In the tradition of the Congregation of Holy Cross, Notre Dame College Prep considers the three pillars of education to be Faith, Scholarship, and Service. In each area, students are called upon to do their best to develop the talents they have been given. In addition to our foundational pillars, there are a number of core values which articulate the principles of a Holy Cross Education more specifically.
• The Cross Our Only Hope: The Cross is the anchor in which we find hope, our confidence in the resurrection. • Educating the Mind and the Heart: We develop values, attitudes, and behaviors to use knowledge and skills appropriately and productively. • Leadership: Students are prepared to be useful citizens for society and for heaven. • Integrity: Society has a greater need for people with values than it does for scholars. • Inclusive Diversity: We value each person as uniquely gifted, special, and important. • Option for the Poor: It is only just to give more to those who have received less. • Family: Education flourishes only within an environment where family spirit is evident and dominant. • Zeal: We greatly desire to make God known, loved, and served. • Formation: Each person grows in wisdom, age, and favor, following the example of Jesus.
Formation and transformation are hallmarks of a Holy Cross school and of Notre Dame College Prep.
The formation of faith-filled young people at Notre Dame is rooted in Roman Catholic tradition. Though there are many religions represented in our students, Notre Dame provides instruction, sacramental life and liturgical and retreat experiences faithful to the Church and her teachings. Students gather for monthly liturgy. Reconciliation is offered weekly and a reconciliation service occurs during each Advent and Lent. Each class period starts with prayer and the entire school prays together daily. Each student attends an annual retreat based on age and grade level experiences and culminates with the junior/senior Kairos retreat.
As noted in the Holy Cross Constitution, "There can be no Christian Community which does not gather in worship and prayer. It is true of the Church and true as well of Holy Cross." (Holy Cross Constitutions 3, 27).
Notre Dame has always sought to teach young men through a liberal education, preparing them for college, career, and beyond. Providing students with high-level instruction in a wide range of disciplines and preparing them with skills such as collaboration, critical thinking, creativity, and communication is inherent in a Holy Cross education and evident at Notre Dame.
Blessed Basil Moreau reminded teachers that, "Our students are destined to live in the business and problems of the world. So they should not be made to live a type of life they would have to abandon when they leave our institution. They should be trained in such a way that they may be everywhere what they were in school." (Teacher's Guide to Holy Cross) In that spirit, Notre Dame offers a balanced education providing students of various abilities by offering courses ranging from honors and Advanced Placement to basic and remedial. At every level, Notre Dame strives for excellence.
Notre Dame College Prep provides its students the opportunity to concretely live out and celebrate their faith through service. The Christian service program complements the school's curriculum by providing experiences that challenge students, faculty, and staff alike to learn about their community and its needs, and then to respond in loving service in order to transform the world in the name of Jesus. Notre Dame seeks to ensure that its students emerge as young men with a commitment to uplifting the human spirit, to reaching out in their daily lives to those in need and discovering in their hearts an ever greater desire to serve.
In the footsteps of the Congregation of Holy Cross, we hope that Notre Dame students may say, "We heard a summons to give over our lives in a more explicit way. It was a call to serve all people, believers, and unbelievers alike. We would serve them out of our own faith, a life more powerful and enduring than any sin or death." (Constitutions 1, 3).