Published: August 28, 2026
When NDA Career Counselor Jackie (Zigray) Flom ’85 was a senior at Notre Dame Academy, the Senior Project wasn’t a requirement.
“But it certainly would have helped me out – and I probably wouldn’t have changed my major three times, had I done some career exploration while still in high school,” she shares.
Jackie attended the University of Toledo, and started with a major in chemical engineering before switching to accounting – and then changing again to major marketing.
NDA implemented the Senior Project in the late 1980s, when Sr. Mary Carol Gregory SND ’58 was Principal. “We wanted to provide a benefit by helping the girls determine what they wanted to pursue as careers, and we also wanted to utilize the time during the month of May, when the seniors were ready to fly,” explains Sr. Carol.
“They would shadow a professional for a week, and then come back to NDA and present their experience to one another. Many had ideas of what they wanted to do, but some of them changed their minds after the experience. The students who were really into it got a lot out of it, and they learned valuable lessons about responsibility and professionalism.”
Today at NDA, the Senior Project has been renamed the “Career Exploration Project,” and students may begin working on their job shadowing hours during the summer before their junior year. They now must complete their hours in the fall semester – at the beginning of senior year – which gives students more time to make informed decisions about which college to attend and major to pursue.
“With this timeline, failures or challenges can become learning opportunities for the future,” shares Jackie.
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