COO Update

We are celebrating our 162nd year of Catholic education in fulfilling our mission of forming disciples of Jesus Christ in a community of Catholic faith, knowledge, and service. Our foundation in faith, combined with our excellent academics and extracurriculars, provide a holistic and realistic approach to forming disciples in our students. We have seen many positive changes this semester allowing students to exemplify our Catholic values, outlined in the COO update below. These exciting updates include service in the community, school community activities, and lots of progress behind the scenes as well.

Thank you for your continued support of Peoria Notre Dame.

• We registered all students for our first winterim session, which begins in January 2025. Our winterim features classes like rock climbing, Behind the Scenes of the Mass, creative writing, Model U.N., senior internships, and quilting (among many others) to expose students to a variety of passions and interests not found in the traditional curriculum.

• The move to semesters means all students have each core class the entire year, rather than just during two trimesters, which is particularly helpful in math and science. Having math, English, science, and social studies prior to the PSAT in October contributed to increased scores from 2023.

• Thanks to all of our supporters, our September PND Golf Classic brought in a record-breaking $59k!
• As you know, our spring gala was so successful that we were approved to order two brand new activity buses. Both buses have been delivered and are being put to great use. Very exciting for all of those involved in school transportation. Check out the thank you video at this link from our students for your support!
• The Advancement team and volunteers have already been excitedly preparing for this spring's gala, "Cheers: A Toast to Catholic Education" on March 29, 2025. Be sure to save the date, or sign-up now at this link!

• We now offer daily Mass five days a week, an increase from four days a week last year.

• We increased faculty faith formation to nine Wednesdays per school year, focusing on hospitality and discipleship.

• We have about a dozen students participating in OCIA during Phone Free Flex Fridays to learn more about the faith and potentially become Catholic.

• I am very happy to say that enrollment continues to climb. We are over 500 students for the first time in years and based on our forecasted numbers with our partner diocesan schools, we expect enrollment to continue to climb for the next two years.
• The PND Parents Board is taking on more duties as parent ambassadors, aiding our Admissions Office in expanding family communications and connections within the grade schools.

• We have an amazing facility committee in place, which is collaborating with the Finance Committee, to plan for larger expenditures as well as develop and finalize a long term facility plan by the summer of 2025.

• Faculty & staff salaries have been increased by 5-10%. This is the largest raise implemented in decades!
• 100% of families that applied received financial assistance for 2024-2025 totaling $965K, the largest amount that PND has ever provided in recent years.

• A focus on community within our school led to expanded opportunities for students to socialize with one another and deepen their friendships. Each Wednesday, students participate in a phone-free community or house times, completing service projects, playing board games, listening to speakers, making arts and crafts, and spending time together.

• We hosted our winter athletic retreat at the start of the winter sports season. Teams heard from Bradley men's basketball coach Brian Wardle on the importance of hard work, consistency, and discipline, then met with their teams to set goals.

Please keep PND in your prayers as we continue to strive to live out our mission.

God bless,