Our Lady of the Hills takes in Notre Dame students after flood, turns shared campus into a community

The hallway at Our Lady of the Hills Regional Catholic High School is louder this fall than it has ever been.

Pre-K through 12th grade are sharing a single building after OLH opened its doors to the displaced students of Notre Dame School, whose campus on Earl Garrett and Washington Streets sustained significant water damage when street runoff flooded directly toward the facility during the July flood.

“Preschool through 12th grade are all in the same building,” Principal Bridget Collins said Tuesday on Lead Live. “It’s a hopping place.”

Collins appeared alongside Athletic Director and alumnus Nate Villareal. The Archdiocese is working to place temporary portables on campus as part of an insurance claim, but for now the arrangement has turned OLH into something it has never quite been before — a genuinely all-ages Catholic school campus.

High school students occupy one wing. Notre Dame elementary students occupy the other. The gym, practice fields, and library — where two elementary grades are currently housed — are shared. The logistical challenge is real. So is the sense of community.

“For me it’s always been the community… I feel like that sense of community is sometimes hard to find when you’re in a bigger environment,” Villareal said.

Both OLH and Notre Dame have a stable financial foundation: approximately 25% of students at each school receive state-sponsored Education Savings Accounts, providing a reliable and growing income stream. The small campus allows for highly individualized instruction — teachers regularly eat lunch in classrooms to remain accessible, daily study halls run throughout the week, and specialized Friday tutoring sessions address individual needs. OLH’s enrollment target is 100 students, with a near-term goal of reaching 60 in the next year or two.

The athletic department features a six-man football team under Villareal’s coaching, and the season is underway. Six-man football, Villareal explained, is faster paced and higher scoring than traditional formats — players often go both ways, making every athlete essential. The first home game under the school’s new stadium lights is Friday, Sept. 11, against Oasis Canyons. The community is invited.

OLH also praised veteran math teacher Jeannie Hillbec, who has been with the school since its first day and serves as the academic wing’s organizational backbone.

The school’s most immediate need is volunteers to help prepare the home football field for the September kickoff.

“Once people get onto the campus, you understand what it’s all about,” Collins said. “It is truly a little treasure.”

First home game: Friday, Sept. 11 vs. Neuces Canyon. Volunteer opportunities: contact OLH directly at ourladyofthehills.org.