Volume IV, Spring/Summer 2006 Founded on the Franciscan faith... Preserved with parent pride... Sustained by staff and student spirit... Sts. Simon & Jude Catholic School Huntington Beach, California A Letter from our Principal “The time goes so fast that there are days when the person who says it can't be done is interrupted by the person who is doing it.” Fr. Michael Harvey, O.F.M. Fr. Christian Mondor, O.F.M. Fr. Dan Lackie, O.F.M. Sr. Maureen Sheehan, B.V.M. In this issue: • Student Council • Class of 2006 • The Silver Award • Spring Sports • A Wrestling Champ • PFA Chili Cook-Off • Alumni News • Endowment Update academic learning, but a special place in which each student is empowered to build character, show compassion toward others, deepen their Catholic values, strengthen their faith, and give service to the church and community. We are very fortunate to have families who provide us with unwavering support of these endeavors. “Thank you” for your steadfast partnership in the education of our students. At Sts. Simon & Jude School, a sense of community and pride is evident in everything that we do. You notice it immediately. You feel it as you walk across the parking lot or The end of the school year is a special time attend a school function: the quality, the trafor all of us, although it is a bit difficult to dition, the pride, and the history of being believe that June has arrived so quickly. It is “family.” Whether in the classroom or on the a time to celebrate with our students for all playground, participating in a community they have accomplished, and to acknowledge service project or performing at our our devoted parish and school staffs who Christmas program, our students' pride for have ministered so faithfully this year. It is a their school and for themselves shines time to review all of the ways in which we through. From their active leadership in have been successful, and a time to begin Student Council and their intellectual drive making plans to build on that success in new in academics, to their spirit of unity and ways that will positively shape our future. resilience in athletics, and their resolute faith in God, our students make us stand back in Our students have had a remarkable year, and wonder and delight. They make hope, love none of this could have happened without a and zeal a reality in this parish community. committed and enthusiastic faculty. Our Our progress and our desire for continuous teachers and staff members are willing to give improvement are because of them. They freely of themselves to provide many oppor- make me proud to be the principal of this tunities for our students to take on different school. challenges and enjoy new experiences. We have an outstanding school staff, and I am And so to our students I would like to say, honored to be working with them. I am also “thank you” for another amazing year. My grateful for the Friars and parish staff mem- hope is that the light within each of you will bers who so graciously supported the many continue to shine brightly. May our God accomplishments we have enjoyed. “Thank bless each and every one of you, and may He you” is not enough for all that they consiskeep you always in the palm of His hand. tently give to this ministry. I wish all of our families a safe, restful and I would also like to express heartfelt appreci- wonder-filled summer vacation! ation to our families for whom we are very thankful. It is because of your dedicated Crystal A. Smith presence, your time and energy, your prayers, Principal and your generosity that we have such excellent Catholic education at Sts. Simon & Jude School. Our school is not only a center of School Spirit Reigns at SSJ! Is it possible to give service to school and have fun at the same time? Does meeting on a Friday afternoon after a tough week of school sound interesting? Is there joy in planning activities for 700 opinionated individuals? Any Sts. Simon & Jude School Student Council commissioner would answer with an enthusiastic “yes” to all of the above! Participation in SSJ Student Council provides leadership, community 2006 Student Council building and service opportunities, all within who bring life experiences from Catholic a cooperative spirit of fun and challenges. schools everywhere is a great beginning to finding out the true meaning of the words Being a member of Sts. Simon & Jude “consensus” and “leadership.” Student Council begins with a vigorous campaign and election process that includes Student Council is one of SSJ's highly visidelivering an inspirational speech to the stu- ble organizations. Planning pep rallies, dent body. After being installed in office, organizing Catholic Schools Week, and leadthe first responsibility of each commissioner ing prayer assemblies and morning is to attend the Association of Catholic announcements are all activities that are part Student Councils (TACSC) leadership camp service and part community building. You to engage in a plethora of activities that will can often find Student Council members enhance each commissioner's leadership assisting with school liturgies and paraliturskills. Members return to us in the fall with gies. Service to school and church commufresh ideas on how to make the next school nities is an essential element of many council year even more exciting. Learning how to activities. Being official greeters on the first co-exist in school with peers while being the day of school, at Back-to-School Night, and primary role models of the school can be Grandparent's Day is their pleasure. Healthy, quite a challenge for junior high students. responsible living is encouraged through Red Attending camp with hundreds of students Ribbon Week and Field Day activities. The Class of 2006 Celebrates Sts. Simon & Jude School had good reason to celebrate as the Class of 2006 received their diplomas on a sunny Saturday morning in early June. This class of 8th graders exemplified the success, attitude and determination that can be expected from a graduate at our school. Most of these graduates spent nine to ten years of their formidable years at SSJ. The presence of the Friars, parish staff and school faculty at the graduation Mass emphasized the significance of the day. To have the love, support, guidance and encouragement of the entire parish community throughout the years, and at this special celebration, was impressive! It certainly spoke volumes about the importance importance of nature is honored by way of Earth Day projects. Though various service commitments, Student Council strives to be respectful, as well as reverent and supportive. This is the exciting piece of belonging to and working with such a dynamic group. The tasks may all seem like very simple things to do, however, a great deal of ingenuity and many hours of organization go into each event. Fun but in control, exciting but organized-it's a very careful balancing act. While Student Council may seem to spend a great deal of time just having fun, the members work hard to maintain high grade point averages while fulfilling their duties and responding to their many constituents. It all starts with service and leads to respect. At the end of the day, school spirit reigns! of each of these children in the eyes of their teachers and the adult leaders within the parish. most substantial venture that we will ever make! The foundation of spiritual formation, academic knowledge, values and morals taught to our children at SSJ is worth every Benjamin Franklin once said, “An investment dollar. in knowledge always pays the best interest.” The investment in our children is by far the Through much laughter and tears, this day was a wonderful celebration of an exciting milestone for these young scholars. As they go forward into the world, these students have been well prepared to assume their roles as faith-filled Catholics, successful lifelong learners, and responsible citizens. Good luck to the graduating Class of 2006! Parker Miller and International Referee/ Coach John Mata SSJ Student Athlete Excels in Olympic Sport Parker Miller, an 8th grade student at Sts. Simon & Jude School, flew to the state of Washington in April to compete in the Western States Regional USA Wrestling Tournament. He competed with 800 of the best wrestlers from California, Washington, Idaho, Oregon and Alaska. This tournament is tougher than the California State Championship because it includes champions from many other states. Parker competed as a Cadet, which means that he wrestled against high school freshmen and sophomores in the Olympic styles of both Freestyle and Greco-Roman. Freestyle is similar, but much more exciting, than the wrestling you may have seen in high school competitions. Greco-Roman style is particularly exciting as participants are allowed to lift and throw their opponents in order to score points. Only the most experienced wrestlers have the skill and courage to compete in Greco-Roman wrestling. Parker really enjoys the Greco throws…particularly when he is the one doing the throwing! Parker placed in the top six as a Cadet, which is an amazing feat. He also placed 4th in California in Greco-Roman wrestling, and has been invited to join the California National Team. Placing at a national or regional tournament is the highest achievement possible for a local wrestler, and while the most of these athletes have been competing since the age of five, Parker has only been involved in wrestling for about 18 months. Parker is fortunate to train in one of the best Freestyle Youth Wrestling Clubs in the nation-John Mata's Surfside Wrestling of Huntington Beach. Congratulations Parker! Wrestling fans at SSJ will certainly be keeping their eyes on you! Dolphin Spring Spirit! The SSJ boys' volleyball teams had a very successful year. The boys' “A” volleyball team won an early season tournament that was held at Servite High School. The Dolphins recorded an outstanding 9-0 league record. Seeded at number one in the playoffs, the team easily won their first match, but then lost the semi-final game to Serra Catholic. The boys bounced back, however, to capture third place in a convincing manner. Team coach, Trent Amelotte, brings years of coaching and refereeing experience to our school. He did a tremendous job during his first year of coaching our volleyball teams! PAL Track Meet - Huntington High School- May 13th SSJ boys' “B” volleyball team was also undefeated in league play. Although there are no playoffs in this division, we know without a doubt that this team would have dominated. Mary Zant coached the boys' “B” team, and John Gergen was her invaluable assistant coach. Throughout the years, Mary Zant has done an excellent job of teaching superior volleyball skills to many SSJ athletes who continued to have success throughout their high school and college careers. The girls' softball teams experienced another great season! The “A” softball team ended the season tied for 1st place in league play, and they took 2nd place in the diocesan league! The girls' “B” team played at a higher level than they have ever experienced, and many of the girls had the opportunity to participate in this sport for the first time. Look for both teams to do well again next year. Our special thanks go to Russ Smith and Mike Romero for coaching these teams. Girl Scouts Receive Silver Award for “Loaves & Fishes” Carnival For their Silver Award project, Girl Scout Troop 2321 of Sts. Simon & Jude School hosted a carnival for the “Loaves & Fishes” organization in Santa Ana on April 29, 2006. The carnival, which served over 400 underprivileged children in Santa Ana, was a huge success. The Girl Scout Silver Award is the second highest award in Girl Scouting and the highest award an eighth grade Girl Scout can achieve. “Loaves & Fishes” is a wonderful ministry to the homeless and needy families of Orange County. The girls of Troop 2321 chose to host the carnival for the children at “Loaves & Fishes” because these families cannot afford luxuries such as a day trip to expensive theme parks. During the planning process, the girls discussed their hope for the carnival to be a perpetual event that would be run by other troops for many years to come. Wanting this to happen, and realizing that they would need some help with the project, they decided to involve as many SSJ troops as possible in this carnival. In order to facilitate the involvement of the younger Girl Scout troops, they attended the younger troop meetings to explain the event and offered suggestions for them to help in small ways. Some of the younger Girl Scout Troop 2321 worked countless hours and spent several months organizing troops helped to make candy bags, and sorted and counted prizes. One idea the this carnival. As you can imagine, there eighth graders had was to have the chilare many little things that are needed to dren at the carnival participate in a cupbe prepared before such event. They cake-decorating contest. They asked a planned and collected donations for the event, sorted the many donations of toys Brownie troop for assistance with this idea, and stuffed animals, and created fun-filled and the energetic Brownies baked over 350 unfrosted cupcakes! It was truly a comgame booths. Each girl was responsible munity event that brought many ages of for her own booth at the carnival and Girl Scouts together, and much joy to the needed to make sure she had enough many children at “Loaves & Fishes.” prizes and help. After the carnival the Silver Award recipients shared some thoughts about the day: “It felt good to help others and give them something they wouldn't have.” “The day brought happiness to the kids.” “We helped less fortunate and we benefited by feeling good about helping people.” “All the kids had a great time.” “I learned how lucky I am.” “I learned to care more for others.” “Rewards don't come easy; you have to work at them.” Troop 2321 Silver Award recipients are Kelly Culhane, Corey De Marco, Alyssa Fulmer, Emily Hyams, Alexa Manrriquez, Morgan McClafferty, Erin Mullins, Kristen Steinfeld, and Amanda Stoddard. Congratulations, ladies! Your SSJ family is very proud of you. a row. A special thanks to all the cooks who made the event extra “hot!” Can You Say “DELICIOUS?” Down-home fun was the scene on Saturday, April 29, at the annual PFA Chili Cook-off! Eight avid home cooks threw down their best chili recipes in hopes of winning the coveted “Best Chili” designation, and all of the concoctions were delicious. Although the competition was fierce, Donna Denny successfully defended her “Best Chili” title for the second year in A community event in Colman Hall would not be complete if we did not have the SSJ Men's Club serving soft drinks, beer and As if eating lots of scrumptious chili was wine. In addition to all of the delicious not, in and of itself, a good enough reason down home cooking, the PFA Hospitality for a chili cook-off, we once again enjoyed Committee provided a tempting spread of some good old-fashioned square dancing tasty and delightful desserts. Thank you complete with a certified “caller.” It was a to both groups for their amazing support. real hoot watching the youngsters and their parents spin around the dance floor The PFA owes a debt of gratitude to the attempting to follow the caller's instrucChili Cook-off Committee: John Meagher, tions. There were some minor collisions Lisha Ortiz, Rikki Ortiz and Eric between a few of the more exuberant Pellkofer. Eric, who could not decide dancers, but nothing that a little spit and which of the eight chili dishes was his some ice couldn't fix. Fr. Michael, Fr. favorite, exclaimed, “We will have to do it Christian and Crystal Smith were all in again next year!” So brush off your best attendance to maintain law and order, chili recipes and dust off your boots. especially during the judging of the event We'll see y'all next year! The exciting raffle provided a final opportunity for SSJ parents to fulfill their fundraising obligations for the school year. There were some terrific raffle prizes, including service hours for a year, a month's tuition donated by the Men's Club, and a beautiful Tiffany necklace, just to name a few. ALUMNI NEWS Class Notes 1976 Joseph Kovacs currently lives in Massachusetts and is Engineering Director of Revivio, Inc. He has three children. His SSJ memories include playing over-the-line baseball at lunch and 8th grade students dancing on the lawn. 1979 Suzi Bouveron is a Health Educator with the California Department of Health Services. After earning a Masters in Public Health from Boston University, she volunteered to work in the Peace Corps and worked internationally for about nine years. Suzi fondly remembers that her class of 40, which began in the 4th grade, remained intact and all 40 students graduated together. 1980 Jose Lafosse is a Professor of Psychology at Regis University in Denver, Colorado. He obtained a Ph.D. in psychology from USC, and a post-doctoral fellowship in clinical neuropsychology at the UC Davis School of Medicine. Jose does research on dementias such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. He remembers playing the guitar at school masses and attending Sonshine Summer. 1984 Aidas Palubinskas, after receiving his Bachelors and Law degrees from Loyola University of Chicago, has returned to Lithuania. He currently serves as a Member of the European Parliament representing Lithuania. He fondly remembers Mrs. Tufo, who encouraged his interest in politics, history and social studies. 1985 Wendy Arseneau is working on her second career as a nurse and will be attending Franciscan University of Steubenville. Among her favorite SSJ memories are the Halloween parades, light blue uniforms, Sr. Carolyn, Fr. Ronald and Fr. Anthony. 1987 Alicia Seevers is the Girl's Athletic Director at Orange High School. She has been at Orange High for 10 years, and has also served as Varsity Girl's Basketball coach and as the Athletic Trainer. Her memories include Sr. Carolyn, Sr. Virlee, and playing softball and basketball with her friends. 1990 Jonathan Huettner received his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from UC Irvine in 1998, and is Director of IT at Criticom International. 1991 Robyn Pasternak is currently working towards her Bachelors in accounting with plans to become a CPA. She remembers with fondness Outdoor Ed, visiting the Mayflower and the graduation celebrations. ing growth and stability of SSJ's financial foundation. Our school's endowment fund ended the quarter on March 31, 2006, with a value of $974,779. This is the closest we have ever been to the original $1 million goal, and there are several positive items to The ability to provide report. First and foremost, on March 31, spiritual and academic the endowment fund paid out $10,357 in leadership to our stu- support to the school budget. Next, the dents is inextricably return on the endowment fund assets was linked to our 3.7% for the quarter. And finally, we are resources. We are pleased to announce that there was approxialways grateful when mately $10,000 received in new contribumembers of the com- tions last year. To those of you who gave munity choose to this year, thank you. Your generosity has make Sts. Simon & touched the lives of our students, and will Steve Check Jude School a priority be instrumental in furthering our goals as a for their charitable dollars. stellar community of education. Endowment Update Last year's endowment proceeds represent another critical step forward in the continu- 1995 Rachel Svoboda received her B.A. from UC Irvine in 2003. She is Marketing and Advertising Account Coordinator at Fraser Communications. Rachel's favorite SSJ memories include PE, half-days, free dress and the graduation dances. 1996 Jessica Domenici obtained her B.A. in Communications Studies from Loyola Marymount University in 2004. She works in marketing for Hyundai Motor America. Her SSJ memories include the Halloween parades, junior high dances, visit to the Pilgrim ship, the Catalina field trip, and many others. Are you an Alumni of SSJ? Let us know what you are doing. Send your news to SSJ Alumni Association c/o Sts. Simon & Jude School, 20400 Magnolia Street, Huntington Beach, CA 92646 much more than this. If you are considering making a contribution, please pray about it and ask yourself if contributing financially to the long-term benefit of the school is in your heart. Those who know and care about Sts. Simon & Jude School and its role in shaping young lives also know that everything cannot be funded through tuition alone, and they are willing to step forward and make meaningful financial commitments. There are several endowment fund projects in progress. None of the projects are terribly time consuming, but the endowment fund committee can use some assistance. If you would like to help, please call Steve Check at (714) 641-3579. While $1 million was the initial goal for the endowment fund, the long-term goal is The “Spirit” Newsletter is published bi-annually and is always looking for new and exciting information. The Spirit contains articles about events, people and interest to the school that are not discussed in the weekly “Tuesday Communication.” If you have a topic of interest or would like to write an article for this publication, please submit it to the school for consideration. As the saying goes, “A picture is worth a thousand words,” so photos describing the article must be included with a submittal. All submittals may be sent via email to Cheryl De Marco at [email protected] or brought into the school office Destination: Catalina Science Class DATES TO REMEMBER..... August 30, 2006 September 1, 2006 September 4, 2006 September 21, 2006 September 29, 2006 November 11, 2006 7th graders hike to overlook the blue Pacific Ocean DID YOU KNOW… Research shows that Catholic schools are effective because there is an emphasis on: • Faith formation and Catholic values • A quality, academic curriculum • Community building • Orderly and safe physical environments • Supportive social environments • Parental involvement • Teaching as a ministry • Excellence Suited up for nightime snorkeling - what lurks out there? RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED Sts. Simon & Jude Catholic School 20400 Magnolia Street Huntington Beach, California 92646 Hands-on experience for a science enthusiast School Begins Back-to-School Mass Labor Day - Holiday Back-to-School Night SSJ Fall Festival Begins SSJ Annual Auction
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