Girls Prep School Wins White House Honors : Education: Notre Dame Academy is the only Los Angeles school among 222 institutions given the blue ribbon of excellence.

The traditional ivy-covered brick school and its students--young women in khaki skirts and crisp white blouses whose voices never rise above a murmur--seem an anachronism in 1991 Los Angeles.

But the U.S. Department of Education doesn’t think so. Notre Dame Academy in Rancho Park was honored Wednesday with a blue ribbon of excellence in ceremonies at the White House in Washington.

The Catholic all-girls college preparatory school, which is 55% minority and draws students from 72 ZIP codes, was the only Los Angeles school among 222 public and private high schools selected in a national competition that looked for “well-trained staffs providing creative instruction in communities that care about education.”

The school’s 34-page application detailed a host of novel learning approaches: Students write “letters to myself” in which they set and track their goals. They analyze changing stock prices in a stock market research project. They study economics through such literary works as “The Great Gatsby,” “Death of a Salesman,” and “The Grapes of Wrath.” They are required to do dozens of hours of community service and are encouraged to assume leadership positions in extracurricular activities.

But in the end it was the total package, the mood in the musty halls, that swayed the judges, they said. The academy was described by a site team as a small school with big ideas, a place that “stretches the potential of young women helping them to be articulate, critical thinkers as well as polite and energetic people. There is a wholeness of educational effort at the school because of the strong living out of the Catholic values that inspire it.”

The site team found that “focus and enthusiasm permeates the place.” For principal Sister Gina Marie, herself a Notre Dame graduate, the award only recognizes what its 450 girls and their families already know: that Notre Dame is far more than the alma mater of “Dallas” actress Linda Gray or a favorite location for filmmakers seeking an Ivy League look.

The honor was especially welcome since the school had come close to winning two years ago, only to be knocked out in the finals.

The awards, which honor elementary and secondary schools in alternate years, go to schools that the Education Department views as exemplary and that have shown progress in meeting national education goals set by President Bush and state governors last year.

Any school may apply, and last year nearly 500 did. State education departments and the Council for American Private Education chose the finalists. The Department of Education then sent site teams to spend several days at each of those that made the final cut. This year, 10 Southern California schools were selected for the secondary school recognition program, including Carmenita Junior High and Whitney High in Cerritos, Fairmont Private Junior High in Anaheim, Anacapa Middle School in Ventura, Lakeside Middle School in Irvine and Manhattan Beach Intermediate School in Manhattan Beach.

Notre Dame Academy says what makes it different is its “harmonious melding” of good teachers, goal-oriented students, up-to-date technological methods, supportive parents and a financial program that puts its hallowed halls within any girl’s reach.

Noting that her religious order, the Sisters of Notre Dame, was founded to educate poor girls just after the French Revolution, Sister Gina Marie says that despite its declining numbers, the order is still trying to do just that.

Tuition at 42-year-old Notre Dame is just over $3,000 a year, modest by private school standards, with a work-study program for those who need financial aid.

“Some of our girls arrive in fine new cars, others take three buses to get here,” the principal said. “Some pay their own tuition with after-school and summer jobs.

“We are not an elitist school,” she said, noting that its ethnic mix reflects that of Los Angeles, with 45% Anglo, 30% Latino, 15% Asian, 9% black and 1% American Indian students. Nearly one in five comes from single-parent households, and 90% of the student body is Catholic.

“As a small, religious, all-girl private school, the academy is constantly on guard against becoming insular and unable to properly prepare students for life,” the school wrote in its formal application, “either in the world or in a major university with thousands of students, where tolerance and understanding of other human beings and their cultures are most valuable assets.”

Nor is it trendy. Its goal remains the same: to provide “a classic, college-preparatory education which will lead to college acceptance and an improved opportunity for a productive life,” its application read.

At a time when all-girl schools appear on their way out, Notre Dame says it has two applicants for every opening. Success is guaranteed for those who are accepted: “Once we get them, we take care of them,” said Assistant Principal Donna Eckles, with free tutoring, counseling or whatever else is needed.

“The girls say they love to come to school,” she said, and when they see television spots urging kids, in rapped cadences, to stay in school, “it’s like another language.”

All are expected to become leaders in their chosen fields, and virtually every senior is accepted into a four-year college or university, staff members say. In addition to Linda Gray, who chose to go into acting, graduates have gone on to careers in medicine, law and teaching, and the staff points with pride to chief executive officers in New York, physicians in Africa and teachers in Beirut and Japan, all of whom have Notre Dame in common.