FOCUS AND FOLLOW-THROUGH

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August 14, 2026

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

Part of a new generation of entrepreneurs, Notre Dame Prep alumna Valerie Grass NDP’25 turned a high school photography class into a growing business while developing the initiative, discipline and practical skills that continue to shape her path in college and beyond.

A recent Bank of America Institute study points to the emergence of a new generation of entrepreneurs.

While older generations still account for a larger share of new business formation, the study found that Gen Z is contributing disproportionately to recent growth. In June, according to Bank of America payments data, Gen Z business applications grew about 66% year over year and surpassed all other generations in application growth.

The report suggests that younger Americans are increasingly willing to take on the risks associated with starting a business and pursue entrepreneurship as a path to income growth and career advancement.

Valerie Grass NDP’25 is part of that generation.

While still a student at Notre Dame Prep, Grass turned an interest in photography into a business. Today, she continues to develop Grass Photography while pursuing her education at Oakland University.

Her path did not begin with a business plan or a decision to become an entrepreneur. It began with a camera, an art elective and a growing interest in learning how to take better pictures.

A camera becomes a career

Her father’s passion for photography helped spark that interest when she was young, but it was not until her junior year at Notre Dame Preparatory School that photography began to take on a larger role in her life.

Grass chose photography as her art elective in 11th grade, hoping to learn more about composition and the formal aspects of the art form. Instead, she discovered a passion she wanted to pursue further.

“During that semester I fell in love with it,” Grass said. “I tried to find as many opportunities as I could to go out and capture more photos.”

That transition from hobby to business — which now has grown to include work involving senior portraits, families, couples, sports, automotive photography, landscapes, wildlife and events — did not happen overnight, however.

Grass traces the turning point to a local car meet organized by The Deegan Project, a Michigan nonprofit organization. She brought her camera, photographed the event and later shared the images with friends who had attended.

The response was far greater than she expected.

“I'm part of a generation where starting something of your own may seem more possible than ever, but I was completely shocked by the responses,” she said. “The link got shared with more people than I could have imagined.”

People began asking whether she had a website or social media account and encouraging her to consider photography as something more than a hobby.

“I was extremely hesitant at first,” Grass said. “I wasn't sure if I had what it took to make a business.”

She eventually decided to find out.

After building her portfolio, Grass launched her business and began taking on clients and events. She continues to work with The Deegan Project and has photographed families from the NDP community as well.

Learning the business, not just the camera

Photography gave Grass the creative foundation for her business. NDP's Marketing and Entrepreneurship course helped provide something equally important: an understanding of what it takes to operate one.

“Marketing and Entrepreneurship helped me develop crucial skills relevant for running a business, dealing with clients, and creating advertisements,” she said.

Those lessons have become practical parts of her work.

Grass said most of her clients come through word of mouth, customer referrals and social media. More recently, she formed a partnership with The Edge Fitness Clubs in Rochester Hills, where she has been able to promote her business in person, interact with potential customers and distribute marketing materials.

Her experience reflects an aspect of the NDP curriculum that extends beyond learning concepts for a grade. Courses can provide students with skills they may carry directly into their lives after graduation.

For Grass, the marketing class at NDP was not simply preparation for a hypothetical career. It became part of the foundation for a business she was already building.

An education that opened doors

Grass's experience at NDP also demonstrates how opportunities in one area of the curriculum can lead unexpectedly to opportunities in another.

During her senior year, she participated in Engineering and Empathy, a course centered on design thinking and developing solutions to real-world problems. As part of the course, Grass and classmate Elaina Kalabat developed Pactival, a packing aid designed to assist a woman who had difficulty packing a travel bag.

The course also introduced Grass to Beatrice Janka, a senior product development engineer at Becker Orthopedic.

That introduction eventually led to something well beyond a classroom assignment.

Grass shadowed Janka at Becker in March 2025, observing both patient care and the manufacturing process involved in prosthetics and orthotics. The experience helped Grass better understand a field connected to her own developing interest in engineering.

The connection continued after graduation. When Grass was looking for engineering-related opportunities in college, she reached out to Janka for advice. That relationship ultimately helped lead to an orthotic manufacturing internship and later a research and development engineering internship.

“Because of the connection I gained in your class, I ended up securing two internships, building my resume, expanding my skill set, and learning countless new things,” Grass wrote to NDP’s Engineering and Empathy teacher Louise Palardy.

The experience became another example of how relationships formed at NDP can continue to benefit students after they leave the school.

Making an opportunity where one didn't exist

Grass also brought that same initiative to athletics.

She competed on the varsity ski team as a freshman and joined the track and field team as a sophomore. During her senior year, she wanted to compete in powerlifting.

There was one problem: NDP did not have a powerlifting team.

Rather than abandon the idea, Grass contacted the Michigan High School Powerlifting Association herself, worked through registration requirements and determined what she needed to do to become eligible.

With support from NDP staff, particularly strength and conditioning coach Christian Polega, she became the first Notre Dame Prep student to represent the school in the organization.

During her first and final season, Grass competed in three meets, won a regional competition and qualified for the state competition.

Her athletic accomplishments were recognized at graduation with NDP's 2025 Award for Outstanding Achievement in Health and Physical Education.

The story behind that recognition is perhaps as important as the results themselves. Grass identified an opportunity, encountered an obstacle and took responsibility for figuring out how to move forward.

That approach has surfaced repeatedly in her life since.

The habits that came with the challenge

Grass describes NDP as a place where she developed more than subject-specific knowledge.

“NDP was more than just a school to me, it was a community where I met great friends, learned from impactful teachers and acquired meaningful skills,” she said.

She said the academic demands of the school helped establish habits that have continued to serve her in college.

“The challenges presented along the way taught me so many valuable lessons, established strong study habits and built excellent time management skills,” she said.

Those habits are particularly relevant now as Grass manages the demands of college while continuing to operate her photography business.

She also credits NDP teachers with helping her connect the school's academic expectations to its broader mission.

“Some of the teachers at NDP were truly great influences,” Grass said. “Not only teaching lessons for the classroom, but also providing practical advice and guidance for living as an upright citizen of the community and embodying the school mission.”

For Grass, that guidance contributed to something she considers essential to entrepreneurship: the confidence to take an idea and act on it.

Still building

Grass is now pursuing bioengineering at Oakland University with a minor in physics while continuing to develop Grass Photography.

The two paths may appear unrelated at first glance. One involves engineering and science; the other began with an artistic elective and has grown into a small business.

But Grass's NDP experience provides a common thread.

She learned photography in a classroom, tested her skills outside of school and listened when others encouraged her to pursue the work more seriously. She learned about marketing and entrepreneurship and applied those lessons to her own business. She pursued an engineering opportunity that began with a classroom connection. When she wanted to compete in a sport NDP did not offer, she found a way to make it happen.

None of those experiences followed exactly the same path.

What connects them is initiative.

“It is not easy to balance being a business owner while also being a full-time student,” Grass said. “However this is something deeply important to me, so I work hard and overcome challenges in order to pursue my passion.”

That may be the clearest continuation of Grass's Notre Dame Prep story.

The Bank of America study identifies a generation increasingly willing to pursue new business opportunities. Grass's story offers a more personal example of what that can look like.

At NDP, her interest in photography became an opportunity to learn. That learning became the foundation for a business. Along the way, she continued to seek out new challenges in academics, athletics and engineering.

The school gave her opportunities. She took advantage of them. Then she kept looking for the next one.

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.ndpma.org.