Notre Dame High School (San Jose, California)
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| Official name | Notre Dame High School |
| Location | 596 S. 2nd St. |
| Established | 1851 |
| President | Position currently empty; Ann Gregg Skeet will be replacing Ms. Pelosi Saign. |
| Principal | Mary Beth Riley |
| Website | Official Site |
| Enrollment | 670 - 700 |
| Mascot | Regent |
| School Colors | Blue and White |
Notre Dame High School is a private, Catholic, college preparatory high school for girls founded in 1851 by the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur and operates within the Diocese of San Jose, California, USA. The school is located in San Jose, California. The school's mission is driven by the teachings of Saint Julie Billiart, the foundress of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur: "Teach them what they need to know for life."
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[edit] Notable Alumnae
- Linda Park - actress (graduated 1996). Famous for her role as Hoshi Sato on Star Trek: Enterprise.
[edit] School History
Notre Dame is an all-girls Catholic high school situated in downtown San Jose. The school was founded by the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur and opened on August 4, 1851 on Santa Clara Street. Since the founding, the school has moved several times: to the Ralston estate, located in Belmont on the San Francisco Peninsula while the school underwent renovations; back to Santa Clara Street, and again to the location where it is currently, on Second and Reed Street in San Jose. The Second and Reed Street location was home to the O’Connor Mansion, which was donated in 1898 to the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur.
Since the moving of the school, many additional buildings were built in order to accommodate the growing number of students. In 1958, the construction of two buildings began. Julie Billiart Hall served the purpose of a gathering place for school functions, a gym, and a cafeteria. Madonna Hall, later renamed Donnelly Hall in honor of Sister Mary Emmanuel Donnelly, is a two-story building that contains classrooms, teacher offices, and now a fully functional computer lab.
Later, the O’Connor Mansion had to be torn down due to its deterioration and Manley Hall was built in its stead. The first time Manley Hall was opened and made available for students’ use was September 9, 2002. Manley Hall is a three-story building, designed by Anderson-Brulé Architects. The building, though modern in design and use, still gives off an air of age and history, as was the intent of the architects. To add to this feeling was the inclusion of the fireplaces and artifacts saved from the O’Connor Mansion, the more noticeable being the fireplace located in the library and the glass doors (though one is a replica) of the Alumnae Room. All of the floors of this building are decorated with the class photos from the school, the earliest dating before the 1890s.
As of 2007, it is 156 years old.
Information paraphrased from ndsj.org
[edit] Class Mascots and Colors
Each grade has their own mascots and colors, which were voted on at the beginning of their freshmen year. No two classes may have any overlaps in colors and no class may have black or white as a class color. Currently, they are:
Class of 2008 - The Pink and Silver Tigers
Class of 2009 - The Lime Green and Turquoise Ninjas
Class of 2010 - The Gold and Purple Bandits
Class of 2011 - The Royal Blue and Orange Warriors
In the past, they have been.
Class of 2007 - The Red and Gray Pirates
Class of 2006 - The Royal Blue and Yellow Phoenixes
Class of 2005 - The Light Blue and Purple Comets
[edit] Spirit Week Winners
2008 - Class of 2008, Tigers
2007 - Class of 2007, Pirates
2006 - Class of 2006, Phoenixes
2005 - Class of 2006, Phoenixes
2004 - Class of 2004, Dragons
2003 - Class of 2003, Flames
2002 - Class of 2003, Flames
2001 - Class of 2002, Wizards
[edit] Extracurricular Activities
Notre Dame High School of San Jose (NDSJ) provides a wide variety of activities outside of classes, including numerous clubs, sports, and interaction with the San Jose community. Clubs can range from different cultures (i.e. Filipino Student Association, Latinas Unidas, Vietnamese Student Association) to hobbies (i.e. Culinary, Art, Lit Mag, Improv/Comedy Sportz) to helping students reach their goals in the future (i.e. Future Business Leaders Association, California Scholarship Federation). Different clubs can hold their own activities that may interact with other high schools around San Jose, giving the girls a chance to socialize not only with the other classes of Notre Dame, but also with their peers from other schools. Each club is appointed a moderator, who is a teacher who overlooks the clubs meetings and activities, and a main council (president, VP, treasurer, secretary, etc.) that collaborates together to organize and set up meetings and club-sponsored activities.
[edit] Community Service
One graduation requirement of students is community service hours. The point in adding community service as a graduation requirement is to teach girls how to be "socially responsible and answer the call to be a person of justice." NDSJ tries to integrate justice into their students by making the girls look at their surroundings and try to make a difference in the San Jose community.
The service hour requirements are as follows:
Freshmen-- 10 hours working with the mentally disabled
Sophomores-- 15 hours working with the elderly
Juniors-- 20 hours working with the economically disadvantaged
Seniors-- 25 hours of a self-created service project.
[edit] External links
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