NDP CONTINUES DELIBERATE WORK ON DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION IN UNION WITH ITS CATHOLIC AND MARIST MISSION

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March 11, 2026

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

Community invited to participate in March focus groups as school builds on recent culture survey and Marist mission of forming inclusive leaders.

At Notre Dame Preparatory School, diversity and inclusion are not treated as stand-alone initiatives. Instead, school leaders view them as an extension of the institution’s Catholic and Marist mission: forming young people who recognize the dignity of every person and who are prepared to serve the broader community.

“Every child is born in the image and likeness of God and we want every student at Notre Dame Prep to feel valued, welcomed and included,” adds Andy Guest, NDP's head of school. 

That commitment is entering its next phase this spring, as the school invites students, parents, faculty, staff and alumni of all ethnicities, backgrounds and cultures to participate in focus group conversations scheduled for the week of March 23. Community members are encouraged to sign up by the end of this week.

The discussions follow the release of a spring 2025 culture survey and are designed to deepen the school’s understanding of how members of the community experience campus life.

“These conversations help us move from data to understanding,” said Kala Parker, NDP’s director of diversity and inclusion. “Focus groups allow us to explore the lived experience of our community — the ‘how’ and the ‘why’ behind the survey results.”

A mission rooted in the Marist tradition

For Notre Dame Prep, the work of inclusion begins with its identity as a Catholic school guided by the Marist tradition.

According to Parker, respect for human dignity is central to that mission.

“To acknowledge and respect the dignity of another human being is to know Christ on a deeper level and to value one’s relationship with Him,” Parker said. “Marist schools seek to put into practice examples of lived faith through simple and humble everyday acts of love and mercy.”

She said the Marist approach calls community members to respond to the challenges of the world around them with compassion and courage.

“Doing the work of Mary is to bravely imitate Christ by entering the brokenness of individuals and society,” Parker said. “All members of the Marist school community are called to missionary discipleship through awareness of and response to current issues, through inclusivity and just acts, direct and indirect advocacy for the marginalized and works to alleviate suffering.”

Guided by those principles, Notre Dame Prep seeks to cultivate a community where students of varied backgrounds feel welcomed and respected.

“Notre Dame actively seeks students, families, faculty, staff and trustees of diverse backgrounds who are committed to forming a community of inclusion that respects the dignity of every individual,” Parker said.

Measuring school culture

The focus groups are the next step in an ongoing effort to understand and strengthen school culture.

In spring 2025, Notre Dame Prep conducted its second comprehensive culture survey. The first survey, conducted four years earlier, helped establish a baseline and informed several initiatives that are now embedded in the school’s strategic planning.

Revisiting the survey was a deliberate decision.

“The spring 2025 survey marked the second time NDP had undertaken this type of cultural assessment,” Parker said. “The first survey helped establish a baseline that informed several schoolwide initiatives. Revisiting the survey this year was intentional.”

The results highlighted many encouraging indicators of student experience.

Among them:

     • 92 percent of students reported they do not worry about physical fights at school.

     • 89 percent said they do not worry about school violence.

     • 70 percent of students reported feeling a sense of belonging and connection to the NDP community.

Families and faculty also reported positive perceptions of the school environment.

Eighty percent of families said they believe students respect school staff and 92 percent of teachers said they feel trusted to teach in the way they believe is most effective.

“These results affirm many of the strengths in our community,” Parker said.

Areas for reflection and growth

While the survey revealed encouraging trends, it also surfaced areas where school leaders see opportunities for growth.

Some students reported concerns about the way people treat one another and perceptions of school culture varied across grade levels.

Survey responses also suggested that students’ sense of belonging tends to decline in the upper grades.

“This is one of the areas into which we would like to dig a lot deeper,” Parker said.

She noted that several factors can affect high school students’ sense of connection as they move through their academic journey.

“As students mature, the learning environment often becomes more rigid and the pressure regarding college or career increases,” Parker said. “Combined with the stress of making future decisions, this can lead to burnout and disengagement.”

Another finding showed that students receiving financial aid reported a somewhat lower sense of belonging than their peers — a result school leaders say they are taking seriously as they consider future initiatives.

Why focus groups matter

While surveys provide valuable data, Parker said they cannot fully capture the nuances of student and community experiences.

That is where focus groups play a critical role.

“Focus groups are critical to understanding the student experience because they provide in-depth, qualitative insights that quantitative surveys cannot,” she said. “They allow us to explore attitudes, emotions and perceptions in real time.”

The discussions also help identify concerns or opportunities that might not appear in survey results alone.

“They reveal the lived experience of students and highlight nuances in behavior while identifying hidden needs,” Parker said.

A community effort

School leaders emphasize that the upcoming focus groups are intended to gather perspectives from across the entire Notre Dame Prep community.

Participation from students, families, alumni, faculty and staff will help ensure that a broad range of experiences informs the next phase of planning.

“Involving members of our community across all stakeholder groups is critical,” Parker said. “It allows us to gather diverse perspectives, uncover hidden insights and ensure a comprehensive understanding of both our strengths and the challenges our school faces.”

She added that collaborative dialogue also helps build trust and shared ownership of the school’s direction.

“It bridges gaps between the Board of Trustees, administration, faculty, students, alumni and parents,” Parker said. “All voices are critical to the success of this endeavor.”

Forming Christian persons and upright citizens

Ultimately, the work of diversity and inclusion at Notre Dame Prep is tied to the school’s broader educational mission.

Leaders see this work as part of forming students who are prepared to engage the world with empathy, intellectual curiosity and a commitment to justice.

“Teaching students to advocate for justice is essential to their development as Christian persons, upright citizens and academic scholars,” Parker said.

By continuing to evaluate its culture, listen to community voices and build programs that reflect its Catholic and Marist identity, the school hopes to ensure that every student feels both challenged and supported.

“At the end of the day, we want every student at Notre Dame Prep to feel welcome, know that they matter, and to feel the love of God,” Guest said. “We want every student to feel they belong.”

How to participate

Members of the Notre Dame Prep community are invited to participate in the upcoming focus groups scheduled for the week of March 23.

Participants are encouraged to sign up by the end of this week to help ensure a wide range of voices are represented in the discussions.

School leaders say the conversations will help shape the next chapter of Notre Dame Prep’s ongoing commitment to a welcoming and inclusive community — one built upon faith, respect and the dignity of every individual.

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.