Notre Dame celebrates its ‘lifers’

Each year Notre Dame singles out the seniors who have attended Notre Dame since at least the sixth grade of Marist Academy.

Marist Academy’s lower school, which educates children from pre-kindergarten through fifth grade, officially opened in Waterford in 2003, joining Notre Dame's existing middle and upper schools. It was a rather bold move by NDPMA administrators at the time because the closing of Catholic elementary schools in southeast Michigan was becoming frighteningly commonplace.

But Notre Dame’s lower school has flourished ever since — even more so after moving to its current location on Giddings Road in Pontiac. And each year, as graduation looms for Notre Dame Prep, the school celebrates its seniors who have attended Notre Dame since entering that lower school or at least since the sixth grade at Marist Academy.

Colloquially known around campus as “lifers,” the 59 seniors listed below and pictured above and below will walk across the Notre Dame stage on May 19 with 141 of their classmates and receive a Notre Dame diploma — a diploma that for them will represent at least seven years of a Marist/Notre Dame education that no doubt have prepared them well for college and for life.

Congratulations!

Thirteen of Notre Dame’s 15 ”Gold” lifers are pictured. Gold lifers are graduating seniors who have attended the school since the lower school.

	2019 Notre Dame Lifers
Sara Avery Connor Beaudoin Gabriella Bendtsen Gabriel Birchmeier Brad Blakeslee Anthony Bologna Mary Bonema Selena Cade Bryce Caldwell Ethan Carino Alexandra Case Liam Conkey Kevin Cragg Mikaela Crute Logan Currie Lukas Cusac Alexander Deck Maria Famularo Jamie Finn Jacob Galloway	Brian Gebara Eliana Gebara Austin Greif Andrew Hannoudi Garrett Hegbloom Carson Heimbuch Ian Hoke Mitchell Housey Dawson Hubbard Cooper Isham Juliet Jacoby Michelle Khan Grace Khouri Rachel Kloss Jack Krausmann Vincent Larsson Keegan Lewerenz Ryan Lindsey Joseph Lopez Natalie Lyijynen	Eric Marx Matthew McDerment Philip Moran Sydney Newby Erin Patterson Natalie Risi Tobias Roth Deirdre Schiefer Luke Seaman Julia Silver Maximilian Stowe Chase Stuk Kaitlyn Wacker Christopher Walter Nolan Weimer Logan Wenneshiemer Nathan White Matthew Wood Addison Young

	2019 Notre Dame 'Gold' Lifers
Connor Beaudoin Brad Blakeslee Alexandra Case Mikaela Crute Logan Currie	Jacob Galloway Austin Greif Carson Heimbuch Juliet Jacoby Eric Marx	Matthew McDerment Sydney Newby Deirdre Schiefer Nathan White Matthew Wood

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. Notre Dame Prep 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 Marist Academy enrolls students in pre-kindergarten through grade eight. NDPMA is an International Baccalaureate "World School" and is conducted by the Marist Fathers and Brothers. It 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