Letter from the Principal

Mona Passman, Principal
June 14, 2017

Dear Families,

The best part of being the principal of CDH is that I have the honor of beaming with Raider pride, when in all honesty, so many others have often done the work. 

I’d like to give a shout out to the many teachers, advisors, coaches, mentors, parents and students who have accomplished so much this year.

Thank you to our staff for your continued commitment to our students. 

To our parents and guardians, thank you for placing your trust in us. 

To our students, thank you for your spirit and hard work. 

And to those students, parents, and staff not returning to CDH, we wish you many blessings.

Take a few moments to look at just a few some of our accomplishments listed below.   We have so much to be proud of and I congratulate the CDH community on all of these highlights and so much more.

Enjoy your summer.

• CDH STEM program implemented with 9^th graders experiencing the new curriculum.

• More than 30 Band Performances including four competitions which earned 11 excellent and 16 superior ratings.  

• For the first time in CDH Theater history, two shows received Hennepin Theater Trust Spotlight’s awards for outstanding production and performances. 

• 15 years of Empty Bowls - raising $130,000.00 Donated to Heifer International over those 15 years

• Archbishop Hebda joined us for Opening Mass and gifted us with vestments from the Pope. 

• 96% students will attend college – including two attending US Naval Academy

• CDH successfully competed in DECA in high numbers with top honors, including a state champion in one event.

• Student athletes continued to bring Raider spirit to their competitions, with several teams/athletes competing in post-season, including our Girls Lacrosse team at State this week and Boys Basketball, and players on Track and Field, Cross Country, Wrestling, Girls Swimming and Dive, Boys Swim and Dive, Girls Golf, Boys Golf and Alpine Ski.  

• Maintained our status as the top high school in the state for blood donations in Minnesota for Memorial Blood Center.

• Students made year-long commitments to service at dozens of service sites around the Twin Cities as part of classes, in addition to service day opportunities at Habitat for Humanity, Leap Forward for Children and others.

• Founders Day took on a new format focused on education and the recognition of students and faculty for living out the values of our founders.  Two special assemblies, plus a special curriculum developed by CDH, were held focusing on the Sisters of St. Joseph and the Christian Brothers.

• CDH made a good showing at State History Day with 15 sophomores competing on projects centered on this year’s theme:  Taking A Stand in History.”   Three CDH projects earned honorable mentions and one earned Minneapolis History Topics Award.

• JROTC maintained its esteemed status as a Program of Excellence.

• Students hosted a day-long Justice Week Summit for six other high schools during 2017 Justice Week, focused on Human Trafficking. 

• Two Raider teams took home top honors at the Model UN Conference at Macalester University this past spring.

• CDH sent our first team to Academic Worldquest, a competition based on knowledge of global issues.

• Students traveled for Justice Trips in Guatemala, Peru, Georgia, Mississippi and Alabama (civil rights), Arizona and Mexico (immigration issues). Red Lake Nation (Native Americans) and Camden, NJ (Urban Challenge).

• Welcomed 10 international students to the CDH community.

• Raider athletes and staff continued the long tradition of helping neighbors with Fall Yard Clean-Up.