Notre Dame College Prep

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Notre Dame High School for Boys is a male-only Roman Catholic secondary school founded in Niles, Illinois in 1955 by the Congregation of Holy Cross. It is located in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago.


History

On September 1, 1954 , Notre Dame High School for Boys was born. His Eminence, Samuel Cardinal Stritch, then the Archbishop of Chicago and the Indiana Province of the Congregation of Holy Cross broke ground on the high school in Niles. Thus began a 50-year commitment by the Congregation of Holy Cross to educate the minds and hearts of young men, from the broader Chicagoland area, entrusted to Notre Dame’s care.

Early in the 1950s, Cardinal Stritch saw the need for a Catholic high school in the suburbs. The baby boom of the 1950s had seen the population spread to the outskirts of the city and the suburbs. At the time, St. Viator in Arlington Heights had not yet opened and Loyola Academy in Wilmette was still at its original location in the city of Chicago. Cardinal Stritch saw the opportunity to establish a high school that would serve a large cross-section of the Chicago population. He invited the Priests of Holy Cross to help him realize this vision. The Very Reverend Basil Anthony Moreau founded the Congregation of Holy Cross in LeMans, France, in 1837. For more than a century, Holy Cross religious have served as educators in the faith, forming the minds and shaping the hearts of youth in universities, colleges, secondary schools and seminaries throughout the world.

Notre Dame High School was to be located on Dempster Avenue, between Milwaukee and Harlem. In discussing the site, Provincial Father Theodore Mehling stated, “This area is in desperate need of a Catholic high school for boys. There is not another one within ten miles of the site which has been selected for it. Until more schools can be erected, Notre Dame High will draw students from the whole northern part of Chicago and from a number of lake suburbs. To the north there is nothing between our location and the Wisconsin border.”

The school was designed by architects Belli & Belli to be a one-floor structure that would house a partial second floor for administration offices. There was also a ground floor for workshops, laboratories and a few classrooms. Along with the faculty house, the entire campus covered 30.5 acres.

The school building contained 30 modern classrooms, in addition to three laboratories, three industrial art shops, a library seating 150 students, a little theater and a cafeteria able to accommodate 600 students at a time. The gymnasium-auditorium seated 3,000 in permanent bleachers for basketball games and approximately 5,000 for stage productions or concerts.

One feature of the building, which demanded sizable floor space, was the complete wall of glass in each classroom. The oversized windows were designed to facilitate ample natural light.

The small chapel was intended primarily for the religious exercises of the Priests, but it also featured an entrance from the school enabling boys to visit at different times during the day. Our Lady, Queen of the Universe Chapel, however, was not able to accommodate school Masses. A chapel large enough to hold an ordinary parish church would have been needed.

Around the school, the land was developed immediately. A large parking area was erected, along with a football field, a quarter-mile running track, tennis courts and a baseball diamond.

The Priests’ residence, which was connected to the school building by the chapel, included 45 private rooms, in addition to the superior’s quarters and the three guest suites. The residence building featured a circular dining room on the ground floor. Highlighting half of the room was a cylindrical wall of glass. The “Round Room”, which it is now called, was built directly above the dining room on the main floor.

The construction of Notre Dame represented something new in the line of work for the Priests’ Province. The Province’s other high school at the time, Columbia Prep in Portland, OR, was not only smaller in scale but set to close in another year. In contrast, Notre Dame would open its doors in the fall of 1955 to 550 freshman and sophomores. Close to another 500 would enroll in 1956 and yet another 425 in 1957.

Many of Notre Dame’s roots can be traced to Columbia Prep, though. Roughly half of the school’s original faculty migrated east from Portland. In addition, things such as Columbia Prep’s athletic uniforms, school colors (green and white) and fight song (the melodies remained the same, but Music teacher Rev. George Wiskirchen, CSC simply changed the words) were also adopted.

In the fall of 1954 the Province Review, the official publication of the Priests of Holy Cross, wrote, “For years the University (of Notre Dame) and the Community have been helped by a large group of loyal friends in the Chicago area. It is fitting that the first major high school work undertaken by our Province should be in Chicago. Many elements entered into the decision to accept this school, but one of the most sincere was the desire to express the Community’s gratitude to the Catholics of Chicago for their past support and friendship.”

In June, 1955, the Fr. Mehling assigned 16 dynamic Holy Cross priests to begin the ministry of Catholic education at Notre Dame High School for Boys in Niles, Illinois. Holy Cross has always believed in joining hands with dedicated laity in pursuing the goals of a Christian education. A team of dedicated lay men and women joined the priests in this ministry.

It was Fr. John Lane who supervised the first placement test for the initial students. This was held at St. Mary of the Woods Church. Fr. Lane operated for two years from a storefront office at the corner of Harlem and Dempster. It was from this small office that over 500 freshmen and 300 sophomores found their way into the first Notre Dame classes.

One very significant event in the formation of Notre Dame was the appointment of Rev. James d'Autremont, CSC as the first principal. Students found in him a lasting friend and director. He was never too busy for a friendly “hello” or a “little chat.” It was Fr. d’Autremont's task to establish a solid foundation for Notre Dame.

Students must have a name to rally around Fr. d’Autremont insisted, and after talking with students, they decided on the name DONS because it is the Spanish word for “gentlemen.” Notre Dame students are the Gentlemen of Mary.

For more than 50 years, the spirit of Notre Dame has thrived because it is a compelling, inspiring spirit that draws out of the most talented of students even greater gifts and coaxes out of the shyest and most uncertain of students real hope and determination.

Over 11,000 Dons have passed through the doors of Notre Dame for the past half-century and they all have this in common: they know they are true gentlemen, men with hope to bring, men who, by virtue of a Notre Dame education, are determined to live lives worthy of the God who has blessed them and calls them to be builders of a better world.


Academics

Notre Dame offers three distinctive academic programs, all of which are College Prep: Fr. Hesburgh Scholars, College Prep and Br. Andre Scholars.

Named in honor of legendary University of Notre Dame President Rev. Theodore Hesburgh, CSC, this program is designed to challenge the most gifted and motivated student with a demanding course of studies. It not only requires the development of the student’s abilities in all areas of the academic curriculum but also seeks to further his overall development through involvement in various service-oriented and extracurricular activities. Successful completion of the Hesburgh Scholar Program results in a special diploma of distinction.

Named in honor of Blessed Brother Andre Bessette, CSC, this college preparatory program is for students requiring assistance in achieving academic success at Notre Dame. Brother Andre Scholars must exhibit consistent effort and a willing commitment in time and energy to academic excellence. Typically, participants in the Andre Scholar Program are placed in the Reading/Writing Workshop course in place of a foreign language in the first year,and benefit from on-site tutoring during their study period. All other coursework is done on the college prep level.

Athletics

Nicknamed the Dons, Notre Dame offers 14 interscholastic IHSA sports including and compete in the East Suburban Catholic Conference: Baseball, Basketball, Bowling, Cross Country, Football, Golf, Hockey, Lacrosse, Soccer, Swimming, Tennis, Track, Volleyball and Wrestling.

Notable alumni


External links

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