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9201 Grindlay Street * Cypress, CA 90630 * 714 827-4500 * www.stischoolcypress.org

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Parish School

Spring 2015

S. Irenaeus

Dear Fellow Alumni and Parents,

As we wind down our school year I would first like to thank all of the alumni who have been a part of our school this year. Many alumni are parents of current students and I see them often around campus, helping out in the classroom and at different events. We also had many alumni visitors this year who stopped in to say hello. It is always good to hear what they have been up to and to share memories of their time here at St. I. Please know that you are always welcome to stop in and say hello. I can guarantee that you will find at least one familiar face from years past as we have many teachers and faculty members that are prior students or parents of students.

We have much to be thankful for this year. We started a very successful Transitional Kindergarten program with 20 students and a waiting list. We also doubled up three of our classes to accommodate our growing enrollment. We currently have 340 students and our numbers for next year continue to increase. We completed our WCEA/WASC accreditation process with flying colors and anticipate receiving a full six year term. With our fundraising last year we were able to purchase 100 Chromebooks and every student in Grades 6 - 8 has their own device that they are using across all curricular areas. We completed a campus-wide upgrade to our wireless infrastructure that can handle the increased internet traffic. Moving forward we are looking at increasing the safety of the campus through additional fencing. We continue to look at what is best for our students, academic and spiritual success, as well as their safety while in our care.

While many good things are happening at St. I, the most impressive are the students and the talents and gifts that they learn and share with our communities. This June we have 27 young men and women that will be graduating on to the local high schools. Every one of them is well prepared for what lies ahead, and I hope that they will continue to learn and grow, and return to share their experiences. Our newsletter contains updates on some of our recent high school graduates and how well prepared they are for college and beyond, as well as a long list of more recent St. I graduates and their continued successes in high school. We are very proud of each of them and look forward to hearing of their continued achievements.

Inside you can also read about our upcoming Fiesta. Every alumni has some memory of the rides, game booths and possibly the Beer Garden for those who have been around awhile. It is always a good time to reconnect with a long lost classmate. We will have the alumni room open again this year so please try to stop by.

I am very grateful for all of our alumni and their continued support of our school. Thank you for all that you do to make a difference in St. I.

Monica (St. Hilaire) Hayden

St. Irenaeus Class of 1977

Principal

Spring 2015

Come Visit Us At The Fiesta! Last summer we had a lot of visitors to our Alumni Room at the annual Fiesta. The room was filled

with yearbooks, class pictures, and lots of other St. I memorabilia. It was so great to see alumni young and old, and to hear their memories of their years at St. Irenaeus Parish School.

Here are some pictures of those who visited us.

Carly Kemnitz Fisher, (‘95) and her two children

Jason Slagle (‘89) and his son Erin Evans, Matt Cocchi, Christopher Slagle, &

Julio Reyes, (‘07)

St. Irenaeus Alumni & School

Information Room Is Back At this summer’s annual St. Irenaeus Fiesta, our parish school will once again have an “Alumni & School Information” Room. You can come and look at old yearbooks from the past, check out your class picture, reminisce over school memorabilia, and also learn what’s new at our school today. We will be located in Room 3. Although you may drop by anytime, we encourage those who graduated in the 60’s and 70’s to stop by Friday night to reconnect with classmates, those from the 80’s and 90’s to stop by Saturday, and the 2000’s and up to come by Sunday afternoon.

The Alumni & School Information Room will be open:

Friday, June 26th from 6:00PM - 8:00PM Saturday, June 27th 4:00PM - 9:00PM Sunday, June 28th 4:00PM - 8:00PM

School and Alumni News

Alumni Visit The Fiesta

Theresa Medina Kettler, (‘79) and Mary Medina Keveti (‘80)

Michelle Querubin (‘04) and Donovan Querubin (‘06)

Nick Van Hoogmood (‘74)

Elisa Keller Liljeberg (‘94), Isabel Romero Evans (‘81), & Mrs. Corkhill

Michael Swartz, Daniel Llerena, Tim Favreau, and Don Hoang (‘08)

Teresa Hedrick Williams (‘76) and her father

Class of 1994 Reunion Last year the 20 year reunion of the Class of 1994 was organized by Shawn Mills and Andre Valenzuela and was held at the 2014 Fiesta. The class had a good turn out of alumni, spouses, and their children. Attendees were: (back row, left to right) Mark Givenrod, Trevor Waterman, Rick Gutierrez, and Roland Arenz, (middle row, left to right) Stephanie Kim, Shawn (Mills) Navarette, André Valenzuela, Candice (Rubio) Hansen, Christina Calderon, Erin Solis, Bernadette (BJ) Rivera, Christina Oquendo, Regina Montes-Loria, Denise Gallegos, Elise (Carper) Ozawa, Leticia Negrete, (front row) Elisa (Keller) Liljeberg

Spring 2015

Class of 2011

Rosary High School Elizabeth Passantino Elizabeth will graduate from Rosary High School this month. She will be attending Lafayette College in Pennsylvania in the fall. During her time at Rosary, Elizabeth was the Co-Captain of the Tennis Team and President of the Future Business Leaders of America. She was also a member of the National Honor Society, California Scholarship Federation, National Science Honor Society, an AP Scholar with Honors, and on the Principal’s Honor Roll all four years.

Valerie Dato-on Valerie will also be graduating from Rosary High School. She enjoyed her time at Rosary and excelled academically and athletically. Valerie was the captain of the Cross Country

Team and Track Team. She won the Pursuing Victory with Honor Award for Cross Country and Track and the Varsity Cross Country Most Improved Award. She was a

member of ASB, and the National Honor Society. She learned American Sign Language at Rosary and regularly attends and participates in events for the deaf. Valerie will be

attending Gonzaga University in the fall where she plans to pursue a career in Occupational Therapy.

Cornelia Connelly High School Dominique Codjia Dominique will be pursing a double major next year in Philosophy and Film Production at USC. She was also accepted to Loyola Marymount University, University of San Diego, American University, and California State University Long Beach. While at Connelly, Dominique was on the Swim and Tennis Teams. She was the Varsity Swim MVP twice and a 3-time CIF qualifier. She was the Senior Class President, a Connelly Ambassador, and her Class Play Director. This year she wrote an original one-act play and was offered the opportunity to work with a theater professional to develop it further. Dominique has

also received First Honors throughout her four years.

Mater Dei High School Delaney Couso

Delaney will be attending Chaminade Catholic University in Oahu, Hawaii next year majoring in Psychology. She received the Regents Scholarship for $13,000 for her four year cumulative GPA of 3.8-4.0. Along with her academic achievements, Delaney was the manager for the Boys Varsity Basketball Team for three years and traveled to New

York, Chicago, Hawaii, and many other cities with the team. She organized a special event called the “Boo Bash” each year for children with Down Syndrome and was part of

Campus Ministry.

School and Alumni News

Class of 2011 Morganne Flores

Morganne Flores will be graduating this year from Mater Dei High School with a four year scholarship to the University of Washington where she will play softball for the Huskies. She received her full scholarship to the university during her freshman year. Morganne

was the starting catcher for the girls Varsity Softball Team all four years; she was the Rookie of the Year in 2012, part of the Trinity League Champions of 2013, claimed the

2014 18u PGF National Championship with the OCBatbusters, and ranked #8 in StudentSports.com’s top 100 Seniors. Not only is Morganne an excellent softball player,

but she also maintained her grades and was on the Mater Dei Honor Roll.

St. Joseph High School Joy Schorr Joy will be graduating from St. Joseph High School this May as a “Distinguished Scholar.” That is a student who has maintained a 3.5 unweighted grade point average in eight or more advanced placement or honors classes. She will be attending the University of California, Santa Barbara in the fall with a major in Business and Marketing.

Ashley Gahagan Ashley will be attending California State University Long Beach in the fall. She will be

majoring in Biology. She was also accepted to Northern Arizona University and San Francisco State. While at St. Joseph, Ashley was a member of the National Honor

Society, National English Honor Society, ASB, a member of the California Scholarship Federation, Vice-President of the Girls’ Athletic Association, and a member of the Junior

Varsity Swim and Volleyball Teams. She is an AP/Honors student and works as a lifeguard at Soak City.

St. John Bosco High School

Jonathan Alcantara One of the Academic Top 25 at Bosco, Jonathan Alcantara is graduating as one of the top in his class! He has been a member of the President’s Honor Roll and won the President’s Volunteer Service Award. Jonathan will be attending UCLA in the fall.

Servite High School Adam May

Adam will be going to Sonoma State and is going to major in Computer Science. He was also accepted to Northern Arizona University and Cal State University Long Beach. He

will have four years perfect attendance in high school, for a grand total of 12 years perfect attendance! Adam received a scholarship from the UFCW Trust Fund. This year he also earned his Eagle rank in scouts. In the Orange County Academic Decathlon this year he won several medals, 1st place in Math, 3rd place in Economics, and 5th place in

Social Science.

Spring 2015

Class of 2011

Cypress High School Jason Dwyer Jason Dwyer is graduating from Cypress High School within the top 1% of his class. During his time at Cypress, he was layout editor and writer for the school paper as well as president of the Physics Club. He was also very active at St. Irenaeus Parish. He played piano at mass, was in leadership at SNL, and volunteered each year at Bible Camp. He will be attending Harvey Mudd College in Claremont next fall. He plans to major in either Physics or Computer Science.

Andrea Pedneault With the Life-Long Learner skills she received from St. Irenaeus, Andrea has been

equipped to perform academically at a high level and be an active well-rounded student at Cypress High School. During her time at Cypress, she played volleyball, held

leadership roles in ASB, was an active member of the National Honor Society, and will graduate with academic honors. She was accepted at the Universities of California at

San Diego, Irvine, Santa Barbara, Riverside, Cal State Long Beach & San Diego State. In seeking out a career as a physician's assistant, Andrea has chosen to attend the University of California San Diego, with the aid of the Los Alamitos Medical Center

Auxiliary Scholarship.

Haley Hunter Haley is graduating with honors from Cypress High School. Although she has committed and will be attending the San Diego State University School of Nursing in the fall, she was also accepted to the University of Portland and University of San Francisco Schools of Nursing. With so many schools impacted in the state of California, Haley is thrilled to have had these options.

Oxford Academy Justine Vitug

Justine will be graduating from Oxford Academy and will attend Cal Poly Pomona majoring in Mechanical Engineering. During her time at Oxford, Justine maintained a 4.2

total weighted GPA throughout high school, established a Filipino Club, was on the Varsity Track and Soccer Teams all four years, and was a state qualifier for the Future

Business Leaders of America.

Austin Hizon Austin Hizon is graduating from Oxford Academy in the top 15% of his class and a member of the National Honor Society. Austin has been accepted into the BS+MS Bioengineering Program in the Bourns College of Engineering at the University of California Riverside. He was awarded the Highlander Excellence Scholarship, a four year academic award.

School and Alumni News

High School Honor Roll We are pleased to share the academic achievements of our alumni who are attending Catholic and public high schools in the area. These students have earned recognition for the fall semester of the

2014-2015 school year.

St. Joseph High School First Honors 3.80 - 4.83

Shelby Cole

Riley Greene

Justine Litonjua

Naomi Ruiz

Joy Schorr

Alyssa Wendt

Second Honors 3.00 - 3.79

Dominque Chavez

Emily D’Ambrosio

Miranda Figueroa

Ashley Gahagan

Madison Gahagan

Alyssa Llerena

Isabella Mancilla

Michelle Rodrigues

Sarah Santos

Cornelia Connelly

High School Honors with Distinction

Elizabeth Craig

First Honors

Dominque Codjia

Second Honors

Sydney Cayas

Rosary High School Principal’s Honors

Dominique Joy Manahan

Elizabeth Passantino

Emily St. Paul

First Honors

Valerie Dato-on

Sabrina Shahani

Second Honors Melissa Diaz

Alexandria Lo Bue

St. John Bosco

High School Honor Roll Jonathan Alcantara

Nickolas D’Ambrosio

Patrick Davis

Jacob Greene

Jeremy Gutierrez

Carl Eden Jimenez

Cole Jocson

Joshua Limbo

Coby Lopez

Alexander Olmos

Joseph Parra

Steven Rotter

Karlyle Soliven

Mater Dei High School Principal’s List of Honors

4.0 or higher

Courtney Fortier

Morganne Flores

Gabriel Pollock

Reina Sambrano

Milton Sanchez

First Honors 3.5 - 3.99

Delaney Couso

Jennifer Lusk

Andrew Pratt

Second Honors 3.00 - 3.49

Truman Burke

Maddison Flores

Nikos Lambdin

Onyinyechi Ogomaka

Justin Palutzke

Emilio Rosas

Servite High School High Honor Roll

3.8 or higher Kibeom Kim

Adam May

Michael Meris

Nicholas Passantino

Jarod Ramirez

Honor Roll 3.3 or higher

Tyler Black

Jalen Botiz

Kameron Dennis

David Harden

Jordan Joseph

Dominic Masciel

Lorenzo Masciel

Christian Packard

Raymond Ramirez

Benjamin Wainwright

Cypress High School 4.0 or higher

Ashley Bustamante

Jason Dwyer

Andrea Pedneault

Haleigh Martin Perez

Eliana Rios

Janel Romero

School and Alumni News

Fun Run 2014

This year’s annual Jog-a-Thon got a much needed makeover, and so it became Dr. Seuss’ Wild and Wacky 2014 Fun Run. Thanks to Mrs. Cathy Pasquinelli and Mrs. Colleen Bragalone, this event had some new twists and excitement that had been missing for awhile. The goal was $23,000 and the students raised $23,492! The money raised will go towards extra-curricular activities such as field trips, guest speakers, classroom materials, and programs to make learning more diverse and fun!

Along the way there were interesting prizes if goals were met. When the students reached the halfway point of their goal they earned a “Crazy Hair Day,” which was well displayed! If and when their goal was met their principal, Mrs. Monica Hayden, agreed to ride a scooter at school for an entire day. Thank you Mrs. Hayden for being a good sport. The following businesses supported our Fun Run at the $500 and $250 level and we would like to thank them again by listing their company name and contact information.

Fun Run Sponsors at the $500 and $250 Levels

Cat In The Hat - $500 or more in monetary contributions Cypress Auto Repair & Smog - 6036 Cerritos Ave., Cypress 90630, Phone: 714-826-5555

Aesthetic Smile Dental Center - 3203 Carson St., Ste. 2, Lakewood 90712, Phone: 562-496-1888

WestCoast Warehousing, Inc. - 100 W. Manville Street, Compton 90220, Phone: 310-635-9938 ext. 201

Maria Corazon Meris, M.D., Inc. - 3400 W. Ball Rd., Ste. 102, Anaheim 92804, Phone: 714-816-0088

Quality Safety Innovators, A CMEM Company - 11278 Los Alamitos Blvd. #249, Los Alamitos 90720,

Phone: 855-462-6367

Lorax - $250 in monetary contributions Strong Dance Studios - 9929 Walker Street, Cypress 90630, Phone: 714-821-5500

Natureware, Inc. - 12630 Hidden Creek Way, Cerritos 90703

The Law Office of Katrina A. Gonzalez - 18000 Studebaker Rd., Ste. 700, Cerritos 90703, Phone: 562-467-8932