Beyond the Academy Magazine - Winter 2024

Celebrating 75 Years of Innovation

Celebrating 100 years of the Sisters of Notre Dame in California

Notre Dame Academy celebrates 75 years

welcome table of contents

One hundred years ago, the Sisters of Notre Dame left behind all they knew in Ohio and undertook a great mission: to go to California and build a house of love. After working at the St. Lawrence of Brindisi School in Watts, these pioneering women bought the property on which our Notre Dame Academy stands, founded the Rosa Mystica province of Sisters—for which our own Rosa Mystica Hall is named—and turned their goal into reality by building NDA Elementary School. They didn’t stop here, of course, and went on to establish houses of love and learning throughout Southern California.

Like these Sisters, I have a long history with Catholic education—especially when it comes to Notre Dame Academy. Many generations of my family have graduated from Notre Dame Academy High School along with me, from my older cousins to my daughters (who also attended the elementary school) and nieces. And in a particularly special coincidence, I was also blessed to begin my administrative career at St. Lawrence of Brindisi. Each of us has benefited immensely from the Sisters of Notre Dame and their gift of a high-quality, Catholic education, and it has been a true honor to play a role in the continuation of the NDA tradition over the years.

Our Notre Dame Academy community continues to build on the Sisters’ tradition of excellence in education and innovation. The high school curriculum highlights entrepreneurship, business, and STEM skills, helping students break new ground where women have historically been underrepresented. They also learn to think more creatively, be fearless, serve others, and take risks, all in the same pioneering spirit as the school’s founders. We are proud to build upon that spirit every day at NDA, from our plans to expand the middle school with an all-girls offering, to our daily efforts to be of service to others. May we always continue to honor the original sisters with love, leadership, and a sense of adventure in the next 75 years of Notre Dame Academy education—and more.

Lilliam Paetzold ’84 President/Head of School

4 Pioneers to California

8 Campus Life

75th Anniversary

Events

School Year Kick Off Mass

August 15, 2024: Feast of the Assumption Msgr. James Forsen - Celebrant

Regal Reunion August 17, 2024

Winter 2024

Editor: Siobhan O’Neill

Contributors: Kim Acosta ’08, Kristin Callaghan, Samantha Costanzo Carleton ’11, Kailani M. ’24, Liz Roland, and Sister Joanne Wittenburg SND ’58.

Photography: Raynelle Duronslet ’98, Brad Fuller, Catherine Lacey, Melissa Martinez, Siobhan O’Neill, Axelle R. ’24, SND California Archives and Sister Betty Mae Bienlein ’60, SND Archivist.

Graphic Designer: Stacie Martinez

Beyond the Academy is published by Notre Dame Academy for alumnae, parents, and friends. Class Notes and In Memoriam can be submitted at academy. ndasla.org/alumnae/class-notes or academy.ndasla.org/alumnae/prayerrequestin-memoriam or emailed to advancement@ndala.com.

6 Seniors Earn Prestigious College Scholarships

10 The First First Grader

11 Making a Difference

12 Class Notes

13 In Memoriam / Upcoming Events Notre Dame Academy 2851 Overland Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90064 310.839.5289

www.academy.ndasla.org

75th Anniversary of School Opening Celebration with Mass & Picnic September 14, 2024

Notre Dame Day Mass

October 3, 2024

Bishop Matthew G. Elshoff, O.F.M. Cap Celebrant

Day of Service

March 2025 TBD

75th Gala: Making A Difference April 12, 2025

Pioneers to California

Excerpted from Spreading the Fire by Sister Joanne Wittenburg, SND ’58

1924 Ferdinand R. Bain builds his 100-acre estate with a red brick Colonialstyle home on Overland Avenue and names it Rancho La Lomita, or “Little Hill Ranch.”

1939 Paramount Pictures purchases the distressed Rancho La Lomita to build its Paramount City studio, only to sell it in 1941 to the Overland Housing Company, which subdivided the land to build homes.

1944 Reverend Mother Mary Vera Ness, provincial superior of the Sisters of Notre Dame in Cleveland, identifies the last 2.5 acres surrounding the original Bains’ home – the only large parcel still intact from the original estate – as the site for a future elementary school.

“This school, with the home on the property, we can use then for the present for our yearly retreats and for the summer homecoming. The property is too small for building our novitiate, etc.”

1945 Mother Mary Vera, SND, makes her annual visit from Cleveland in the fall and describes her first glimpse of Notre Dame Convent:

“It would be very difficult to describe our emotions when, for the first time, our Cleveland car turned in the driveway of OUR OWN HOME on the WEST COAST. We had left ‘home’ behind, only to find it again at our destination. And what a HOME it is!”

1945 The Sisters of Notre Dame take title of the land at the end of May, and in less than four weeks, welcomed the Sisters for “Homecoming Day.” Since the convent could not accommodate all of the Sisters at the same time, they took turns vacationing at “Overland.” After all of the Sisters had made a retreat, Sister Mary Loyole Gabal, SND, Sister Mary Celestine Raetz, SND, and Sister Mary Gladys King, SND, remained at Overland to oversee the construction of the new elementary building and to prepare for the opening of school.

1946 Although elementary classes were scheduled to begin on February 1, construction and rain delay the opening to April 1. When the tile floor had still not been laid at the end of March, Sister Mary William Gara, SND, the first principal, writes to Mother Mary Vera:

“There wasn’t the slightest chance of taking 33 little ones into a building…[that was] damp and cold – no flooring – and still NOTRE DAME would open on April 1. We simply had to open…There was only one thing to do and that was to open school in the Convent.”

1946 On September 10, Notre Dame Academy, the first school owned by the Sisters of Notre Dame on the west coast, begins a full year of classes for grades one through six in the completed building and with an additional five Sisters on the faculty.

1948 With an incomplete annex for the first eighth graders in September, the Sisters rearrange the elementary classrooms to accommodate the middle school students for the month. Construction finishes by October 4, just in time to welcome the school’s first class of kindergartners along with the junior high students.

1948 After tabling plans for a high school due to financial constraints, during her annual visit in the fall, Mother Mary Agnes Bosche, SND, remarks that when the first eighth grade students graduate from the elementary school in June 1949, the girls must be able to enter Notre Dame Academy High School. Sister Mary Madelyn Ryan, SND, recalls:

“We all lost our breath. In one chorus we all asked, ‘Who is going to do the building?’ The answer came very definitely with Mother Mary Agnes’ usual smile, ‘You people are. Just get busy thinking.’ That meant more building. Where to get the money? That was up to us.”

1960 By the end of the 1950s, Notre Dame Academy reaches its capacity enrollment with a curriculum that includes a full four-year college preparatory program along with classes in home economics and business.

1968 Notre Dame Academy phases out home economics and business tracks to become a strictly college preparatory high school for girls.

1946 On Sunday, September 29, Auxiliary BishopElect Timothy Manning presides at the dedication of the school. His remarks are both a hope and a prophecy as he likens the dedication of a new school to a christening:

“Heaven itself has seen fit to participate in that christening by sending the little shower of rain, just enough to sprinkle the new building… the new school bears the name of Notre Dame, and is placed under the patronage of Our Blessed Mother. No project under her patronage can fail.”

1947 Construction begins on the two-story annex when the first class of seventh graders filled the main building to capacity. The building would provide two classrooms for the junior high students on the main floor and additional living space for the Sisters on the second.

1949 On May 13 - 15, the Sisters host a threeday fundraiser culminating in a ham dinner. Having organized successful benefit dinners in Cleveland, they hoped for similar success in California. Mother Mary Agnes, SND, received the following report:

“‘The Ham What Am’ carried its power of advertisement so well that we served approximately twelve hundred people… [and] netted a gratifying $12,000 – a good beginning for our greater Notre Dame in California.”

1949 Although financial issues delay construction, the Sisters are determined to begin classes in September as Mother Mary Agnes wished. They transform the elementary library into a high school classroom to welcome 28 young women as the first freshman class.

1992 The front of the auditorium is extended to accommodate a dance studio, weight room, art room and computer lab in a two-story addition.

1995 The Richard Riordan Foundation funds the elementary school’s first state-of-the-art computer classroom.

1950 The Sisters break ground on the high school building in March and complete construction the following year.

1954 Two wings containing a chapel, science lab, and auditorium/gym are added. The spacious new chapel is especially meaningful for the Sisters, as the Chapel of Our Lady, Mother of Grace is the first large enough to accommodate all of the Sisters assigned to California. Sister Mary William Gara, SND, remarks:

“They now had a place where they could all gather for the Eucharistic Sacrifice and for community celebrations…Thoughts of gratitude to the good God for helping us through this long-desired hope…were secretly offered to the good God.”

2011 The former annex is transformed into the “Villa,” dedicated to providing modern educational spaces for middle school students. The school implements a one-to-one iPad program and welcomes its first transitional kindergarten class.

2015 The convent building, Bain’s original Colonial-style home, is renovated over the summer to accommodate the growing space demands of the elementary, middle, and high schools and is renamed Rosa Mystica Hall.

2018 Generous donations from Shea Family Charities, the Ahmanson, Parsons, and Brandlin foundations, Henry Jordan, and the NDA Board of Directors fund a major facelift of the main high school building and create a new Student Learning Commons.

2023 Notre Dame Academy announces the opening of its all-girl Catholic middle school, the first of its kind in West Los Angeles, and prepares to welcome its first classes of sixth graders in the fall of 2024.

academic excellence

Seniors Earn Prestigious College Scholarships

For the second consecutive year, a Regal has earned a full scholarship through QuestBridge. Imani Ferris, who will attend Claremont McKenna, is one of just 2,242 recipients chosen from more than 20,800 worthy applicants for the four-year, full-ride scholarship. She is the third NDA student to earn the distinguished award.

“Imani is a leader in her class as well as her community as a whole,” said De’Jah Carver, director of Academic and College Counseling. “As a founding member and current president of LAHSO (Latin American Hispanic Student Organization), she takes pride in her heritage and in sharing it with the NDA community. A talented student athlete, Imani has played travel softball since third grade and maintains exceptional academic standards with her demanding travel schedule. Claremont McKenna recognized that and she will play softball there as well. Her drive for success is one of her more admirable attributes and I’m sure she’ll tackle college with the same drive.”

The Posse Foundation has also recognized an NDA senior with a full scholarship. Alyssa M. will attend the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the fall as a Posse Scholar. She is the fourth Regal in the past five years to earn the award. The Posse Foundation supports talented students from diverse backgrounds so they can become 21st-Century leaders.

“Alyssa displays incredible leadership qualities in her roles with the Black Student Union and Queen’s Council. She’s an excellent

student athlete who played indoor volleyball all four years at NDA,” said Gary Ho, Academic and College counselor. “With her preparation and dedication, she will undoubtedly build on the legacy of success that NDA students have proven as Posse Scholars.”

Other notable scholarships earned by Regal seniors include a Navy ROTC scholarship to the University of Notre Dame. Madelyn P. will manage her Navy ROTC responsibilities along with a full complement of classes as an engineering major.

The School of the Art Institute of Chicago has awarded Malia H. with a full scholarship. A gifted visual artist, she will consider it among her other options for the fall.

Many other Regals fielded early acceptances from schools including New York University, Southern Methodist University, Northeastern, LMU, George Washington University, and the University of Notre Dame. Please keep all of our seniors in your prayers as they await all acceptance decisions by the beginning of April!

NASA Student Launch Initiative

NDA’s Rocketry Team is one of just 20 teams invited to participate in the NASA Student Launch Initiative (SLI). The program is a nine-month, research-based, experiential exploration challenge that provides relevant and cost-effective research and development to support the Space Launch System and Artemis missions. After a competitive proposal selection process, the NDA team will participate in a series of design reviews with a NASA panel that mirrors the NASA engineering design lifecycle, providing an experience that prepares students for the STEM workforce.

Mock Trial

Congratulations to the Mock Trial team, which reached the quarter finals from a field of 80 teams in the fall competition. Guided by volunteer attorneys in courtroom procedures and trial preparation, students study a hypothetical criminal case and conduct legal research. Success in the competition requires a unique blend of analytical, quick thinking, and performance skills. Well done, Regals!

Symposium

NDA’s third symposium on January 24, 2024, was a resounding success! With the theme “Culture,” the community-wide day of collaborative discovery featured opportunities for interpretation, conversation, and reflection led by both students and faculty. Participants explored a diverse range of topics from ancient cultures to the LA art scene to pitbulls in pop culture. Held twice each academic year, the symposia are one component of NDA’s unique four-year emphasis program, which blends classroom instruction with experiential learning and symposia opportunities.

AP Platinum and Access Awards

Notre Dame Academy earned the highest level of distinction from the California AP School Honor Roll for providing exceptional access to Advanced Placement instruction. The Platinum award is based on the number of students who take at least one AP course, take at least five AP courses over four years, and pass one or more AP tests. One of only nine schools recognized in the Los Angeles Archdiocese, NDA is the only Catholic School in West Los Angeles to earn both the Platinum Level and Access Award. This distinction ranks NDA among the top six percent of all APprovider schools in the U.S and Canada as well as the top eight percent of all eligible schools in California.

campus life

Welcome Dance

Regals started off the school season on a high note with our welcome dance: Endless Summer! Student council dressed in their best lifeguard apparel and gave students glitter tattoos for some late summer fun. We danced the night away and prepared to ride the wave of our new school year.

DTASC

Family Mass & BBQ

NDA continued the long loved tradition of our fall Mass and Barbecue. Family and staff united in celebration of our beautiful community with a lovely night filled with prayer, a delicious meal, and bustling NDA students.

Notre Dame Day

Our school celebrated Founder’s Day by hosting our annual spirit day celebration: Notre Dame Day! All the classes decorated their hallways and wore costumes in their respective themes: “Finding Nemo Freshman,” “Spiderman Sophomores,” “Jurassic Juniors,” “Saddle Up Seniors,” and “Teachers in Barbieland.” “Jurrasic Juniors” took the champion title in the highly anticipated volleyball tournament. And the biggest surprise of the day? A mechanical bull as a present from the Class of 2024!

Our drama students made the trek to Simi Valley to participate in the yearly Drama Teachers’ Association of Southern California competition. They competed in a wide variety of tech and performance categories, from Musical to Costuming. Small Screen DTASC, directed by Kailani M. ’24 and Sammie N. ’25, placed in the top ten, and Izzy K. ’26 won the Second Place trophy for her outstanding work in the publicity and marketing category.

Athletics Recap

Basketball

Last year, our hardworking varsity basketball team took home the title, CIF Southern Section D4A Champions. This fall, they got to celebrate their amazing victory with personalized Championship rings! Friends and family were invited to watch as the team members were proudly bestowed their championship rings. It was a night that will go down in NDA history. Go Regals!

Volleyball

The volleyball team finished with big wins this fall over Harvard Westlake, Bishop Montgomery, and Scripps Ranch, to name a few. The “big wins” translated into a CIF - SS playoff berth, with a Sweet Sixteen finish for the Regals. Top Sophomores and nationally recognized players Ava M., Nessa N., and Sophia S. will return next season to continue the team’s success in 2024.

Cross Country

The Cross Country team qualified for CIF - SS Regionals this season by showing grit and a true team mentality on the race course in league competition and non-league match-ups.

Tennis

Tennis saw Amanda N. ’25 (pictured above with coach), take the Angelus League Singles Runner Up title at league finals. Led by first year head coach and former world-ranked player, Ilinca Stoica, Amanda was able to qualify in singles for the CIF - SS Regional Playoffs. Coach Ilinca, Amanda, and a talented young team return next season to push the program even further.

Museum of Tolerance

Junior Ring Ceremony

The green class celebrated their ascent to upperclasswomen with the Junior Ring Ceremony. ASB president Ava H. ’24, welcomed the juniors to their new status in the school, followed by a beautiful ceremony in which our juniors received their emerald colored rings. Family and friends greeted them afterwards by turning their rings and making wishes. The grass sure is green for the Class of 2025!

Representatives from NDA were invited to a special screening of “Con Esta Luz” (“With This Light”) at the Museum of Tolerance. This documentary – produced by Jessica Sarowitz and NDA alumna Bonnie Abaunza ’82 – follows the life of Sor Maria Rosa Leggol, an incredible humanitarian nun affectionately known as “the Mother Teresa of Honduras.” The project is part of an effort to get Sor Maria canonized as a saint.

VPA Fine Arts Night

The semester culminated with Fine Arts Night – a night in which all students from the visual and performing arts department celebrated their work over the semester. From thought-provoking paintings to captivating monologues and dances, the event surely lived up to its theme, “timeless.”

alum highlight

The First First Grader: Palma Nachtwey Selufsky Remembers NDA’s Beginnings

Notre Dame Academy’s campus didn’t always look the way it does today. Before the playgrounds, student learning commons, and innovation spaces, there was only a convent. It was in the sewing room of this building that Palma Nachtwey Selufsky ’58 and her fellow first-grade classmates spent their year as they waited for the first school building to be finished.

“Everybody was friendly, and I adapted very quickly to the children there,” Palma said. “I had lifelong friends.”

Many of those children were Hollywood actors, she recalls. Tommy Rettig, who starred in the popular “Lassie” TV show, was in her sister’s class. When Palma went on to NDA High School, she was friends with Linda Gray, who worked on commercials throughout the 1960s and eventually went on to star in “Dallas.”

Palma is the oldest child in her large family, and four of her six sisters went to NDA High School after her. Her school days were similar to those of students today: classes included French, religion, and literature; she participated in the choir and volleyball and basketball teams; and finding a date to dances was always a conversation topic. She also took typing and Latin classes which were both standard parts of many high school curricula at the time but are less commonly seen today.

too, wanted to join an order. She decided on joining the Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange because of their focus on nursing and was eventually accepted into the University of Portland’s nursing school.

A chance meeting changed those plans, though. She met her husband, Ron Selufsky, when a friend invited her to play in a volleyball tournament at St. Gerard’s Church. After discerning her vocation on a retreat, Palma and Ron were married and shared more than 60 years together before his passing in 2019.

Palma wasn’t able to go to nursing school, but her four children and six grandchildren have picked up where she left off: most of them are in medical professions.

“It’s like they follow in the footsteps that I wasn’t able to take,” she said with pride.

The influence of Palma’s NDA education has been most evident in her service to others and artistic career. She has volunteered as a choir director everywhere from the Army Chapel in Fairbanks, Alaska, where the family lived because of her husband’s military career, to their parish at home in El Paso, Texas. Palma also taught CCD classes and became a Eucharistic Minister to support the sick, dying, and bereaved. Even her high school French classes helped her be of service to the world. In 1976, Palma and her family began sponsoring military students from abroad, including many French-speaking countries, during their studies in the U.S.

“I always ask the Holy Spirit to guide my hand so that I say the right words and express myself in the best way possible, and the words just flow,” she said.

A lifelong learner, she has taken advanced religious education and theology classes, ceramics and painting

lessons, and nursing classes at the Hotel Dieu School of Nursing in El Paso.

Palma recently returned to NDA with her daughter for a reunion and delighted in rediscovering meaningful places on campus— even the sewing room in the convent, which is now an office. Many more things have changed, from the class offerings to the uniforms, but Palma knows that the value of an NDA education is forever.

“When you go where God is, you will get the best education in the world,” she said.

making a difference

Save the Date

Making a Difference

May 18, 2024

5 p.m. - 9 p.m. Skirball Cultural Center

Join Notre Dame Academy for the fifth annual Making a Difference Scholarship Benefit on May 18, 2024.

Enjoy a lively evening of community and celebration as we come together to empower the next generation of NDA students. All sponsorships, tickets, and donations provide tuition assistance support to our families.

The Making a Difference Scholarship Benefit is NDA’s largest yearly event to support our tuition assistance program, with more than $1 million dollars raised since its inception in 2020.

To learn more and secure your tickets or sponsorship today, please visit: ndasla.org/benefit.

There were no lay teachers at the time, so the Sisters of Notre Dame played a large role in the Nachtwey family’s education. They had a particular impact on Palma, who decided that she,

Palma is a nationally-recognized artist, poet, and photographer whose work has appeared in numerous books and exhibitions, though she is particularly proud that a poem of hers appeared on the holy card printed for a friend’s mother’s funeral.

Tickets start at $150, and sponsorship packages begin at $1,500.

THE FIFTH ANNUAL

May 18, 2024 Skirball Cultural Center 5 p.m. - 9 p.m.

class notes

We want to hear from you! Advanced degree? Career change? New baby? Send us your class notes! Submit your updates and photos online at academy.ndasla.org/ alumnae. If you prefer to email us, you can send your news to advancement@ndala.com. We can’t wait to hear from you!

1950s

1980s

executive producer of the documentary film “Hollywood Town — The Harriet Schock Story,” which premiered in Hollywood on December 19, 2023, and whose projected release is the spring of 2024.

1990s

Karla (Cordova) Bravo ’98 is a doctor of physical therapy, now working on getting her MBA with a healthcare management focus. She is working for Kaiser Permanente Care at Home as Service Line Administrator for Rehabilitation Services for Southern CA and Hawaii.

Caroline Rothans ’18 and Crystal Meredith ’98 shared their advice, wisdom, and guidance on navigating life after graduation in our Fall Alumnae Panel. They spoke about the vital role mentors play and the importance of empowering other women.

2000s

Brittany (Irwin) Sorrentino (’03) is making big moves to Las Vegas, NV with her husband, Joseph, and their two children, Siena (4) and Rome (1 1/2). Brittany looks forward to growing their two family businesses (ArtMeetsStreet Auctions and TenPastNine Film Productions), consulting in philanthropy, as well as growing their family! They will be welcoming their third child this May.

Bri Berlin ’05 is in her second year as the principal of Notre Dame Academy Elementary, her third year at NDAE, and her fourteenth year working at Notre Dame Academy.

Please remember the following alumnae and family in your prayers. As of this publication, we have noted the “In Memoriam” notifications received between July 16, 2023 and January 1, 2024. Those received after these dates will appear in our next issue of Beyond the Academy. Please notify us a death of an Alumna here: academy.ndasla.org/ alumnae/prayer-requests-in-memoriam

Leslie Devereux Souva ’54

Marlene Soules Gardner ’57

Iris Jamgochian ’57

Nancy Gary ’74

Wanda Harris ’74

2010s

Mother and daughter alumnae Autumn Buford ’13 and April Johnson ’93 both attended the 2023 reunion.

2020s

Regals Return: College Panel ’20 - ’23

Notre Dame Academy’s alumnae engagement department hosted its first ever Regals Return: The College Panel. Kaitlin Beltran ’22, Allison Chin ’23 Olivia Guilford ’22, Francesca Khachatourians ’23, Maura McAusland ’23, Sayuri Nagai ’23, Ava Purcell ’20, Maria Ruiz ’22, and Lauren Wright ’23 returned to campus to share their insight and advice for navigating the first year of college. After a moderated panel, the seniors had the opportunity to speak with the alumnae in small group discussions while enjoying lunch.

Roselle Angeli Cespon ’80 received the Congressional Award of Recognition for outstanding work in the community from then-U.S. Representative from California Lucille RoybalAllard. More recently, she became co-

Class of 1958 (Reunion)

Roselle Angeli Cespon ’80 (left) is with Harriet Schock, the star and subject of “Hollywood Town: The Harriet Schock Story.”

From left to right: Palma Nachtwey Selufsky, Patricia Diltz Wallace, Helen Perez Gonzales, Olivia Garcia Noiseux, Karen Wiper Kohler, Yolande Goodman Garey, & Eileen Brick Gibbs.

2851 Overland Avenue

Los Angeles, CA 90064

RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED

upcoming events

The Wizard of Oz

April 18, 19, 20, & 21, 2024

Annual Dance Concert

May 11, 2024

Making a Difference Scholarship Benefit

May 18, 2024

Baccalaureate Mass

May 31, 2024

Graduation

June 1, 2024

Alumnae vs. Students Volleyball Game

August 3, 2024

Regal Reunion

August 17, 2024

75th Anniversary Mass & Picnic

September 14, 2024

Notre Dame Day Mass Bishop Matthew G. Elshoff, O.F.M. Cap Celebrant

October 3, 2024

Parents of Alumnae

If your daughter no longer resides at your home, please notify us of her new mailing address at advancement@ndala.com