News & Events News
Notre Dame alumna Sahithi Madireddy ’19, who is currently attending MIT, was named one of ten winners of the “Speaking Up About Mental Health! This Is My Story” national essay challenge. The competition was designed to spur conversations among youth about mental health and encourage them to seek support for themselves and others. Current Notre Dame junior Samskruthi Madireddy ’21 received an honorable mention for her entry.
The Notre Dame spirit of sisterhood, community and service came together in beautiful symmetry last week as athletes, cheerleaders, classmates and friends worked towards a common goal - raising money for Sister Circles that will help ensure the continued diversity we all value so much. For the second year, students are raising money that will fund the education of an incoming student the year after they graduate.
More than 250 freshman students and family members gathered recently to celebrate Notre Dame's sixth Freshman Family Liturgy, presided over by Father Victor Trinidad of St. Joseph's Cathedral.
Notre Dame's robotics team, the Janksters, competed at CalGames recently. The event provided both rookies and veterans an opportunity to learn new skills and bond as a team. Dean Mulla, a long-time Jankster mentor, was recognized as Mentor of the Year for his dedication and support of the robotics program. Congratulations!
Faculty, staff and families gathered in Julie Billiart Hall recently to bless the Class of 2021 on their Notre Dame journey as they become upperclasswomen. With blessings from their mentors, they were presented with sunflower necklaces and reminded to always turn towards goodness and the good God just as the sunflower turns towards warmth and light.
The spirit of generosity ruled court recently as Notre Dame hosted Dig Pink, a volleyball competition between Notre Dame San Jose and Harker, to raise money in support of breast cancer research. JB Hall became a pink oasis as teachers, parents, coaches, players and fans gathered as a community to support the Dig Pink volleyball match.
In their first interdisciplinary, all-class field trip, the Class of 2023 visited San Jose’s Japantown, bringing to life core ideas from Notre Dame’s Education for Justice & Leadership curriculum and the freshman summer reading book, When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka.
As the 2019-2020 school year starts to pick up the pace, so do the extra-curricular activities that go along with it. With representatives from 34 clubs and interest groups and many other co-curriculars present, the recent club fair marked the first time students were exposed to all the opportunities for involvement at Notre Dame.
To further their discussion around inclusion and exclusion, a key theme for the year, the entire junior class recently ventured to Angel Island. Now a California State Park, Angel Island served as a “holding place” in the early 1900s for primarily Chinese immigrants after strict immigration laws severely restricted them from entering the United States. It functioned as both an immigration and deportation facility, at which some 175,000 Chinese and about 60,000 Japanese immigrants were detained, generally from two weeks to six months, before being allowed to enter the United States.
Forty juniors joined the Class of 2023 for one of Notre Dame's time-honored traditions, Freshman Sleepover. The big sisters took charge of the event, helping the newest members of the ND sisterhood with games and activities that, ultimately, lead them to voting on the colors and mascot that will identify them throughout their high school years and even as they join the more than 8,000 alumnae in the ND network! We're excited to introduce the Purple & Mint Green Jaguars!
More than 150 students from 17 Bay Area schools gathered on the Notre Dame campus recently to compete in parliamentary debate. Click on the title above to view a video and learn more!
Two Notre Dame seniors, Shruti Sridhar and Maya Nayak, were recognized over the summer for the work they have done in the community through non-profits they founded. The Jefferson Awards Foundation was created in 1972 by the American Institute for Public Service. The Jefferson Awards are given at both national and local levels. Local winners are ordinary people who do extraordinary things without expectation of recognition.
Notre Dame seniors Annie, Kayla, Srija, Shruti and Katelyn recently joined a prestigious group of high school seniors recognized as National Merit Semifinalists in the 2020 National Merit Scholarship Program. Because of their truly superb performance on the PSAT, all five young women will be considered for National Merit, college and corporate-sponsored scholarships if they move to finalist status, notification of which is made in the spring.
Three graduates of the Class of 2019 were featured in the media this summer presenting their Perspectives on KQED. Morgan Brumm, who is attending the University of San Francisco, spoke about gardening giving us the power to create life. Swathi Ram, now studying at the University of Illinois, shared her thoughts about needing to understand where you came from to know where you're going and Christy Maly, a UC Berkeley student, shared her perspective on rights of passage.
We’re very excited to announce that Notre Dame High School has been ranked in the top ten Catholic schools in the state of California for the third consecutive years by Niche, the largest website for researching K-12 schools!. It is once again ranked as the most diverse private high school in Santa Clara County and the number two all-girl's school in the San Francisco Bay Area.
With summer 2019 coming to an end, the Griffins, Tigers, Raptors and the Class of 2023 made their way back to school, filling the campus once again with laughter and excitement. Before all their classes, students made their way to JB Hall for the start-of-school assembly. Student leaders opened the year with the theme of Belonging at the assembly. ASB student body president Neha Jain ’20, introduced the Belonging theme in her opening address, encouraging her ND sisters to take extra steps this year to ensure everyone feels included.
Notre Dame's Robotics Team, the Janksters, hosted their seventh annual bootcamp for current and incoming students earlier in August. Through a series of workshops, games and other hands-on activities the students learned about the robotics program and make some new friends. For the leaders it was an opportunity to further develop their communication and leadership skills.
Last night we celebrated the Class of 2019 Vipers and their many accomplishments at the Senior Recognition Ceremony! At this morning’s assembly, their Notre Dame sisters cheered and shed a few tears as the Vipers left Julie Billiart Hall for the final time and officially joined the global network of Notre Dame alumnae.
Notre Dame's Class of 2020 is already following in the footsteps of their viper sisters with a long list of awards and honors. The Scholarship Committee recently awarded Junior Book Awards and Medals to some very deserving young women.
More than 300 seniors, juniors and their guests enjoyed a beautiful night of laughter, dancing and great food at this year's prom. The event, held at the Corinthian Grand Ballroom featured a red carpet!
Last week the Notre Dame community gathered for the last all-school mass of the year in the Cathedral Basilica of St Joseph. This joyful liturgy included the celebration of the Sacrament of Confirmation. Notre Dame was pleased to welcome the Most Reverend Oscar Cantú, bishop of San Jose for his first liturgy with the school community. Bishop Cantú became the third bishop of San Jose on May 1, 2019 upon the retirement of Bishop Patrick J. McGrath.
More than 400 guests spent a beautiful sunny morning on the Notre Dame campus last weekend, coming together for the first time as the Class of 2023. Joined by their family members, our newest students met with faculty and staff to learn about life on campus and the many co-curricular opportunities.
Sahithi Madireddy ’19 and Samskruthi Madireddy ’21 had a scientific research paper entitled “The Role of Diet in Maintaining Strong Brain Health by Taking the Advantage of the Gut-brain Axis” published in the Journal of Food and Nutrition Research in January. Sahithi has been published in the Journal of Investigative Medicine and has presented at the Western Medical Research Conference and American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting. Samskruthi is a member of the California state’s Mental Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission’s (MHSOAC). She also serves on Stanford’s Allcove (Headspace) Youth Advisory Group and the Pacific Autism Center for Education (PACE).
Shurthi Shyam '19 recently had a scientific research paper published in the Young Scientist's Journal. Her research was entitled: Effect of Antioxidants N-Acetylcysteine and α-tocopherol on Colorectal Cancer Cell Invasion + Migration in a Scratch Assay. Shruthi has gained research experience at leading genomics labs and at Brown University. She has presented papers at American Geophysical Union and at Synopsys State Science Fair. She has been involved in New York Academy of Science’s Junior Academy and currently serves as a board member on the youth advisory board for Stanford’s Headspace.
Students, faculty and staff enjoyed a morning walk to our downtown place of worship, Cathedral Basilica of St. Joseph for a Holy Week service featuring a recreation of the Stations of the Cross. Ms. Quiazon, director of campus ministry, and senior Isabel Solorio presided over the service through which seniors shared their reflections on condemnation, compassion, cruelty and courage.