Sr. Evelyn McKenna SNDdeN

So many wonderful memories flood my mind as I think back on my 40 years as a faculty member at NDA – the students, parents, co-workers, friends who were so much part of my life for so long. Now that I am “retired,” I am heartened when I am “out and about” and hear “Sister Evelyn!” and am greeted by a student whom I taught five, ten, thirty or more years ago at NDA. Often there is a sharing of a memory/story or two followed by an update of her life and achievements since those significant years.

NDA has been extremely influential for so many of the young women who have passed through “the iron gates” on Salisbury Street. Saint Julie Billiart, founder of the Sisters of Notre Dame, urged her Sisters in ministry to “teach them (their students) what they need to know for life.” Many of the subject areas provided groundwork for professions in which these women are now engaged. Equally important are intangibles such as the values of support, friendship, cooperation rather than competition, global citizenship, and being a person of faith and of action. We are so proud of the fruit borne in the lives of so many wonderful NDA alumnae– as well as the ways in which current students are learning and internalizing the values of their predecessors. We look with optimism toward the great things these young people will accomplish and the values and gifts which they, too, will bring into our world. - Sr. Evelyn McKenna SNDdeN