Senior volunteers join freshmen on opening day at Northwest Catholic High School  (Photo submitted)

WEST HARTFORD – Northwest Catholic High School's class of ’14 enjoys a special distinction: It is the 50th freshman class to walk through the doors on Wampanoag Drive.

The class comprises 152 students from 26 different towns, with West Hartford (30), Windsor (26), and Hartford (13) sending the most students. Many of the freshmen are continuing a family tradition: 28 of them (18 percent) have a parent who graduated from Northwest Catholic, and  52 students (34 percent) are siblings of the school's current students or alums.

Opening-day jitters on Sep. 1 were allayed by 110 members of the senior class, who returned to school early to assist with freshman orientation. This year’s student body also includes 23 transfer students, 17 of whom entered the sophomore class. Northwest Catholic has 16 international students.

Other additions this year include a new instrumental music teacher, Dan Luddy, a graduate of Northwest Catholic and the University of Connecticut; and a new Advanced Placement statistics class, which brings the total number of AP classes to 15.

Margaret Williamson, beginning her second year as principal/chief administrator; has worked at Northwest Catholic since 1987. She recently received the Distinguished Principal of the Year award from Dale R. Hoyt, superintendent of schools for the Archdiocese of Hartford.

The school has begun accepting applications for the class of 2115. Information is available at www.northwestcatholic.org/admissions or by contacting Maryann Lacouture at mlacouture@nwcath.org or 860-236-4221, ext.140.