Explore More!

When you get right down to it…all learning is exploration. Exploring what was discovered or will be discovered. What happened or will happen. What happens when I combine these numbers this way? Or those chemicals that way? What possibilities will open up to me if I learn this technology? Who will I reach if I […]

One Story: Amanda Abraham

I don’t know if they keep such accounts, but if they do, then NDP senior, Amanda Abraham, surely must hold the record for the fastest talker on the planet. I should have tape-recorded our interview together. Instead, I arrived armed with only a note pad and pen and became positively giddy trying to keep up […]

One Story: Siena Thrasher

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 […]

Pick A Club, Any Club

File this one under: “Something for Everyone” or “Learning In and Outside the Classroom” or… “Pick a Club, Any Club.” In an era where cutbacks for even the bare essentials have been made throughout nearly every public school system in the country, any student who attends a school where those very same essentials are protected […]

The Class of 2019: Going Up!

It 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 […]

Oh! The Humanities!

Not long ago, Notre Dame alum, Bette Ellis O’Conor (’46) and her husband, Jim, approached NDP with an idea. In keeping with the college preparatory mission of the school, the O’Conors wanted to establish an academic program that would open the girls’ eyes and minds to the interconnectedness of coursework as a way to better […]

NDP After Hours

If you visit Notre Dame during normal school hours you’ll find yourself in the thick of things wherever you go. Every corner of the school hums with activity and there’s an urgency to every task. After hours the school has an entirely different vibe. It’s quieter, which is not to say dull. Still, walking the […]

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 […]