Colegio Católico Notre Dame is a coeducational Roman Catholic school located in Caguas, Puerto Rico. Notre Dame is composed of a pre-kindergarten, kindergarten, elementary school, a middle school, and a high school. They are all located on the same campus.
History
The Colegio Católico Notre Dame was founded on October 3, 1916 by Redemptorist Priests with the help of the Congregation of the School Sisters of Notre Dame. Originally the school had the name of Colegio Dulce Nombre de Jesús but this was eventually changed to the name that it has today. Notre Dame initially accepted students from kindergarten to the fourth grade. By 1921, the school had expanded to include the eighth grade. In 1947, the first 24 students graduated twelfth grade from Notre Dame. In 1956, the grades from seventh to twelfth were moved to Troche Avenue in Caguas, its current location. The high school was then named Notre Dame High School in honor of the Virgin Mary and the School Sisters of Notre Dame. The elementary school is located next to the Catedral Dulce Nombre de Jesús in the "plaza" of Caguas. Notre Dame also has a pre-kindergarten and a kindergarten, both located in the same campus as the high school. In 2017, the elementary grades were moved into a new building next to the Neumann Hall and Auditorium, in a new building. In 1964 Notre Dame received accreditation by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools. Eventually, the school went back to the name Colegio Católico Notre Dame in order to unify the schools. In 1997, the elementary school received the "Blue Ribbon Award" of Excellence in Education awarded by the "Blue Ribbon Schools Program". Notre Dame is currently the biggest private school in Puerto Rico with more than 2,300 students from pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade.
School motto
The school's motto is that of the School Sisters of Notre Dame virtus et scientia, which translates to "virtue and science" from Latin.
Clubs and organizations
Some of the school's clubs are:
Scala, the school's newspaper was founded in 1946.
The elementary school was located next to the city's cathedral, and was moved to a new facility in the high school campus in 2017. The high school campus has a soccer field, a track, volleyball and basketball courts. The Neumann Hall Auditorium serves as a cafeteria and a place to hold large events and mass. It also consists of many other rooms used for reunions. In 2017, a Cybercafe was added to the school's facilities. It consists of a menu in which you pay apart from the Cafeteria.
