With a once-in-a-lifetime summer camp in Annapolis just finished, a recent Notre Dame Marist grad looks forward to Notre Dame Prep.
Noraa Silver graduated this year from Notre Dame's middle school and will be a freshman in the fall at Notre Dame Prep. She recently returned from Annapolis, Maryland, after concluding a highly selective STEM camp program hosted by the U. S. Naval Academy. Called the USNA "Summer STEM Program," it was a six-day event that involved sessions in robotics, chemistry and physics as well as a few in what Silver calls her favorites: bioterrorism and cyber security.
"My favorite class during the camp was called Bioterrorism and in that class we learned about different infectious diseases that could be released on our society, and how best to deal with them," she said. "Other modules I went to were on cybersecurity, robotics, climate and weather, aquaculture, and oceanography."
Silver's Summer STEM camp experience at the Naval Academy is an extremely selective program, as only about 10 percent of the approximately 5,000 annual applicants are selected. Criteria for acceptance into the program, which is split into three different groups — rising 9th graders, rising 10th graders and rising 11th graders — include a record of strong accomplishments inside and outside the classroom; strong academic performance; and strong PSAT, SAT or ACT scores, where applicable.
A happy day
Silver said she initially applied (in late January) because she's always been interested in the Naval Academy and other service academies and that she's also had a strong interest in classes related to STEM. So a STEM camp at the Naval Academy was the perfect opportunity to put those two favorite things together in one place.
She found out she was accepted to the rising 9th grader section of the camp on April 8, which no doubt was a very happy day for her. When she finally arrived on the Academy campus in early June, there were 269 other rising 9th graders in her session. Silver stands near the Severn River in Annapolis, Maryland, not far from the U.S. Naval Academy.
Each Summer STEM program is six-days long, she said, but there is also another program called "Summer Seminar," which is strictly for rising seniors who are actually interested in attending the Naval Academy for college.
At the Summer STEM camp, it wasn’t just class work for Silver and fellow campers.
Aside from taking classes in bioterrorism and cybersecurity, Silver's other favorite part of the camp was being able to meet so many people from around the country.
"Although lots of time was spent on learning, we still had plenty of time to make friends and hang out," she said. "My squad had two Navy midshipmen as our leaders — they are currently attending the Academy as sophomores — along with nine other kids."
She said her squad did everything together.
"We ate, took our classes together, and when we went to Washington, D.C., for a field trip, we stayed together as well," she said. "Before dinner each evening, we had what was called sports time for about an hour, and we were free to play whatever sport we wanted. One time, our squad skipped the regular sports period time and had a water war instead."
Silver still communicates with almost everyone who was in her group, which, she said, just goes to show how much they bonded over the course of their adventure.
"Somebody told me that there were 18 attendees from Michigan throughout the three sessions, but I never met any of them," she said. "However, in my cybersecurity class, our teacher was from Traverse City. She was the only person I met from Michigan during the whole time."
NDP-bound
Now, with Summer STEM behind her, Silver is heading toward her next big adventure: high school.
"I'm really looking forward to attending Notre Dame Prep next year," she said. "But what I'm most excited about is meeting all the new people. Our 8th-grade class was not even half the size our 9th-grade class is going to be next year, so that excites me, but it also scares me a little. Also, I'm really looking forward to Irish Week even though I've accepted the fact that the freshmen are going to lose. But still, it's the games and the team spirit that I can't wait for"
So now that Notre Dame Middle is in her rear-view mirror, does she have any fond memories from her time in D wing?
"I have to say that every single day of all three years I attended Marist was fun and exciting, and I wouldn't trade a single one of those days for anything," she said. "Our grade became so close, especially near the end of this past year."
Also for Silver, her faith was a big deal in middle school. But it's how she demonstrated her faith that was an even bigger deal.
"When I attended Notre Dame Marist, we were taught to follow the mission and be good Christian people and upright citizens whether people were watching or not," she said. "Now that I'm going to the high school, I feel like we will really have a chance to prove we are good Christian people and upright citizens on our own without being told to do so. I think a big factor that contributed to all of us becoming more mature and acting on our own was our teachers. Our teachers taught us our necessary school material, but they also taught us how to follow the mission."
Silver said she'll really miss those teachers as well as the relatively cozy size of her 8th-grade class.
"I will miss how close our grade was," she said. "Next year, there will be a whole bunch of students I won't know at first. But it only took a little while for our grade to become so close, so I hope 9th grade next year can also eventually become just as close."
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." NDPMA is conducted by the Marist Fathers and Brothers and 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