Notre Dame celebrates 20 years with bouncy castles, hot dogs and music

Students and staff at Red Deer’s lone Catholic high school celebrated its 20th birthday on Thursday.

There were bouncy castles, free hot dogs and student band Seconds to Spare kept the jams going as the sun shone down on École Secondaire Notre Dame High School.

Grade 11 Vice-Principal Mandy Reed says the school is very proud to show Red Deer that Notre Dame continues to be a growing and vibrant community.

 “We have some of the best students and families in the province. I would put them up against anybody. They are fun and vibrant, engaging, smart, athletic.  Every single day, as a teacher and administrator, you learn something from your students,” she says.

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“We’re really excited to have two Catholic high schools coming on board with St. Joseph opening up. We’re excited to see next year that spirit of collaboration within Red Deer Catholic. The only place we’re going to be competitive is on the court.”

Dave Khatib, RDCRS Associate Superintendent of Inclusive Learning and former Notre Dame principal hopes the next 20 years can be just as good as the first.

“Notre Dame was founded out of Camille J. Lerouge High School and then moved into Notre Dame in ’96. We’re just here to make sure we continue on with that excellence. Notre Dame has got a tremendous tradition of academic, spiritual, and athletic excellence and we’re going to make sure it continues on to the next 20 years.”

With St. Joseph High School opening this fall, Red Deer Catholic Board Chair Guy Pelletier says it is important for Notre Dame to lead the way.

“That’s a real critical thing in opening up new schools is to make sure they’re both populated with similar programs, similar variety of students, similar teaching styles,” he says. “That’s something administration takes very seriously, to make sure both schools thrive and one doesn’t benefit more than the other. Notre Dame’s got a great student spirit and we hope to repeat that at St. Joe’s as well.”

Of course, Notre Dame wouldn’t be what it is without its large student population of over 1,600.

Grade 12 Jacob Plamondon, who’s headed to the U of C in the fall to play football, says being at Notre Dame is a good time for everybody.

“It’s a really good community. Everybody knows each other, loves each other. It’s a good time. Nobody’s really shy here. If you don’t know somebody, it doesn’t matter. You’re still going to hang out with them and have a good time.”

Fellow 2017 grad Kenzie Huddleston agrees stating the school is welcoming and the teachers are awesome.

“I’ve learned a lot about who I am and what I really like. Notre Dame definitely matters to me. This is so awesome that they put this together for the students,” she says. It’s the end of the year, we’re getting a little antsy – it’s amazing, it’s so fun.”