Christian, upright and academic

Notre Dame NHS students put school mission to work at local public elementary school.

Notre Dame National Honor Society members were at Rogers Elementary School on Dec. 18 to help celebrate the holidays. Back row, left to right: unidentified friend, Andrew DeLave, Emily Stegmeyer, Emily Eicher, Dane Kovaleski, Emily Byrd, Shannon Wood, Gillian Wood, Kevin Lesser and Brooke Krausman. Front row, left to right: Rosella LoChirco (leader), Hannah Byrd, Sabrina Kloss, Heather Gaynor, Caitlin Fitzgerald and Cassie Harris. Not pictured were NHS tutors Claire Bolden, Samantha Fierens, Katherine Nachazel and Molly Dulapa.

A number of students from Notre Dame’s upper division who are National Honor Society members have been busying themselves during their after-school free time with tutoring at Will Rogers Elementary School in Auburn Hills. Part of the School District of the City of Pontiac, Rogers Elementary has about 350 students in kindergarten through sixth grade, some of whom have been getting extra help from NDP students on a regular basis.

Notre Dame senior Rosella LoChirco is organizing the NHS tutoring sessions at Rogers Elementary School.

According to Mel Archer, who moderates Notre Dame’s NHS group along with fellow English teacher Kyle Lilek, many students from NDP have been making almost daily trips to Rogers to tutor the children.

Pam St. Onge is a teacher at Rogers who organizes the after-school help at her school. Archer said St. Onge schedules the tutoring sessions, which occur five times a week—Monday through Thursday—with two sessions on Thursday.

“About five Notre Dame NHS students come to each session,” Archer said. “Ms. St. Onge’s program, which she has offered for some time already, runs from the fall through March, and our NHS kids has been involved from the start this year.”

NDP senior and two-year NHS member Rosella LoChirco is overseeing the project at Notre Dame. Her role is to organize the NDP students who volunteer through signupgenius.com and handles scheduling for the NHS tutors.

Last Friday, many of the tutors got together with their friends at Rogers to help with a party for the students, which included gifts from the Notre Dame group.

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 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.