LIVING THE DREAM IN NYC

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February 21, 2025

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

Anna Bonema, from Notre Dame Prep's Class of 2022, is living and learning her dream in New York City. She ties her IB education directly to her success, including an extended essay topic that literally came to life for her in the Big Apple. 

Universities in the United States truly are international communities. They’re committed to educating the youth of today to solve the global challenges of tomorrow. They also seek to encourage students to learn from one another, to recognize their common humanity and to reflect on globally significant issues across the curriculum.

The key aim of the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program is for students to develop an international mindset that will enable them to build a better future. IB students learn to see the world from different cultural perspectives and they study languages that enable them to communicate with peers from different backgrounds. As an internationally recognized qualification, the IB also prepares them for a career anywhere in the world. IB students are global citizens and this makes them an asset to international academic communities anywhere. Perhaps more so than many other great reasons, it’s this that makes IB students so appealing to universities.

IB graduates typically are very eager to share their experiences with schools, teachers and parents exploring the Diploma Program. We have been meeting a number of Notre Dame Prep's more recent IB graduates who look back at the impact of the DP on their lives and especially on their college experience.

Notre Dame Prep alum Anna Bonema NDP'22 believes her NDP experience, which included the prestigious IB Diploma Program, was fundamental in getting her into her chosen university and continues to affect her life and future career in the business of entertainment. Read more about what Bonema's been up to below.

"I've been doing really well and have been up to so much since graduating from NDP! I'm now at New York University studying music business, and it's been an incredible experience. Currently, I'm interning at NBCUniversal Media on their music business and legal affairs team, and this summer, I'll be working on their TV music creative team in Los Angeles! One of the most exciting parts of my current role has been working on the music for Saturday Night Live — a total dream come true — especially working on the SNL50 special.

"Last year, I had the opportunity to intern at Warner Music Group and Electric Lady Studios as an audio and studio intern, which was surreal considering some of my favorite albums were recorded there!

"Regarding IB, I wrote my extended essay on Little Women (2019), which is partially set in New York City, so living in NYC has been a dream come true! Last year, I met Greta Gerwig, who was director of the film, at my favorite coffee shop, and I even got to attend the NYC premiere of A Complete Unknown, where I met Timothée Chalamet.

"On a more personal note, some of the best friendships of my life were formed through IB. We've stayed close through college and will for years to come, and I’m endlessly grateful that we went through the program together."

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.