NDCL students and staff celebrated Earth Day and promoted Catholic social teaching by going on the road for two different but very important environmental cleanup projects...
Lions Hit the Road
NDCL students and staff celebrated Earth Day and promoted Catholic social teaching by going on the road for two different but very important environmental cleanup projects.
On April 26, a dozen students with Director of Campus Ministry Halle McKeon and Director of Student Leadership Ben Lozar led a tent-city cleanup near Marginal Road in downtown Cleveland. For the past two years, NDCL’s Labre Ministry has had weekly connections with some of the homeless persons who live in this area.
The NDCL group scoured the area to clean up everything from aluminum cans and newspapers to blankets and mattresses. When officials from the City of Cleveland saw all the trash and debris collected, they provided a dumpster to haul it away.
Two days later, a group of about 25 members of the NDCL Conservation Club spent the middle of their school day at Eldon Russell Park in Troy Township to help in the effort to eradicate garlic mustard, an invasive and persistent non-native plant that threatens the natural ecosystem. Science teacher Elizabeth Ford organized the effort with help from Director of Counseling Katie Koci. School counselor Emily Mazzaferri also accompanied the group.
The Conservation Club also sponsored an environmental trivia contest and a dress-down fundraiser to support environmental causes during lunch last week.
Kairos Retreat
Thanks to the efforts of NDCL students and adult leaders and everyone’s careful adherence to COVID-19 protocols, NDCL Campus Ministry celebrated the return of the Kairos retreat program on April 14-17. Forty-six juniors and seniors and seven adults participated in the four-day retreat at Hiram House Camp – the school’s first Kairos since the pandemic began last winter.
Kairos is a powerful, student-led spiritual retreat that helps retreatants focus on their relationship with Jesus as they experience. NDCL students have participated in 28 Kairos retreats since the program began here in 2011.
Biomed Students Present
Students in NDCL’s innovative biomedical studies course presented their differential diagnoses and fielded probing questions of actual case studies from several visiting medical and science professionals during this semester’s Biomedical Symposium in the Sisters of Notre Dame Learning Commons the evening of April 27.
Science teacher Nathan Smith teaches the biomedical course with professional assistance from Dr. Janet Poponick ’77, a retired MetroHealth physician who serves on the Notre Dame Schools Board of Directors.
Transformative Leadership Award
During a surprise presentation early Monday morning at NDCL, Principal Joseph A. Waler and former President Sister Jacquelyn Gusdane were each honored with the 2021 Sisters of Notre Dame Transformative Leadership Award.
Given by the National Sponsorship and Network Office of the Sisters of Notre Dame of the United States, the award recognizes persons who inspire hope and excellence as they lead others to fuller, freer lives. Award recipients inspire the hearts and transform the lives of those with whom they minister.
