When Notre Dame Principal, Perry Storey talks about his job, his eyes light up and he becomes a man of many words. His passion for the students and the environment for learning become apparent as he explains the vision for the school and his philosophy of education. “Notre Dame is a great school,” he says. “It has been an educational gem in this community for 132 years. I am blessed to be here as steward and leader for this period of time. The accomplishments we have had since I have been here happened because of various people in this community; it is not just me. We are about community and I see this as our strong point. We are connected to so many families it is amazing.”

Storey was raised on a 40-acre farm in rural Scott County near Knoxville. His father was a billing agent for Southern Railway and his mother was a teaching assistant. The family moved to Soddy Daisy when he was 16 and Storey spent his Junior and Senior years at Soddy Daisy High School. He graduated in 1972 and went on to graduate from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in 1977. He worked his way through college. “I was a first generation college graduate,” he notes. “My parents were high school graduates and knew the importance of education. They wanted me and my brothers to get an education, but it was our role to provide the money to go to college. I had three part time jobs and one of them was working in the student center. At graduation, a full time position as assistant to the director was available and I got that job. It was a new position so I had the opportunity to develop it.” Storey explains. He worked with Bruce Storey who is not related but was a great mentor and one of the founders of Riverbend Festival. “We did a lot of new and different things at that time and from him I got a lot of the entrepreneurial spirit…how to create something, how to challenge and reach out and how to carry out a plan,” says Storey. “I went from Student Affairs to Housing Coordinator, where I worked with Richard McDougal who became vice chancellor of Academic Affairs. I learned some good things from him about ethics and letting people know where you stand. I saw a lot of long-term planning and projection, realizing that patience has to be a part of the process, a valuable learning experience for a young person.”

Storey completed his Master’s Degree at UTC and went to the Northwest Georgia Planning Commission as senior planner. “We administered local, state and national funding grants,” he comments. “I had an opportunity to see how local politics work, how city and county governments function and the planning processes involved in local governments. At that time Northwest Georgia was just on the edge of the boom that we have seen in the last few years. I was blessed to have the opportunity to work with very good people who helped me to learn some really good skills,” Storey says.

Storey had the opportunity to move to Cleveland State Community College doing something similar but in a post-secondary setting. He wanted to get back to education and Cleveland State was in the unique position to be one of about 19 colleges in the United States that was the administrator for local, state and federal monies. “I took the job as administrator over those programs that involved about 4.5 million dollars annually.”

Coming to Notre Dame was really a career change for Storey after administering grants for almost 15 years. “I took a look at things. I was 42 years old and wanted to do something different. I took the job at Notre Dame as Director of Guidance and Counseling, doing what I originally thought I would do when I graduated from college. My family was still young at that time and my wife was working there. I thought I would settle into the job and get out of the administrative rat race, work with the kids and enjoy it. To make a long story short, I did not apply for the principal’s job. Bishop AnthonyO’Connell came to me after an extensive search and indicated that he had been observing my work and knew my credentials. He asked me to take the job as principal, so less than a year after I left the administrative rat race, I found myself right back in the middle of it. That was in June, 1996, and I have been doing this job since,” he says. 

 Storey says that some aspects of the vision for Notre Dame are simple, but some are complex. “We often say that we want the high school experience to be the way it is meant to be. I think we have lost some of the high school tradition. Things are being accelerated around our kids every day. They must deal with choices, a lot of different commitments and pressures to know what the next step should be. We want to simplify this for them. We encourage them to come here to enjoy school. We have happy kids. They feel safe here and they know that the adults around them every day have their interest at heart. Our work with kids is almost a mutual interaction. We work together as a unit with respect for each other. We talk to them about expectations. If we raise the bar, kids respond to that. We want to be a school that addresses the academic needs of each student, no matter what their level of function. Our spiritual mission calls us to provide education for all in our community. As a college prep school, we bring kids from about 30 feeder schools, about 150 freshmen each year together here, with many different needs. We set up programs that really work to help them get to where they want to go without value judgments, whether it is an Ivy League school, Chattanooga State or military service.”

Another part of the vision is to move Notre Dame’s campus facilities forward in order to stay competitive. Facilities such as the Varallo Health and Wellness Center opening in the 20008-2009 school year will provide class offerings that meet students’ needs in the world today. “Our building was built very well in 1965 and we want to maintain that,” Storey says. “Our planning is very focused on needs and where to put our resources. Over 11 years, we have directed about 15 million dollars in improving our campus and facilities.”

Storey says that Notre Dame offers the ultimate character education and has been ecumenical since its doors opened. The school demonstrates how people from diverse beliefs and backgrounds can come together with respect in work and worship. One of the goals at Notre Dame is to build spiritual relationships. “We want to keep that as a tradition,” Storey explains. “We really want to know our families. I think that enables us to give that personal touch.”