The Notre Dame Student

In so many ways, today's students resemble the first young men who entered the newly established Notre Dame of 1946. Yet, they are very much products of our society today. The students who attend Notre Dame come from thirty cities and towns in southern Connecticut. They reside in urban areas such as West Haven, and New Haven as well as suburban towns such as Branford, Woodbridge, Hamden and Orange. They come from as far away as Southbury and Westbrook.

As we continue this mission, we look toward increasing the diversity of our school population. Presently 18% percent of our current student body is Black, Hispanic, Asian and Native American descent. As has been the case throughout Notre Dame's history, many of our students have been first generation Americans. Presently, members of our student body or their parents are natives of Argentina, Chile, Ireland, Korea, England, Ecuador, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Iran, the Philippines and Russia. They and the others, long settled in American culture, bring their talents and the gifts of their cultures to the halls of Notre Dame.

The parents of our students are similarly diverse in their professions. They are plumbers and painters, senior-level management and CEOs. They own their own businesses and restaurants. They are consultants and educators. Some feel the pain of unemployment. Some 24% of Notre Dame students live in single-parent families. Thirty-three parents send two or more sons to Notre Dame simultaneously. Fifteen percent of the fathers of our students are alumni of Notre Dame themselves. Varied educational needs are also represented among our students as the school offers advanced placement, honors, college preparatory, and skill building classes. Notre Dame has many faces; the school seeks to reach out to many more in the years to come.

From its rather humble beginnings in Harugari Hall to its now modest but renovated building, Notre Dame High School of West Haven has been more than just "the school on the hill". Its faithfulness to the mission of Catholic education, its loyalty to the Holy Cross tradition and its devotion to the young men who climb that hill today and to the more than 10,000 alumni who have preceded them over the course of 60 years, attest that Notre Dame truly is a "light on the hill." It is a light nurtured by sacrifice and generosity, by dedication and loyalty.

The parents and relatives of these young men, the Brothers of Holy Cross, and the entire faculty and staff have tended this light over the years. They continue to maintain and sustain it so that it reaches out to the regions of Connecticut and across the continent.