More than 40 students from Notre Dame's upper division were in Washington, D.C., today to participate in the 42nd annual March for Life, which was held at the National Mall in the nation's capitol. They joined hundreds of other young people in "Champions for Life" clubs from many other Detroit-area Catholic high schools.
NDP principal Fr. Joe Hindelang, s.m., blessed the students and chaperones on the bus before the trip to Washington, D.C.
A March for Life rally was from noon to 1 p.m. today with a host of speakers as well as for a warm-up event and concert. The actual march began immediately after the rally and followed a route up Constitution Avenue to the Supreme Court building on Capitol Hill. Ten parents from NDP accompanied the students as chaperones.
Notre Dame senior Kyle Weaver is on his fourth straight trip to the march. He remembers his first time, as a freshman.
“It was awesome,” he said. “I remember someone telling me after getting to the top of a hill to turn around and take a look. Seeing all those people, the hundreds of thousands of people with all their banners, was really a great thing to see.”
According to Mary Jane Williams, an NDP teacher and moderator for the school’s Champions for Life student club, the Notre Dame students slept in sleeping bags on the gym floor at the Catholic University of America in Washington along with thousands of other students from Catholic high schools across the United States.
Notre Dame Prep senior Kyle Weaver is on his fourth March for Life in Washington, D.C.
The group also attended Mass at the Franciscan Monastery of the Holy Land with all of the other groups from the Archdiocese of Detroit.
The students attending the march—the sixth such trip for the school—left Tuesday night by charter bus from the school parking lot for the roughly 11-hour bus ride to Washington. NDP principal Fr. Joe Hindelang, s.m., was on hand to bless the group before they left.
Comments or questions? mkelly@ndpma.org.
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.