Notre Dame Academy is an American

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Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

girls' school in

Staten Island Staten Island ( ) is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located in the city's southwest portion, the borough is separated from New Jersey b ...

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. It is located within the

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York The Archdiocese of New York ( la, Archidiœcesis Neo-Eboracensis) is an ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church ( particularly the Roman Catholic or Latin Church) located in the New York (state), State of New York. It encom ...

. As a private school, Notre Dame is not owned by the archdiocese, although it does maintain a close affiliation with the archdiocese. The school is located on a campus on

Grymes Hill Grymes Hill is a tall hill formed of serpentine rock on Staten Island, New York. It is the second highest natural point on the island and in the five boroughs of New York City. The neighborhood of the same name encompasses an area of and has a ...

. Consisting of an elementary school ( PK3 – 8) and high school ( 9– 12), While providing an education in the Catholic tradition, the school is open to girls of all faiths.

History

The school was founded in 1903 after William Miller-Jones traveled to

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to ask the sisters of the

Congregation of Notre Dame of Montreal The Congrégation de Notre Dame (CND) is a religious community for women founded in 1658 in Ville Marie (Montreal), in the colony of New France, now part of Canada. It was established by Marguerite Bourgeoys, who was recruited in France to creat ...

to come and start a school on Staten Island. After his appeal, the sisters were granted permission by John Murphy Farley, then- Archbishop of New York, to come and teach in his diocese. Miller-Jones then began looking for a location, which he secured on Howard Avenue. The school opened in September 1903 and was called the Academy of Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament. The school began taking its first boarding students in 1908, which was a tradition that continued until 1959. After moving further up Howard Avenue, which allowed for expansion, the school applied for and was granted approval by the

New York State Board of Regents The Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York is responsible for the general supervision of all educational activities within New York State, presiding over University of the State of New York and the New York State Education Depa ...

for the elementary school in 1914 and a charter for the high school in 1917. Eventually as the population of Staten Island increased, so too did the demand for an education, and the sisters met this pressing need by purchasing and renovating two more estates thereby expanding to the After receiving accreditation from the

Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools The Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools (Middle States Association or MSA) was a voluntary, peer-based, non-profit association that performed peer evaluation and regional accreditation of public and private schools in the Mid-Atl ...

in 1949, the school ushered in several changes, including the school seal and the official name change to Notre Dame Academy of Staten Island. In the 1950s and 1960s, the school underwent further expansion, including a separate building to house the elementary school which contained a new cafeteria and gymnasium. The campus remained largely the same until the beginning of the 21st century. The new century saw another wave of expansion and renovation, including an Early Childhood Center with classrooms for students in the Pre-K3 to Grade 2 classrooms, and an Arts and Humanities Building, housing a new chapel, a dining hall, an art studio, a computer lab, and several new classrooms. In addition, the classrooms in other buildings have all been renovated to meet the growing technological demands with computers and SmartBoards, while many of the major textbooks are now available as part of a digital library.

Academics

The high school offers a

college preparatory A college-preparatory school (usually shortened to preparatory school or prep school) is a type of secondary school. The term refers to public, private independent or parochial schools primarily designed to prepare students for higher education ...

liberal arts and

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curriculum that exceeds the requirements established by the

. In addition to fulfilling the requirements for a

Regents diploma A high school diploma or high school degree is a North American academic school leaving qualification awarded upon high school graduation. The high school diploma is typically obtained after a course of study lasting four years, from grade 9 to gra ...

with Advanced Designation, students also have the opportunity to take a selection of

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courses including: * biology * calculus * computer science * English language and composition * English literature and composition * physics * studio art * U.S. government and politics * U.S. history * world history Students also have the opportunity to earn college credits through the school's affiliation with St. John's University (New York City). Students are offered an array of electives, including anatomy and physiology, campus ministry, digital, creative writing, environmental science, photography, psychology, sociology, songwriting, and women and the media. The curriculum in the elementary school aims to assure that the students will achieve high scores on state standardized tests, Archdiocesan exams, and two State Regents exams. They are awarded more than $100,000 in scholarships to the high schools of their choice.

Activities

Notre Dame offers a number of activities and athletic teams.

Notable alumnae

Dawn Aponte Dawn Marie DiFortuna-Aponte (born c. 1971) is an American football executive, accountant, and attorney. She is the chief administrator of football operations for the National Football League (NFL), having served in the position since June 2017. ...

–

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

executive * Patricia Neway –

operatic soprano A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880&n ...

;

Broadway theatre Broadway theatre,Although ''theater'' is generally the spelling for this common noun in the United States (see American and British English spelling differences), 130 of the 144 extant and extinct Broadway venues use (used) the spelling ''T ...

actress

References

External links

* {{authority control Educational institutions established in 1903 Girls' schools in New York City Private elementary schools in Staten Island Private middle schools in Staten Island Catholic elementary schools in New York City 1903 establishments in New York City Roman Catholic high schools in Staten Island Grymes Hill, Staten Island