News Around School

Virtual Summer Camp ND Book Club

Since 2005, Notre Dame has offered an academic summer camp experience for girls entering 7th, 8th, and 9th grades. This year, the four-week program during June and July was virtual for the first time. Through interactive projects and a collaborative approach, the ND faculty worked with the students every day and helped them develop critical thinking skills necessary for academic successes in math, science, English and art.

ND teacher Ms. Liz Davenport planned a creative course for the girls in the art portion of the summer camp. Students learned about a range of diverse artists and created visual art using different online platforms.

In the sciences, Ms. Ioana Donose made sure that the students had hands-on experiences through virtual labs. One experiment was focused on the sounds in the environment.

These young artists and scientists expressed their true enjoyment of the experience and all reported that they learned a great deal at the ND Summer Camp. The Notre Dame Book Club was founded four years ago by now current seniors, Brigid McCabe and Devon Neville with the help of club moderator and English teacher, Ms. Lydie Kane ’96. Over the years, selections have covered a range of genres, with an emphasis on women writers. The Book Club has read works by Toni Morrison, Roxanne Gay, Virginia Woolf and Natasha Tretheway, just to name a few. The recent change to an online platform has allowed the ND Book Club to include parents, alumnae and all members of the Notre Dame community. This year, The Book Club is selecting works that focus on eradicating systemic racism. These books include Colson Whitehead’s, The Underground Railroad, So You Want To Talk About Race by Oluo Ijeoma, and Jon Meacham’s new book, His Truth is Marching on: John Lewis and the Power of Hope. Brigid and Devon have continued to be extremely talented discussion facilitators, and the feedback from participants has been positive. We hope you will consider attending the next one!

ND WELCOMES THE DYNAMIC CLASS OF 2024!

Ninety-three new members of the Chez Nous community arrived on campus for the first time on September 3. And what a wonderfully diverse and interesting group they are!

Geographically, these new students hail from all five boroughs of New York City, as well Nassau County, Westchester County, and New Jersey. From Bayonne to Valhalla; from New Jersey to Rockville Centre, the 9th graders represent a vast portion of the region, near and far.

Academically, this incoming class is outstanding. From excellent grades to stellar test scores, these students have distinguished themselves as high achieving scholars. There are even some class valedictorians in the mix!

Athletically, the Class of 2024 contains runners, basketball players, and members of soccer leagues, (Ms. Maria Vulcano, Athletic Director, is very happy to meet them); while artistically, the new class consists of actors, singers and dancers, a few of whom were accepted to LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, but chose to share their talents at Notre Dame. (Music Director Ms. Nicole Wakabayashi is eager to begin working with them.)

Mr. Robert Grote, Director of Admissions, reports that all of these girls had many choices and decided on Notre Dame, and the ND community is thrilled that they have joined the Chez Nous family.