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BREADCRUMB

WHERE HOPE BECAME A REALITY

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June 2, 2025

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

In an article originally published in the latest edition of Today’s Marists, which is printed and distributed by The Marist Fathers and Brothers of the U.S. Province, Notre Dame Prep Head of School Andrew J. Guest discusses the remarkable achievements of this Marist school over the past 30 years and its even brighter future.
 
 

The world-ranked 1,230 square foot robotics lab features indoor and outdoor workspaces as well as mobile workstations that allow for computer-aided instruction.

 

A Marist School 30th Anniversary Reflection: Where HOPE Became Reality

By Andy Guest, Head of School
 
The late Pope Francis had designated the 2025 Holy Year as a time to renew ourselves as Pilgrims of Hope. The Pilgrims of Hope Jubilee Year is an invitation for Catholics around the world to renew our relationship with God, each other and all of creation, in celebration of the most central aspect of Christian faith: hope. But what does hope mean and how does it apply to our Marist schools?
 
According to the Merriam Webster dictionary, the meaning of HOPE is to cherish or desire with anticipation: to want something to happen or be true. 
 
In the Bible, hope is a confident expectation that God will fulfill His promises. It is a choice to trust in God’s faithfulness and goodness. Hope is a virtue that is built on faith and love. I imagine when the Marists founded Notre Dame Prep (ND Prep) in 1994, they HOPED it would be successful. Thirty years later, it is safe to say that their hope has become reality. 
 
There were many challenges in starting the new school and it was not always easy. The hope the founding Marists had needed to be, merged with many years of difficult and hard work. Faith, the close sibling of hope, was necessary as well. For hope is a future-oriented expectation or desire for something to happen, while faith is a strong belief in something or someone, even without proof. The Marists not only hoped the school would succeed, but they also had faith that Mary, our patroness, would watch over us in difficult times. It was the combination of hope, hard work and faith that led the school to success.
 
In reflecting on ND Prep’s 30th anniversary celebration in 2024, I am proud to have been here for 20 of those 30 years. As an alumnus of Notre Dame High School, I never dreamed that I would come back and work for the school yet alone make this my home for the rest of my life.
 
I feel gratitude to the Marists that impacted me as a student at Notre Dame, including Frs. John Bryson, Ray Coolong, Leon Olszamowski, Joe Hindelang, Juan Gonzalez, Jim Strasz, Gerry Demers, John Sajdak, Ron DesRosiers, Ray Ouellette and Br. Louis Plourde. Over the years, I have also had the pleasure of meeting Frs. Bob Champagne, Bob Graham, Br. Leonard and John Kiselica (former Marist), who were all instrumental in their respective eras at the school. Later, I had the opportunity to meet Frs. Richard Egan, Bill Rowland and Bishop Joel Konzen at Marist School in Atlanta, Georgia. What a terrific community of men and great role models.
 

Two fine arts studios, one for upper school students and another for lower school students, also feature a gallery where student work can be displayed.

 

I also had the opportunity to meet and work with Frs. Ted Keating and Roland Lajoie as former provincials, Fr. Richard Colbert in St. Pete Beach, Florida, and Fr. Ron Nikodem during his stay at ND Prep. I have a saying that I never met a Marist that I did not like. One of the defining characteristics of a Marist is that they are all “good guys.” I think about that often as I try to live up to their examples in my current role. 
 
I inherited a picture of the school from Fr. Leon that is in my office. It is a picture of the campus in 1994, when ND Prep was not much more than a hope. The picture is almost unrecognizable from the school today. Over the past 30 years, we have added three academic wings, including the Timothy Easterwood Science, Arts, and Technology wing, the Melissa Kozyra Botany Center, the Mary Courtyard, the Grimaldi Athletic Center, the Beverly Gifford Music Center, Kozyra Alumni Field, six tennis courts, turf baseball and softball diamonds, the Betty Wroubel Athletic Center and have built a lower school across the street on the corner of Giddings and Walton. This is due to the benefaction of alumni, parents and friends who believe that Catholic and Marist education remains more important today than ever in a mixed-up world where traditional Judeo-Christian values are often dismissed or take a back seat to popular secularism. 
 

The Melissa Kozyra Greenhouse and Botany Learning Lab allows students at every grade level to use hands-on experiences to learn about plants, sustainability and the environment.

 

In 2013, we purchased all the property and grounds from the Archdiocese of Detroit (AOD) and incorporated the school as an independent Michigan-based educational nonprofit 501(c)3 corporation. As such, we receive no financial support from the government or the AOD and depend solely on tuition revenue and donations to keep the school strong and healthy. 
 
I remember our first Michigan High School Athletic Association (MHSAA) State Championship in 2006. It was girls’ skiing, and we were very excited. It took more than 10 years to reach that pinnacle of success, and the students were awarded a day off from school to celebrate. Since that time, we have won 19 MHSAA state championships, 15 MHSAA runner-up state championships and crowned 25 individual MHSAA state champions, including our most recent state championships this past fall in boys’ soccer and football and girls’ competitive cheer. What a great time to be at ND Prep!
 
Equally important to the student experience is the plethora of extra and co-curricular programs, such as our award-winning robotics teams, top-notch musical productions, premier band, choir and visual arts programs, innovative science engineering and empathy class, fully operational greenhouse, a thriving spiritual life and dozens of different clubs for students to grow, learn and have fun. 
 
We are the only Catholic school in the City of Pontiac and draw students from 48 different zip codes within a 30-mile radius of the school. We are the first Catholic school in the nation and the only Catholic school in Michigan to offer the International Baccalaureate (IB) Program at all three divisions (lower, middle and upper).
 
We have an A+ ranking on Niche and are perennially listed as one of the top Catholic and private schools in Michigan. Our lower school is an Apple Distinguished School, and our middle and upper schools are Microsoft Showcase Schools. 
 
Despite these successes, the school still needs support. We lack some of the facilities to cover the depth and breadth of our academic, spiritual and athletic offerings. We also lack a true endowment that could protect the school from financial downturns, bolster teacher pay and increase scholarships for families in need. These are priorities for the institution in the coming years. We must do everything we can today to secure a strong future for the students of tomorrow.
 
I am proud of how far our Catholic and Marist school has come these past 30 years and hope that with help from our alumni, parents and friends, we can build an even better school for the future. A school that the Marists will always be proud of, a school that represents their legacy as an order and a school that sticks to its Marist mission of working with God to form good Christian people, upright citizens and academic scholars. With the Grace of God and through Mary’s intercession, we pray that our students will continue to be pilgrims of hope for Marists all over the world.

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.