THRIVING IN COLLEGE

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February 19, 2025

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

Psychology major is flourishing in Grand Rapids thanks to her International Baccalaureate Diploma Program experience at Notre Dame Prep.

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.

For 2022 Notre Dame Prep graduate Reese Riera, taking the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program in high school was a real game-changer. Read about her college career thus far and how it's been affected by her NDP/IB experience.

"I mean it when I say IB was a lifesaver for me - I met my lifelong best friends that I still talk to every day. College has been so kind to me, and I am truly thriving. I have made lots of amazing friends and gotten to pursue so many new things, from being in plays to playing intramural soccer to running events at my apartment complex to studying abroad in Northern Ireland. 

"I am majoring in psychology at GVSU and fall a little bit more in love with both the west side of the state and the field of psychology every single day. I currently work at Forest View Psychiatric Hospital in Grand Rapids, providing mental health care to a wide variety of patients. I am graduating a whole year early (thanks to my IB credits!) this spring with a BS in psychology. 

"After I graduate, I plan on going to graduate school to get my MA in counseling! In my experience, IB 100% prepared me for my college courses. I feel I definitely have an upper hand compared to many of my current classmates. IB helped me learn how to think critically and develop a unique and authentic sense of self."

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.