Notre Dame junior Gabrielle Jacoby is one of the school’s student ambassadors.
Notre Dame’s student ambassador program, which has been functioning on campus for a number of years now, takes some of the more exceptional students in Notre Dame’s upper division and gives them a unique responsibility to project and foster a warm and welcoming atmosphere for prospective students and parents interested in Notre Dame.
In other words, why it's 'cool' to go to Notre Dame.
But the ambassador program does not just benefit the school, though. Those chosen also derive benefits themselves, especially when many are at a point in school when big decisions need to be made about colleges and careers. Program administrators say college recruiters pay keen attention to extracurricular activities like Notre Dame's ambassador program, which looks especially good on a résumé when applying for the next level.
According to Kathleen Offer, who manages Notre Dame’s admissions office, which administers the ambassador program, the school’s faculty and staff typically nominate or suggest students to be ambassadors. Offer says she is impressed every year with the many nominated students.
One such student who gained a number of recommendations from school staff is Gabrielle Jacoby. Now a junior in the upper division, Jacoby has been an important member of the student ambassadors group for a while now, and she balances the time needed to be an advocate for Notre Dame with a host of other activities in any given day or week on campus.
Extra extracurriculars
“I have improved my time-management skills a great deal since I was a freshman,” she said. “I spend time on schoolwork, while also setting aside time to relax. And I only commit to activities that are truly significant to me.”
Jacoby must have a lot of truly significant extracurricular activities on her plate because she’s committed to more than just a few.
Besides the ambassador responsibilities, she’s involved with golf, softball, Student Council, National Honor Society, Spanish NHS, Action for Africa, and the school’s Peer Leader program.
Jacoby is taking International Baccalaureate art at Notre Dame. She earned a Gold Key recently from the Scholastic Art and Writing Award competition for this piece, “Moving Away from Youth.”
“My membership in Student Council and the National Honor Society helps me a great deal in trying to be an upright citizen. I am encouraged to be a person of character, to pay attention to concerns of the student body, and to represent Notre Dame off campus by serving my community.”
Help for military veterans
She also says the integration of campus ministry into her life has been another plus for her.
“I especially enjoy ‘Make It Matter Day,’” she said. “Last year I wrote letters to war veterans, which seems like a small act, but I was able to personally deliver the letters to the Veterans Hospital and see the not-so-small impact they made on the veterans.”
Jacoby is a member of the school’s varsity golf team.
Her 11th-grade academic curriculum this year has been chock full of challenges: IB HL mathematics, which involves topics such as De Moivre’s Theorem, 2D and 3D vectors and an in-depth look at inferential statistics, Christian Morality, Honors Spanish 7/8, IB HL English, which includes the study of language through the lenses of culture and media using analytical, rhetorical, and critical thinking skills, Christian History, IB Art and IB HL History. Whew!
She says she keeps up with everything because just about everywhere she turns on campus, there is plenty of help and encouragement.
“Notre Dame provides such an ambitious atmosphere,” Jacoby says. “It is a sort of unspoken truth that at Notre Dame it’s cool to be smart. I think the students and teachers prove that every day.”
She also thinks Notre Dame is quite different from other schools in that it is extremely well-rounded.
“Every student has the opportunity to pursue their faith, academics, athletics, the arts, and more,” she says. “The combination of an IB education, the ability to serve the community, and the opportunity to express yourself is unique to Notre Dame. Students bring their different perspectives to classes, and that diversifies the experience for everyone.”
Jacoby, whose sister, Juliet, is a freshman at NDP, also says that many of her classes provide a more world-view perspective than she believes she would get at other schools.
“My most interesting class so far at Notre Dame has to be World Cultures, which was taught during my freshman year by Mr. [Michael] Carman. He put meaning behind major movements and concepts such as global citizenship and imperialism. I took interest in researching human rights and social issues within different religions and cultures and I gained lasting knowledge by investigating, for example, the caste system in India, and Indian organizations that work to address the issue.”
College plans?
While specific college plans remain to be firmed up for this busy NDP junior, she said she does know for sure that when she graduates from Notre Dame, she will leave feeling accomplished and prepared because of the challenging classes and because she’s learned to think independently.
“At the same time, though, I think I also will be heartbroken to say goodbye to the great classmates with whom I have shared 12 years of memories.”
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About Notre Dame’s student ambassador program
The admissions department typically takes nominations for the program from faculty and staff throughout the school year, but student nominees are required to complete an application and submit it around the first week of June each year. Program administrator Offer says she tells applicants it's a big deal to even be nominated. "We tell them that as a recipient of a nomination to join the program, they should feel very honored. The nomination reflects the very high esteem in which the Notre Dame faculty holds them."
Comments or questions? mkelly@ndpma.org.
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About Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy
Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy is a private, Catholic, independent, coeducational day school located in Oakland County. The school's upper division 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's middle and lower divisions enroll students in jr. kindergarten through grade eight. All three divisions are International Baccalaureate "World Schools." The Marist Fathers and Brothers sponsor NDPMA's Catholic identity and manages its educational program. Notre Dame is accredited by the National Association of Independent Schools, the Independent Schools Association of the Central States and the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement. For more on Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy, visit the school's home page at www.ndpma.org.