Sitting there listening to NDP junior, Siena Thrasher talk about “her life, her passions, and her faith,” I am reminded for all the world of The Little Flower, Therese of Lisieux. For starters, Siena bears an uncanny physical resemblance to Therese. She is a 21st century version of the 19th century saint: pretty, dark-eyed, and […]
Read More One Story: Siena ThrasherIt is December, and the noise level is deafening. Not even a major snowstorm could muffle the holiday clamor. Everywhere, Christmas has been cranked up and marked down, blared and blasted, misappropriated and misunderstood. Hark! The herald… If somewhere an angel sings, it is impossible to hear above the din. These are the darkest days of the […]
Read More Stone Soup and Other Tales of AdventThe last thing Headmistress Sister Patricia McCarron does each morning before she heads out the door for NDP is to make sure she’s wearing her School Sisters of Notre Dame (SSND) lapel pin. It is a tiny accessory, smaller than a postage stamp, yet it represents something quite significant. To those who wear it, the […]
Read More The SSND’s: Call and ResponseThat Doonesbury strip, written back in the 70’s during the height of the still nascent Women’s Movement, is one of my all time favorites. At that time, the character, Joanie Caucus, ran the local daycare center where she watched over, among other 3 and 4 year olds, young Ellie. Joanie was also a new and […]
Read More (Young) Women RisingRecently, Notre Dame Prep launched a new Capital Campaign under the banner, Honor Tradition, Value Change, Fund Her Future. As prelude to the campaign, I conducted separate interviews with quite a few members of the greater NDP community about what Notre Dame means to them and why they think it’s important to assure her future. Those […]
Read More NDP: One of a KindEvery summer, the NDP religion department creates a theme for the upcoming academic year. It is not just a clever phrase used to kick off the new year in style. The theme is displayed on bulletin boards and easels throughout the school as a sort of “thought for the day”…every day. It is also woven into […]
Read More This Year’s Theme: Women of the WordJune 2013: School is out. Camp is in. There were at least three camps in full swing at Notre Dame this summer: Sports Camp for prospective middle-schoolers, Laptop Camp for incoming freshman and Camp Umoja, a full out day camp for children from Baltimore City’s inner city neighborhoods. The Umoja campers ranged in age from […]
Read More Déjà Vu All Over AgainIn 2006 I had the distinct honor of delivering the commencement speech at Notre Dame. In preparation for the event, I spoke with a few of the graduates-to-be about their NDP experience and the road ahead. One of those young women was Chas Dunnaville, undeniably the brightest of stars in an exceptional class. While at […]
Read More The Person You’ve Become; The People We AreNDP senior, Sydney Tommins is delightfully and blissfully ordinary, which is meant to be taken as the highest of praise. In an era where teenagers are depicted – at least by the mass media – as overly experienced and world weary, jaded and full of sullen ennui, it is heartwarming to meet someone like Sydney […]
Read More One Story: Sydney TomminsIt made sense at the time. Interview a group of 6th graders towards the end of the school year and find out how their first year at Notre Dame went. There were several flaws in the plan, however. For one thing, I dropped by to conduct this hard-hitting bit of investigative journalism on a day […]
Read More The Class of 2019: Going Up!