As the new school year starts, Notre Dame sees its biggest freshman class in over a decade.

“Students who comprise the Class of 2022 arrive at NDA from more than 40 different grade schools and middle schools,” said Mrs. Sarah Van Grunsven, the Director of Enrollment Management at Notre Dame.

Mrs. Van is in her 11th year at NDA and her second year as the Director of Enrollment Management.

Notre Dame has a total of 779 students enrolled with 222 of the students being freshmen, the largest class at Notre Dame. The next biggest class is the sophomore class with 208, the juniors following with 185 and the smallest class, the seniors, with only 164.

“Even though we are a smaller school, I think that it makes the sense of community even stronger,” said junior Gioia Cumicek.

The Director of Enrollment deals with students entering Notre Dame as a freshman, an international student or as a transfer from a different high school. Notre Dame currently has 13 international students from China, South Korea, Spain, Italy, Vietnam and Czech Republic.

“I love seeing people walk through the door of Notre Dame from countries all around the world, knowing that we are all children of God,” said junior Noah Sternig.

Notre Dame has 17 transfer students this year with 13 being sophomores, three being juniors, and one being a senior.

Even with the Notre Dame family growing in size, the idea of succeeding as a school and as an individual is still stressed daily.

“As the largest class to enter NDA in over a decade, this group of freshmen is poised to make a difference in the classroom, on stage, on the field and in serving others,” Mrs. Van said.