FLOURISHING AT NOTRE DAME PREP

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October 30, 2024

For information on admission to Notre Dame Prep, please click here. 

Erin Connelly NDP'25, truly an upright citizen, is nominated for an award presented by the Daughters of the American Revolution. The busy senior also plans a career in pediatric medicine. 

Notre Dame Prep senior Erin Connelly has been nominated for a "Good Citizen" award and scholarship that will be presented Jan. 14 by the Piety Hill chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. The ceremony, which will take place in Birmingham, Mich., and include 15 other seniors from area schools also nominated for the state-level scholarship from DAR.

"I was honestly so excited to hear the news," said Connelly, who was encouraged to participate by NDP school counselor Vlado Salic. "I could not stop smiling and was very grateful that school administrators had recognized me for an honor this big."

Salic noted that Connelly has been a model student since arriving on campus as a ninth grader and deserves to win the award.

"Erin is a poster child for good citizenship, compassion, and a role model for her peers," he said. "She is magnetic with energy and passion when discussing intellectual ideas and social improvement. I also love that she believes in doing the right thing and doing things right the first time as she demonstrates this through seemingly endless grit and gumption."

The fabric that is America

Connelly, who currently serves as student council president, submitted an essay as part of the nominating process for the DAR scholarship. Her essay centered on service and building a sense of community and American identity.

She used the analogy of a quilt to represent American society.

"Each patch on the quilt represented a different community, background and belief, with the thread of service working to weave together the patches through community outreach and other volunteer service activities, therefore building the beauty of the quilt as a whole," she explained. "I also included some personal anecdotes about people in my life who are active servant leaders and related them to people throughout American history who led service initiatives to build community and our American identity."

Connelly first came to NDP as a freshman from Van Hoosen Middle School in Rochester Hills. 

"I'm one of the kids here on campus who had the public-to-private school switch and I'm so glad I did because it's honestly changed my educational experience in so many positive aspects," she said. "Attending NDP has really allowed me to flourish through not only my classes, but also through the support of my teachers. I've really been able to explore interests and have the opportunities both inside and outside the classroom that I don't think I could find at another school."

In addition to serving as StuCo president, this busy senior is the school's NHS/American Red Cross blood drive ambassador, a board member for the National Honor Society, a member of the Spanish NHS and is captain of the Irish cross-country and track and field teams. She also serves as secretary of the school's student newspaper and is a member of NDP's chapter of HOSA, also known as the Health Occupations Students of America, in the area of sports medicine.

Outside of school, Connelly volunteers at Trinity Health Hospital in Pontiac and is a patient care assistant at a local surgical center. 

Working with Ukrainian teenagers

With all that on her plate, she still has time, believe it or not, for teens living in Ukraine.

"My favorite thing to do outside of school is when I'm volunteering as an English tutor for displaced Ukrainian teens through an organization called ENGin,' she said.

ENGin is a national nonprofit that launched in 2020 to connect Ukrainian students virtually with English-speaking students who want to improve their conversational skills in the language.

"Each week I meet with my students and discuss everything from grammar and vocabulary to their favorite hobbies and TV shows," Connelly said. "It's honestly been one of the most rewarding experiences and I've been able to see so many girls my age grow not only in their English skills but also in confidence."

Now looking to finish her senior year strong, Connelly also has her sights set on the next level of her academic career.

"I'm looking at the University of Michigan, Cornell, Penn, Johns Hopkins, MSU and Case Western," she said. "I have submitted applications to all of those schools and will hopefully narrow it down as I hear back from them. I'm hoping to study biology on a pre-med track with the dream of eventually becoming a pediatric doctor."

For information on admission to Notre Dame Prep, please click here.

Comments or questions? mkelly@ndpma.org

About Notre Dame Preparatory School
"At Notre Dame Prep, we inspire our students to become the best versions of themselves. We challenge them through an experience of academic excellence, focused on active, project-based learning. We invite them to explore a world of opportunities beyond the classroom. We guide them as they grow in spirituality within a community strong in its Catholic and Marist identity."

Notre Dame Preparatory School is a private, Catholic, independent, coeducational day school located in Oakland County. Notre Dame Preparatory School's upper school enrolls students in grades nine through twelve and has been named one of the nation's best 50 Catholic high schools (Acton Institute) four times since 2005. Notre Dame Prep's middle and lower schools enroll students in pre-kindergarten through grade eight. All three schools are International Baccalaureate "World Schools." NDP is conducted by the Marist Fathers and Brothers and is accredited by the Independent Schools Association of the Central States and the National Association of Independent Schools. For more on Notre Dame Preparatory School, visit the school’s home page at www.ndprep.org.