ribbon Year

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit. Aristotle. Does excellence matter? In an era where we give our kids trophies for striking out and kudos for feeling good about themselves (if not their actual skills) it begs the question…does excellence matter? The U.S. Department of Education thinks […]