NDPMA Head of School Fr. Leon Olszamowski, s.m., explains briefly why he continues to teach even as he manages a school of nearly 1,200 students. Check out the video. . .
Also, for historical perspective, in the fall-2009 issue of IRISH magazine (for alumni), Olszamowski discusses the school’s first 15 years and the legacy of Notre Dame. The article is reprinted here.
Keeping the faith
(Published in 2009)
It probably goes without saying that Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy has become an academic powerhouse and a school of choice in Oakland County. But what shouldn’t go without saying is that NDPMA would not be where it is today without the hard work and dedication of the numerous participants in the school’s early years and most especially not without the legacy and tradition of Notre Dame High School in Harper Woods.
In an interview with the school's advancement office, Fr. Leon Olszamowski, s.m., ‘65 (NDHS), president of NDPMA, discusses both the history and future of Notre Dame.
IRISH: How did Notre Dame Prep begin?
FR. LEON: The building itself was built in the 1960s when two rival Catholic schools in Pontiac merged. St. Frederick and St. Michael high schools came together in the northeast corner of Pontiac on land purchased by the Archdiocese of Detroit. The new school, named Pontiac Catholic Central High School, saw some of its highest enrollment years in the early 1980s. But in 1987, as the school experienced a definite downward trend in enrollment, it was renamed Oakland Catholic to encourage students from a broader swath of Oakland County to attend. But the early 1990s proved that the new name was not going to be fruitful. In May 1992, the Marist Fathers were approached by the bishop (for the second time) and asked if they would take over Oakland Catholic. After some reservations, a deal was struck. When finalizing the relationship between the Marist Fathers and Oakland Catholic, the Marists wanted full control over the school and stipulated that it wouldn’t be run by the Archdiocese. The Provincial council of the Marist Fathers voted in favor of it. The deal was completed in late 1992 and Oakland Catholic went through its last school year in 1993-1994.
IRISH: What happened to Notre Dame High School?
FR. LEON: At about the same time the Marists were devising a transition plan for the Pontiac school, Notre Dame High School in Harper Woods was facing financial problems. In the mid 1980s, enrollment had begun to decline significantly and efforts to attract new students were not effective. Most of this was attributed to the shifting population of Catholics on the lower east side of Detroit, exacerbated by the ending of residency requirements for police and fire personnel in Detroit. It soon became clear to the Marist Fathers that we would eventually have to move or close Notre Dame.
IRISH: What was your primary role during this difficult time for both schools?
FR. LEON: I was spending half of my time at Oakland Catholic in its last year and half of my time at Notre Dame in Harper Woods as principal. My primary role was to oversee the transition from Oakland Catholic to the opening of Notre Dame Preparatory.
IRISH: Can you describe the transition that was taking place at both schools?
FR. LEON: The transition from Oakland Catholic to Notre Dame Prep wasn’t the easiest. It was seen as somewhat of an intrusion from the people who were here in Pontiac. In reality, I feel that they knew something had to happen. The first official school year for our new school was 1994-1995. Eight staff members were retained from Oakland Catholic’s 18 and 76 of the 130 students were re-enrolled.
In Harper Woods, there was a great migration of sorts that was taking place. De La Salle moved north and other Catholic schools in the area were relocating to broaden their recruitment base. Slowly, the demographics shifted and ND’s recruitment area dwindled. The Marist Fathers, unable to continue financial support of the school, came up with a plan to close Notre Dame in an orderly fashion and transition as many faculty, staff and students as possible to Notre Dame Prep over the course of two years.
IRISH: What was the initial thought process behind closing Notre Dame High School?
FR. LEON: In spite of our best efforts and the tremendous efforts of other stakeholders in the school, we sensed that Notre Dame would eventually close due primarily to lack of enrollment and money. The Marists wanted to stay in the Archdiocese of Detroit and to help. So, initially, as we looked at it, we were going to transition the staff over the course of two years and what we were going to do was invite as many students who wanted to come to the new school even though we knew it was a long distance. But we were planning to bus all those who wanted or needed it. We would graduate juniors and seniors and offer the sophomores the opportunity to move to the other campus.
As the Marist Fathers were preparing to announce their plan, Cardinal Maida decided that Notre Dame was too valuable to the east side of Detroit and offered to purchase the school from the Marists. The deal proposed was that ownership of the school would transfer to the archdiocese and they would assume any accrued debt. The Marist Fathers would continue to operate the school but would no longer carry the financial burden of subsidizing the school. The archdiocese officially purchased Notre Dame from the Marists in 1996 and Notre Dame was given new life thanks to the cardinal.
IRISH: Why did the Marists accept the request to operate Oakland Catholic and why did you choose to remain at the Pontiac location?
FR. LEON: Religious congregations are built to respond to the needs of bishops. The archdiocese needed someone to run the school. The priests of the vicariate were 100% behind the deal. We also felt that the new school could be a long-term solution for Notre Dame and its tradition.
We thought that the location in Pontiac offered an opportunity for long-term sustainability. The school sits just west of Rochester Hills and adjacent to Auburn Hills. Both areas were, and still are, poised for long-term growth. And we have many alums from Notre Dame who live within a reasonable commute from the school.
IRISH: How important were Pontiac Catholic, Oakland Catholic, St. Frederick and St. Michael alums to the success of the school.
FR. LEON: The success that we had was due to people on that donor board in the chapel with their names inscribed. These folks built the school. That is what gave us success. They provided us with the opportunity to give a great Catholic education in this building. We also had some very good teachers who came from the Pontiac Catholic/Oakland Catholic school. Among those were Betty Wroubel, Dee Elbode (Connors), and a number of others who stayed until they retired. Those teachers that chose to stay with us worked out really well. They formed a good teaching staff.
We also were provided with the history of the previous schools, which was extremely important. The priests of the vicariate knew some of the history, but not the internal history. We depended upon the teachers who came over to let us know what had been going on over the years. Betty has been here since 1980 and helped us tremendously. She always reminds us that we need to keep trying to reconnect with the PC/OC alumni. She knew a lot of them. Eight teachers from NDHS also came over as part of the original transition plan.
IRISH: What was the initial vision of NDP?
FR. LEON: It’s in the original document I have between the Marists and the Archdiocese of Detroit. Our original vision for the school was to make it the school of choice in Oakland County. Bar none. That includes the Cranbrooks, the Country Days, and all those other schools: Brother Rice, Marian, and so on. The school of choice.
IRISH: How is NDPMA doing after 15 years? Still carrying the vision?
FR. LEON: I don’t know if we are the school of choice in Oakland County yet, but we are certainly a school of choice in Oakland County. People like coming here. The vision always has been that we would be a strong academic school and modeled somewhat on the University of Notre Dame: strong in all areas—not just academically, but in athletics, arts programs, etc.—well-balanced. We are continuing to work toward our original vision and to grow as an institution.
Also written in the documentation is what the cardinal’s vision for the school was: to be an “excellent academic school, coed, and to make it strongly vibrant and Catholic.
IRISH: How did you arrive at the name Notre Dame Preparatory School?
FR. LEON: As part of our plan, we wanted to continue the tradition of Notre Dame High School in this building—but because Notre Dame still existed, we needed to change the name slightly. So we added the names Preparatory and School. There had to be some distinction between the two school names. We wanted to continue the long, vibrant history of Notre Dame High. Of course, as you know, that started some problems and friction because the history of the transition was distorted. Also, we were encouraged by the Archdiocese of Detroit and the local pastors to take the name Notre Dame because it has ‘sell-ability’ and it would connect us to a name people already knew. We received a lot of advice on taking this name.
The name of Notre Dame Prep pre-dated the takeover of Notre Dame High School by the archdiocese. The name was given at the same time the Marist Fathers still owned Notre Dame in Harper Woods and were in the process of planning to close it. In hindsight we might have done this differently, but the cardinal stepped in at the last minute to give Notre Dame High School new life—10 more years. From ND alums everywhere, a big thank you to Cardinal Maida!
IRISH: What were some of the key decisions made early on that have contributed to the ultimate success of ND Prep?
FR. LEON: Probably the key decision was who we chose to model. In terms of high schools, the two schools we chose to model were Notre Dame High School and Divine Child in Dearborn.
Notre Dame High School, because we were very familiar with the school and its curriculum and it carried such a wonderful legacy. Divine Child, because it was a coed school and still very successful. We had to become more familiar with running a coed school.
Another key decision was to involve many of the local pastors. They allowed us to go into the pulpit of each one of their churches and talk about what we were planning to do with this school.
The third and fourth decisions came during the first week of Notre Dame Prep. We set high standards for the students and had absolutely no tolerance for fighting. When a fight broke out on the first day, the students were simply dismissed. Also, we had high expectations for attendance, which at first, parents felt was too strict. But we thought we had to establish a new tradition in this building. Our goal was to give families the kind of school they say they want: an orderly and disciplined school. We were very strict with the kids. We wanted to create a high caliber of student at NDP, so we made it a highly academic school.
IRISH: How did Marist Academy come to be? When did the middle division and the lower division come into existence?
FR. LEON: From the very beginning, it was written in the contract that we were going to establish a middle school. But the high school was shaky its first year. We didn’t know whether the school was going to make it. But by February or March after that year, as we saw our incoming freshman class jump from 83 to 101, we knew we were going to have the success that would allow us to continue to grow and even expand into a middle school.
The middle division under principal Sandra Favrow opened for enrollment in 1996 and the lower division (junior kindergarten through fifth grade) in Waterford, also under Mrs. Favrow, opened in 2003. The lower division opened at the request of the diocese, the pastor of St. Benedict parish and the Pontiac Area Vicariate.
IRISH: Do you have a message that you would like to send to Notre Dame High School alumni? As well as alumni from Pontiac Catholic and to Oakland Catholic?
FR. LEON: Well, I guess I can use the lyrics from a song we sang in church on a recent Sunday, “All are welcome in this place” and to be part of this family.
IRISH: What is your message for NDP graduates? Do you have a “call to action” for them?
FR. LEON: I spent 18 years at NDHS, four as a student and 14 as a teacher and principal. I loved the place! So my call to action to NDP alums is the same as the call to action for ND, PC and OC alumni: To support this new Marist Fathers school so that what happened to a lot of other Catholic schools, including Notre Dame High School, doesn’t happen here. Support it to your death if you want this kind of education to exist for your children and their children. That’s especially important in our current economic time. There is a tremendous product here! These kids know it! The graduates know it! When I look at our early graduates and how well they did, oh, it’s amazing to me because there was so much transition and turmoil going on. But we put the right people in place and focused on the right things. And that’s what is critical in all of this. In my heart, I truly believe that Mary wanted us here. So, again, what I have to say is to get behind the school. Financially, yes, that helps, but over and beyond that, just be here. Do things with the school AND don’t be afraid to send your kids here.
Remember, that who you are now is to a large degree a result of what you were here and at Notre Dame High School and the many teachers, staff and peers you rubbed elbows with.
IRISH: What is your vision for the future of NDPMA?
FR. LEON: The vision is that this school becomes the school of choice in Oakland County and the Catholic school of choice in southeast Michigan. I believe we already are the Catholic school of choice in Oakland County. We are the only school in the state of Michigan to offer the International Baccalaureate program at the middle- and high-school levels, and we plan to have IB in place at the lower school within 12 months, which will make NDPMA the only Catholic school in the country with such a breadth of IB curricula. We provide the best education you can get, Catholic and internationally speaking, for a reasonable price. That’s why we went with the IB curriculum. We are not preparing kids to live in our world—we are preparing kids to live in their world, 20 or 30 years from now, when they are prosperous and productive people. When they are CEOs and leaders, we want them to be good CEOs and leaders and we want them to live in the world and not get swallowed up by it. Ultimately, we want to continue to provide to our kids the education they need to be successful in this world and the next.
Also, as an aside, I really want to see before my departure a performing-arts center here on campus that is worthy of our kids’ talents. I also want our sports programs to continue to grow and develop. Most importantly, however, I want our students and graduates to be GOOD PEOPLE. That has always been the core mission of what this school is all about.
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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.