Notre Dame High School, Belmont is a

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

women's A woman is an adult female human. Before adulthood, a female child or adolescent is referred to as a girl. Typically, women are of the female sex and inherit a pair of X chromosomes, one from each parent, and women with functional uteruses ...

college preparatory high school located in the

San Mateo County San Mateo County ( ), officially the County of San Mateo, is a county (United States), county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 764,442. Redwood City, California, Redwood City is th ...

suburb of

Belmont, California Belmont is a city in San Mateo County in the U.S. state of California. It is in the San Francisco Bay Area, on the San Francisco Peninsula about halfway between San Francisco and San Jose. It was originally part of Rancho de las Pulgas, f ...

. The school is operated by the

Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur The Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur (Congregationis Sororum a Domina Nostra Namurcensi) is a Catholic Church, Catholic Religious institute (Catholic), institute of religious sisters, founded to teaching order, provide education to the poor. The i ...

for the

Archdiocese of San Francisco The Archdiocese of San Francisco (Latin: ''Archdiœcesis Sancti Francisci''; Spanish: ''Arquidiócesis de San Francisco'') is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in the northern California region of the Unit ...

. The school's mission is driven by the teachings of

Saint Julie Billiart Julie Billiart, SNDdeN (12 July 1751 – 8 April 1816) was a French Catholic nun, educator, and cofounder of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur. She was born in Cuvilly, a village in Picardy, in northern France. She was paralyzed and bedridde ...

, the foundress of the

Sisters A sister is a woman or a girl who shares parents or a parent with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to r ...

of Notre Dame de Namur. The official school colors are navy, blue, and gold.

History

The School was founded in 1851 originally in

San Jose, California San Jose, officially the City of San José ( ; ), is a cultural, commercial, and political center within Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area. With a city population of 997,368 and a metropolitan area population of 1.95 million, it is ...

. In 1923 they moved to the current Belmont campus on the land of William Ralston's estate,

Ralston Hall Ralston Hall Mansion located in Belmont, California, was the country house of William Chapman Ralston, a San Francisco businessman, a founder of the Bank of California, and a financier of the Comstock Lode. It is an opulent Italianate Villa, ...

. The current building was completed in 1928. The school was also originally a

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. They have existed for many centuries, and now extend acr ...

and had facilities to support boarders and day students.

Programs

Student council

Each class has 7 officers and homeroom presidents for each homeroom. The 7 offices are: president, vice president, secretary/treasurer, historian, athletics, activities, and spirit. There are six student body officers, called the Associated Student Body (ASB), who work with the director of student activities in coordinating the programs listed. Student Council meetings are held twice a month. Student body officers run the meetings. All class officers and advisory presidents are asked to attend, but any student may attend a student council meeting. Student Council members also attend three leadership conferences/retreats per year.

Leadership opportunities

According to their website, Notre Dame offers approximately 213 leadership positions. Positions include Ambassadors, Spiritual Life, California Scholarship Federation, National Honor Society, Technology Liaisons, Marketing & Communications, Link Crew, Health & Wellness. There are also opportunities for students as club leaders.

School mascot

Two students share the position of "NDB Tiger." They make appearances at school, athletic, and community events. The official school colors are navy, blue, and gold. Each class also chooses a class mascot during their freshman year.

Clubs

There are over 35 clubs at Notre Dame. A member of the faculty or staff moderates each club.

Performing arts

In July 2008, a combined choir represented Notre Dame at World Youth Day 2008 in Sydney, Australia. The choir sang for over 300,000 people prior to a mass presided by

Pope Benedict XVI Pope BenedictXVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger; 16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until his resignation on 28 February 2013. Benedict's election as p ...

. In addition, the Notre Dame choir program has received special recognition including many first-place trophies at various competitions, and a proclamation made by the Belmont City Council in late 2008. However, Notre Dame's choir program was discontinued after the 2020–2021 school year. Notre Dame is also part of Tri-School Productions, a three-school theatre company with Serra High School and Mercy High School Burlingame. They perform a play in the fall and a musical in the spring. There is a Tri-School Mixed Chorus that performs at the school concerts for all three schools, plus a special performance at Hillsdale Mall.

Academic Teams

Currently Notre Dame has two academic teams, Mock Trial and a

FIRST Tech Challenge FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC), formerly known as FIRST Vex Challenge, is a robotics competition for students in grades 7–12 to compete head to head, by designing, building, and programming a robot to compete in an alliance format against other te ...

robotics team called the TigerBots.

Athletics

According to the NDB website, there are 14 sports programs that include 26 teams over the fall, winter and spring seasons.

Rallies and assemblies

Spirit rallies are held several times during the school year to honor sports teams or simply to celebrate school spirit! Rallies take place in the NDB gym. Awareness-raising assemblies are also held. Past topics include mental health, abstinence, and indigenous history. These assemblies are held for the entire school as well as for smaller groups of students.

Dances

Dances are held on four Friday evenings during the school year. Each dance has a theme, which is chosen by student council. All NDB students are invited to buy tickets for the dance on a first-come, first-served basis. All dances are chaperoned by a crew of faculty and parents.

Spirit points

Spirit points are awarded to classes that have the most involvement in a particular activity (Aquacades, food drive, fundraisers, etc.). At the end of the year, the class with the most spirit points is awarded the spirit trophy. Part of spirit points is the Sister Trifecta, a competition between the Senior and Sophomore classes vs. the Freshman and Junior classes. At the end of the year, the Sister Tri-fecta trophy is awarded to the sister classes who had the best teamwork and participation in the following spirit competitions: Powder Puff Football, Penny Wars, and Aquacades.

Notable alumni

* Angela Batinovich, American businesswoman and entrepreneur *

Olivia de Havilland Dame Olivia Mary de Havilland (; July 1, 1916July 26, 2020) was a British and American actress. The major works of her cinematic career spanned from 1935 to 1988. She appeared in 49 feature films and was one of the leading actresses of her tim ...

, actress *

Abigail Kinoiki Kekaulike Kawānanakoa Abigail Kinoiki Kekaulike Kawānanakoa (April 23, 1926December 11, 2022), also known as Princess Abigail Kawānanakoa and sometimes called Kekau, was a Native Hawaiian-American heiress, equestrian, philanthropist and supporter of Native Hawaiia ...

, Hawaiian princess *

Yasmine Pahlavi Yasmine Pahlavi (, née Etemad-Amini, Persian: ; born 26 July 1968) is the wife of Reza Pahlavi, the crown prince of the Imperial State of Iran. Biography Yasmine Etemad-Amini was born in Pars Hospital in Tehran, Iran, on 26 July 1968. She att ...

, wife of

Reza Pahlavi, Crown Prince of Iran Reza Pahlavi (; born 31 October 1960) is the eldest son of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last Shah of Iran of the roughly 53-year old Pahlavi dynasty, and his third wife Farah Diba. He was officially named Pahlavi dynasty, Crown Prince of Pahla ...

Faith Rivera Faith Rivera (born Esther Faith Rivera, Waimea, Hawaii County, Hawaii, Waimea, Hawaii) is an American singer-songwriter. Rivera founded the independent record label and publishing company Lil' Girl Creations in 1996. Rivera learned to play the p ...

, singer *

Emma Chamberlain Emma Frances Chamberlain (born May 22, 2001) is an American social media personality, influencer, podcaster, businesswoman and model. She won the 2018 Streamy Award for Breakout Creator. In 2019, ''Time'' magazine included her on its ''Time'' ...

, American YouTuber and podcaster

References

External links

Notre Dame High School website
{{authority control Educational institutions established in 1851 Girls' schools in California High schools in San Mateo County, California Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Francisco Catholic secondary schools in California Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur schools 1851 establishments in California