Peoria Notre Dame High School

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Peoria Notre Dame logo

Peoria Notre Dame High School is a parochial (Catholic) college preparatory high school academy in Peoria, Illinois. As of the 2006-2007 school year, it has approximately 813 students. The team name is the "Irish", like the University of Notre Dame, but the high school uses the cloverleaf as its team symbol. Doctor Patricia O'Connell, Ph.D., is the principal; however, the school is switching to the academy system of having a trustee committee and oversight board, pastor's board, president, and principal.

Notre Dame was created at the beginning of the 1988-1989 school year in a contentious^{[citation needed]} consolidation of the two Peoria area Catholic high schools, Spalding Institute/Academy of Our Lady (itself consolidated in the 1970s), and Bergan High School. The Spalding Institute/Academy of Our Lady facility was closed while the Bergan facility was expanded, and the two schools were consolidated together as Notre Dame at the site of the Bergan facility.

As of 2006, the school's Education Commission, in conjunction with the Peoria Area Pastors' Board and the Diocesan Office of Catholic Schools hired The Reid Group to develop and conduct a campus location study. No decision has yet been reached as to whether or not the current school site will close and move to another location.

The school has a reputation for the quality of its curricular and academic standards in the Peoria area; approximately 98% of the school's graduates go on to four year colleges.

1 Stated Mission
2 Recent Highlights
3 Famous Alumni
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Stated Mission

According to the school, the stated mission of Notre Dame is to nurture, under the direction of the Bishop of the Diocese, the spirtual, emotional, intellectual, and physical development of its students, by teaching the Catholic faith, leading the students to be disciples of Jesus Christ, and by teaching the arts and sciences in a climate of academic inquiry. The school value's include Catholic Faith, Individual Dignity as a Gift of God, Family, Service to Others, Personal Responsibility, Teamwork, Love of learning, and Tradition.

[edit] Recent Highlights

The school's Class of 2006 had four National Merit Students, 17 Merit Recognition Scholars, 29 Illinois State Scholars, and 113 Presidential Academic Awards.

[edit] Famous Alumni

Brian Randle - basketball player: University of Illinois
Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen - Host of The Catholic Hour on radio and the television program Life is Worth Living.
Sister Phyllis McMurray - Prioress of the Sisters of the Order of St. Benedict in Rock Island.