Stories of Support

Returning the Gift

Taryn Dunnaville with daughter Chastity ‘06

Taryn Dunnaville included Notre Dame Prep in her will. A scholarship grant made it possible for her daughter, Chastity, to attend Notre Dame Prep from sixth through 12th grade. Chastity emerged through her seven years at Notre Dame as a clear leader. She served as president of the Athletic Association, starred on both the varsity volleyball and basketball teams, and was awarded the coveted "White Blazer" culminating her senior year. Chastity went on to the U.S. Naval Academy and is proud to serve her country. Following Chastity's graduation from NDP, her mother, Taryn, contacted the school and communicated her desire to join the Legacy Circle. Taryn has included NDP in her will, ensuring that the school will receive a bequest one day so that other girls will have the same opportunities Chastity had.

Alumna funds NDP library collection

By Suzanne Molino Singleton, "Catholic Review" staff

Dr. Diane Dippold MacIntosh wanted to give something back to her high school because it gave so much to her, she said. That's the reason she funded a collection of books and library materials for the Mother Philemon Doyle Library in Notre Dame Preparatory School, Towson.

Dr. Houston MacIntosh,’58, Ellen Cullen, librarian, Sister Patricia McCarron, headmistress, and Dr. Diane Dippold MacIntosh.

The collection by, for, and about women consists of titles of biographies of famous women, studies of 18th century women in England, famous women scientists, and women in the Catholic Church. A dedication was held April 18.

Dr. Dippold MacIntosh established the library collection to honor the memory of her mother, Margot Dippold, a lifelong Baltimore County educator. This is the second collection of its name in Baltimore; several years ago, the Dippolds co-founded a collection for the Enoch Pratt Free Library.

"It's a wonderful opportunity to be able to fully support the curriculum in this way", said Ellen Cullen, NDP head librarian. "It's a fabulous gift for a woman's institution because it gives our students the opportunity to research all aspects of women's lives."

Dr. Dippold MacIntosh, a 1958 alumna, spent her career as a literature professor at The Johns Hopkins University, Oberlin College, University of Maryland and George Mason University.

With the more than $100,000 donated, Dr. Dippold MacIntosh also funded a lecture series: The Dr. Houston and Dr. Diane Dippold MacIntosh Women's Lecture Series, which will be offered annually free to the public.

Only Connect

"Only connect." --E.M. Forster, "Howard's End"

Connections to Notre Dame Prep run deep for Bette Ellis O'Conor. She is an alumna of the Class of 1946. She met her husband, Jim O'Conor, while attending NDP. All three of her daughters, Kristin, Mary and Lauren, as well as granddaughter Katherine, graduated from here. And now, thanks to the generosity of Bette and her family, her connection has been cemented with the establishment of the Bette Ellis O'Conor Liberal Arts Program.

A "first-of-its-kind" at NDP, the program provides funding in perpetuity to allow teachers to work collaboratively to develop interdisciplinary curricula. The program is designed to further the love of teaching in all educators, which, in turn, will inspire a passion in all learners, from the average student to the most gifted.

By supporting and inspiring teachers, the O'Conors pay tribute to those people whom they consider to be most influential in young peoples' lives.

"Teachers need gratification, attention and a response to how they see things," says Bette O'Conor, who loved going to school. "They are one of the most important influences on people."

She holds dear memories of her NDP teachers. There was Sister Carola, who made Shakespeare come alive; Sister Ramona, who taught her the value of Latin; and Sister Helen Marie Duffy, who would tease her when boyfriend Jim would pick her up after school. When asked her favorite subject, the voracious reader replies, "They all were!" For Bette, the connections between what she learned in school and how she lived her life were transparent.

While Jim and the children-Jim Jr., Kris, Mary, Sean, Robert, Lauren, Thomas, and Terence-whole-heartedly focused on creating something to provide long-term support for NDP teachers, they primarily wanted to pay tribute to their wife and mother.

"Doing something for mom is always wonderful," says daughter Kristen O'Conor Reynolds '70, a special education teacher in Florida. "She was such a good role model in supporting our studies. As a teacher, [this program] really hits home with me."

In supporting NDP educators, the O'Conors' generosity will touch countless teachers and students-some of whom who may even return to NDP to teach.

"What the teachers are doing is exciting and gratifying," says Bette O'Conor. "I hope all the teachers will inspire the girls to go out and do whatever they want."

Thus the connections-among teachers with each other, among teachers with their students, and among students with the world-promise to continue.

Creating a Legacy Today

Kiley Roohan, Class of 2007

In just 60 days, Notre Dame Preparatory School's Class of 2007-131 girls strong-raised $53,000 to create the Class of 2007 scholarship. This scholarship fund at NDP is the first-ever endowed fund established by a current class.

Leading her class in this charge was Kiley Roohan, who approached Sister Patricia McCarron, NDP headmistress, with the idea of setting up the scholarship. Roohan's enthusiasm was so infectious that it inspired support from every constituent group at NDP-faculty, administration, students, parents, grandparents and friends. The seniors made direct asks; coordinated bake sales; produced a "Memories of NDP" video in which one could appear for a fee of $10; and hosted a "Sweatshirt Day" when, for $5, seniors could wear college sweatshirts. Their tour de force was securing a dollar-for-dollar matching gift from an anonymous donor, up to a total of $25,000.

Roohan's inspiration for a scholarship fund came through her classmates' work with Sisters Academy, a school for Baltimore inner-city middle school girls. Roohan and her classmates wanted to provide an opportunity for a Notre Dame Prep education to a student, perhaps one from Sisters Academy, who has faced the challenge of growing up in Baltimore's inner city.

At present, this fund will provide for a partial scholarship to an incoming student from a Baltimore school, and will fulfill the "mission" of the students of the Class of 2007: to provide an opportunity for a deserving student to receive an NDP education, while creating their class' own legacy for future support. The scholarship campaign has been an example of NDP's Strategic Plan in action, in which faith development, diversity, and scholarship were combined into one exercise.