CLICK HERE to see all of the pics from the night!

On Wednesday February 1st, 11th grade Shepherds students participated in the Holy Cross Junior Ring Commissioning. This is part of a long-standing, Holy Cross tradition in which students receive their Notre Dame commissioning rings. The ceremony symbolizes the student's commitment to the mission of Holy Cross-..."to make God known, loved, and served."

Daniel A. is a Junior in Notre Dame’s Class of 2024. Since entering Notre Dame in the Fall of 2020, Daniel has grown exponentially. When Notre Dame adopted the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme in 2021, Dan applied at the end of his sophomore year. Amongst many applicants, Dan was accepted into the program.

He has since achieved first honors in the program- a program which is internationally recognized as being one of the most academically challenging program for high schoolers. In fact, colleges and universities recognize this IB diploma to be one of the most attractive achievements an applicant can have. Dan is gifted in the area of mathematics and science, and he looks forward to his college options over the next year.

His Engineering Design teacher, Dr. Yolanda Valencia, says…”Daniel is a bright young man who is always willing to help his peers. In our class he always enters the room with a kind demeanor, and a warm smile and enthusiastically participates in class discussions.” Additionally, Dan has been inducted into the “Mu Alpha Theta” Math Honor Society as well as the National Honor Society and the Spanish Honor Society. He is excited to celebrate his induction at the Honors Night ceremony later this year. Read more...

SHEPHERDS NIGHT AT BRIDGEPORT ISLANDERS, February 26!

Shepherds Mentors and students head off to an afternoon at The Bridgeport Islanders this weekend, Sunday, February 26th at the Total Mortgage Arena in Bridgeport. Tickets are still available

The puck drops at 5pm but our Shepherds group will meet a 3:30PM for a special tour of the arena and hear from guest speakers! Everyone in the group will receive a FREE ISLANDERS GROUP HAT!



To sign up to attend, click here: RSVP to Shepherds Hockey Night or click on the button below.

MARCH 2023

Friday, March 31: Shelton Sports Center Night. Look for information in coming weeks.

Coming in APRIL 2023

Thursday, April 13: College Tour Day: For Freshmen, Sophomores and Juniors. One day tour to two of New England’s great colleges. Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) and College of Holy Cross. Several Shepherds graduates have attended and graduated from these prestigious colleges. Parents and Mentors welcomed. Stay tuned for more information.

Shepherds needs to raise over $600,000 a year to underwrite our three-pronged program of tuition support, supplemental programs, and our mentor development and coaching program for our 62 Shepherds students.

This funding comes from a variety of sources, including Shepherds mentors, Board of Directors, many individual donors and very significantly numerous foundations. We recognize three foundations this month who provided Shepherds with extraordinary grants recently.



In December, Shepherds received its largest-ever grant of $120,000 from the Elizabeth M. Pfriem Foundation. The grant will support three, “Elizabeth M. Pfriem Scholars” in the Class of 2026 at Kolbe Cathedral for the next four years.

We also received generous awards from the Bedford Family Social Responsibility Fund, Bucks Creek Foundation, and Near and Far Aid, during the last several weeks of 2022. Thank you to these donors and the many others for your commitment to and support of Shepherds mission.

If you know of any foundations or corporations that might be interested in supporting Shepherds, please let Jane MacDonald know at jmacdonald@shepherdsmentors.org.

This month Shepherds used those funds and those of our many other donors to present checks totaling over $135,000 to our two partner schools to support the tuition expense for the 62 Shepherds students attending these schools.



Arthur T, a junior at Notre Dame, said what we’ve heard from many students over the years, “If it weren’t for the financial support Shepherds’ provides, my family would not be able to afford for me to attend Notre Dame, I would not have Justin as my mentor and I would not be able participate in all the programs that Shepherds offers. I really appreciate it!”.

Shepherds celebrates 25 years of "Changing Lives...One Student at a Time" this fall with our 25th Anniversary Gala, Thursday, October 19, 2023, at The Inn at Longshore in Westport.

Shepherds only holds a major event like this every five years! It’s critical to building the financial resources to support more students over the years between events.

Sponsorships and tables information will be available shortly. Should you wish to reserve a sponsorship early - personal or business - make a tax-deductible gift, please contact Jane MacDonald at Jane MacDonald at jmacdonald@shepherdsmentors.org.

It’s that time of year again when we start building our pool of prospective mentors for the incoming Class of 2027.

We’ll be looking for 10 – 15 mentors for Kolbe Cathedral (approx. 5 - 8 women, and 5 - 7 men) and 5 to 7 mentors for Notre Dame. 

Please invite your friends whom you think might be interested to check out Shepherds website, send us an email info@shepherdsmentors.org or call us (203) 367-4273 to discuss the opportunity to “change a life….”