Notre Dame High School (Riverside, California)

Notre Dame High School is a private, Roman Catholic high school in Riverside, California. It is across the street from Saint Catherine of Alexandria Catholic Church at the corner of Brockton Avenue and Arlington Avenue. It is part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Bernardino.

Background

Notre Dame is a secondary school founded in 1956 by the Most Reverend Charles F. Buddy, Bishop of the Diocese of San Diego, as a Diocesan secondary school for boys. The first Principal was Reverend J.V. Sullivan, a Diocesan priest. In 1957 the administration of the school was taken over by the Holy Ghost Fathers, who staffed Notre Dame until 1970, at which time plans were drawn up to merge Notre Dame with St. Francis de Sales Girls High School. Notre Dame became a co-ed school at the start of the school year, in September 1972, under the direction of the Most Reverend Leo T. Maher, Bishop of the Diocese of San Diego.

In 1978, the Diocese of San Diego was divided and the new Diocese of San Bernardino was created with the Most Reverend Philip F. Straling as its first Bishop. Since the formation of the new Diocese, Notre Dame has become a self-sufficient high school with an enrollment of approximately 500 students.

In January 2016, Notre Dame began their 60th Anniversary Diamond Jubilee Celebration with the release of their new 60th Anniversary school crest.

Campus

Today, Notre Dame is an iPad school with renovated technology, science, and fine art labs as well as a newly renovated campus with hallway charging stations. Notre Dame has gone through extensive campus renovations in the past four years and continues to renovate in an extensive manner. The summer of 2014 saw the installation of new roofing and air conditioning throughout the whole campus and the summer of 2015 saw a $5,000,000 gym and locker room renovation. A theatre stage, coach offices, conference room, and 5 flat screen TVs were added to the gymnasium. The campus consists of four educational classroom buildings, A-D, as well as a library, Administration building, President's office, Dean's office, two conference rooms, gymnasium, boys and girls locker rooms, weight room, athletic office, athletic practice field, Student Services building, Student Life building, observatory, teacher training room, chapel, as well as a physics lab, biology lab, chemistry lab, technology lab, and art room. Lockers for all students are also available, located outside of the classroom buildings.

Faculty and staff

Notre Dame has a faculty and staff of around 55 teachers, administrators, staff, and counselors, many of whom graduated from Notre Dame themselves. There are several teachers with doctorate degrees and more than twenty teachers and staff members that have worked at the school for over twenty years. Faculty and Staff gender breakdown consisting of 20 males and 35 females(2015). Ages of teachers spanning from 23 to 75 years of age.

Academics

Notre Dame offers two academic counselors in their Student Services department, headed by one of the assistant principals. 14 Honors and 15 AP classes are offered for all grades 9-12(2015). Several Honors courses being: Honors Algebra, Honors Biology, Honors English, Honors French, Honors Spanish, Honors Theology(Peer Ministry), Honors Human Anatomy, Honors Chemistry, etc. Several AP courses being: AP World History, AP US History, AP European History, AP Government, AP Economics, AP Spanish Language, AP English Language and Composition, AP Psychology, and AP Biology, etc. Acceptance into college rate being 100%. Academic Departments: Math, Science, English, Social Sciences, Foreign Language, Theology, Fine Arts, Physical Education, and Technology.

Extra curricular

95% of Notre Dame students are active in some sort of extra curricular activity at school. Whether it be sports or one of the many clubs. Clubs being: Anime Club, Pro-Life Club, Community Service/Key Club, Finnegan's Wake Club, Chess Club, Theatre Guild, Associated Student Body(Student Government), Astronomy Club, Notre Dame Band, Mock Trial Society, Latin Club, Spanish Honor Society, French Honor Society, and National Honor Society.

Athletics

Notre Dame sports teams play in the Ambassador League. Their sports consist of football, basketball, baseball, volleyball, soccer, cross country, track and field, swimming, water polo, cheerleading, golf, softball, tennis, and wrestling. They are rivals with Aquinas High School, another local private school. The annual football game between the two schools is known as the "Holy War." The school's mascot is a Titan.

In 2015, Notre Dame's undefeated football team advanced to CIF and won. Following the monumental CIF win, the team went on to play in San Diego for the regional title. Again in 2016, the football team advanced to CIF and placed as runner-up for the CIF title. Prior to the 2015 season, no other Notre Dame football team had advanced that far in nearly forty years. During the 2018 football season, Notre Dame lost to Aquanis.

Notable alumni

• Kenjon Barner, running back for the Los Angeles Chargers, Philadelphia Eagles^[2]
• Will Smith, linebacker for the Dallas Cowboys
• Marvin Cobb, safety for the Cincinnati Bengals 1975-1979
• Michael Huerta, administrator of the Federal Aviation Agency since January 2013 for a 5-year term

Notes and references

External links

• Official website