Since Sister Patricia McCarron first joined Notre Dame Preparatory School as a math teacher (and junior varsity basketball coach) in 1984, before leaving and returning as head of school in 2005, NDP’s mission to provide quality education to Catholic girls has stayed the same.
McCarron values NDP’s traditions, such as the annual friendly competition of Gym Meet, but is also tasked with bringing the school into the rapidly changing times. NDP, first home to 69 students in 1873, now has over 800 6th-12th grade students.
“The essence of Notre Dame, the mission of Notre Dame Prep, the value of NDP, the spirit of Notre Dame Prep certainly has remained the same since 1984 to the present,” McCarron says.
With the 150th anniversary of the Towson school happening this year, McCarron reflects on what has changed and stayed the same.
Baltimore Style: What have been the biggest changes to NDP since its founding?
A: If you walk into the building, you’ll see the same main building, but you’ll see lots of other additions to the school building, the school campus, in terms of our performing arts wing, in terms of our new innovation wing … our beautiful field facility.
We have an amazing STEAM program here at NDP—science, technology, engineering, arts and math—which is unique in so many ways. You can receive an overall STEAM certification through a program of study, or you could also receive a certificate in architecture, medicine, engineering, computer science.
The school has expanded both in terms of number of students and has expanded in terms of the footprint, but most especially has expanded in terms of opportunity and programs and growth in those areas. That spirit, the mission—our identity as a Catholic institution for girls, college preparatory — that hasn’t changed.
Q: What is the continued importance of schools for girls?
A: We know that girls who attend single-sex schools feel more empowered and more engaged in their community, and we’re able to give our girls more opportunities.
We’ve experienced firsthand with our alums. What the research shows is that we’re educating competent young women who are prepared to go to college, who are prepared for life, who have strong community involvement, greater cultural competencies, increased engagement in our community, who are leaders in the local area, leaders in their families, leaders of their community, leaders of their profession.
But really that sense of transformation, that if we educate the young girls, if we educate young women, they will take that, and they will transform the world: the world in their family, the world in their local communities.
Q: How do you envision future changes to NDP?
A: We say that we hold the gospel in one hand and what’s going on in the world in the other. So as we’ve continued to evolve, we’ve evolved with programs and education and initiatives, to move our students to really think globally as we become global citizens.
We have a biliteracy certificate in our language department. We have a humanities certificate program that allows our students to make meaningful connections by bringing different courses together in the humanities areas in English and in social studies and in religion. But really, to get that global view and that worldview and to have this experience—and always coupled with responding in service.
Q: What’s a memory that you have of your time as head of school that you feel encompasses the heart and spirit of NDP?
A: We had a student here at NDP, who recently graduated, who was legally blind. And I share that as one of my greatest memories because she was awarded a Mother Theresa [Award] at graduation. Her courage and her spirit and her innovation and her creativity and her determination embodies the spirit of NDP.
At the same time, the embracing of that student and what the community learned from that student embraced the spirit of NDP. And I saw in that moment, when that student came on stage and received a standing ovation of just incredible cheer, that we are, at NDP, always celebrating the individual and the community.
