Volume 24
Open House 2017
Sunday, November 12, 1-3 p.m. We encourage all interested families to attend our Open House on Sunday, November 12, from 1–3 p.m. to explore becoming part of the Bishop Gorman community. Interested students and their parents are invited to find out what a Bishop Gorman education can mean for them. Tours of our state of the art campus will be offered and our outstanding faculty and staff, as well as representatives of our clubs, organizations and sports teams will be available to discuss our programs and answer any questions. The afternoon will include performances by our theatrical and musical groups, presentations by our Finance and Admissions Departments, and an opportunity to speak with BGHS students. Tell your neighbors and friends!
Issue 2
November 2017
BGHS 2018 Italy & Switzerland Tour May 28 - June 7, 2018 Includes round trip airfare, all transportation, sightseeing tours and site visits, all hotels with private bathroom, breakfast and dinner daily, full-time multi-lingual tour director. Visit www.explorica.com/Lieb-1627 for schedule. Sign up for just
For more information contact Mr. Lieb: klieb@bishopgorman.org
$50
TO VIEW THE COMPLETE OPEN HOUSE PROGRAM, PLEASE VISIT THE ADMISSIONS SECTION OF OUR WEBSITE AT
www.bishopgorman.org
Homecoming
2017 Homecoming week hit the ground running with the Powderpuff games taking place on Sunday, October 8, 2017. The senior Class of 2018 was victorious. Throughout the week, students had fun dressing up representing the theme, Haunted Homecoming with a final “Extreme Orange and Blue” on Friday allowing everyone to show their school spirit! On Friday morning, alumni, parents and friends gathered at the Chapel for the Alumni Memorial Mass and enjoyed tours of the campus and the ATC prior to the Homecoming assembly. Afternoon festivities included a Tailgate party on the upper field where everyone had a chance to mingle and reminisce with friends. Prior to kickoff, the band and cheer teams led the crowd to Fertitta Field where our Gorman Gaels took on the Diamondbacks of Desert Oasis. Then on Saturday night, capping off a successful Homecoming week, students danced the night away and celebrated together with the newly crowned King and Queen. See page 6 for details on the Homecoming court, the King and Queen!
Administration
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Campus Ministry
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Athletics | Activities
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Gael Pride
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Academics
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Advancement
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Bishop Gorman High School
Diocese of Las Vegas
Administration
Bishop Gorman High School Placement Exam Current 8th grade students interested in applying to Bishop Gorman High School for the 2018–2019 school year are invited to take the High School Placement Exam scheduled on
Saturday, December 9, 2017 or Saturday, January 20, 2018
Throughout the country, schools and businesses will close their doors on November 10th to honor our Veterans. The original intent was that the day would be spent honoring those who have served our country in the various military branches. However, for most young people today, the holiday has lost its significance and is seen as just another day off from school.
Prospective students that take the placement exam in December or January are included in our first pool of applicants considered for admission. Additionally, exam results will help to determine a student’s placement in freshman year classes. Prospective students can PRE-REGISTER FOR THE EXAM by following the link on the homepage of our website, www.bishopgorman.org or register on-site the day of the exam. The $50 application fee covers the cost of the exam. If you have further questions, please contact our Admissions Department at 702.476.4060 or admissions@ bishopgorman.org.
A few years ago, the Administration at Bishop Gorman decided to conduct school on the Veterans Day holiday and hold a special assembly as a tribute to those men and women who have served in our armed forces, especially those from among our faculty, staff and family members. It is a unique opportunity for our community to reflect on the privileges and freedoms they enjoy as a result of the sacrifices made by others. Without the dedication of so many we would not be able to worship as we please, voice our opinions openly, associate with those we choose and be all that we can be.
from the finance
department
Open enrollment for Tuition Assistance will begin on
December 1, 2017
Our goal is to help our students understand why this day is so important and what we can do to support our military – from showing the proper respect to the American flag to helping non-profit organizations that benefit our troops. Each year, the students have walked away with an appreciation for our military and the sacrifices they have made and continue to make.
For details visit:
www.bishopgorman.org
Remember, you must re-apply every year to be considered for Tuition Assistance.
Thank you for your support of this important day.
John A. Kilduff President
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Gael Pride
Speech & Debate
What Does It Take to Be An Opera Singer? Well, senior, Arianna Perroots can tell you it is many hours of practice! She was recently featured in the RJ Photo by Richard Brian Review Journal where she spoke about how she became interested in Opera as a little girl singing to the soundtrack of Phantom of the Opera. Although Arianna is in the early stage of the career she has chosen, she looks forward to certain milestones this year, including college applications and conservatory auditions. Having just several months of high school left, Arianna has her sights on the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Oberlin, Ohio. We wish her much success as she furthers her career in Opera!
Speech and Debate competed in October at Green Valley HS along with 25 other schools. Our novices are off to an amazing start as you can see with their results! 1st Place Novice Public Forum Debate - Hayden Aguon ’20 and Joseph Candela ’20; 1st place JV Public Forum Debate Mina Ahmed ’20 and Natalie Gilbert ’20; 1st place Novice Original Oratory - Mariane Pedrosa ’21; Top Presiding Officer: Varsity Congressional Debate - Mateo Portelli ’20. FINALISTS: Novice Congressional Debate-Dominik Riezler ’19; Novice Informative Speaking - Gavin Brenkus ’19; Varsity Extemporaneous Speaking - Morgan Ebbers ’19; Varsity Original Oratory - Alyssa Gnoyski ’19. QUARTER-FINALISTS: Novice Public Forum Debate - Gavin Brenkus ’19, Michael Keller ’21.
National Hispanic Recognition Program
Congratulations to
Go Gaels!
Mary Ferris ’18 and Brittany Remark ’18, and (Kyle Melatti ’18 in the October issue) on being recognized as a 2017-2018 College Board’s National Hispanic Scholar. Each year the National Mary Ferris Brittany Remark H i s p a n i c R e c o g n i t i o n Program (NHRP) honors more than 5,000 academically outstanding students from the more than 250,000 Hispanic/Latino juniors who take the PSAT/ NMSQT. To be eligible, students must be at least 1/4 Hispanic/ Latino and achieve a minimum PSAT/NMSQT score for their region. Students with a cumulative junior year GPA of 3.5 or higher are designated as Scholars. We wish them all the best as they continue their education in college!
Letter from Miracle League parent
My name is Rebecca Aguon and I am the mother of Vincent, the little boy in the picture. Vincent had a tough life before being brought into our family. He really doesn’t enjoy meeting new L-R: Freshmen Tyler Kessman and Sean McConnell people and has trust issues that are a result of the trauma he endured in his early years of life. Vincent loves Miracle League. I am also the parent of a sophomore that attends Bishop Gorman (Hayden Aguon ’20) . Needless, to say we were very excited to see the Bishop Gorman freshman football team volunteering at Miracle League. It was like two of our favorites together in one place.
Creative Writing & Publishing
Congratulations to the students who participated in Bishop Gorman’s Creative Writing Summer Enrichment course, and to the students who are members of the Creative Writing Club.
The football team was well organized and respectful. I asked for someone that liked to run as I expected Vincent to spend the day running away from whichever volunteer was assigned to him. Vincent was assigned two volunteers. I never expected that these two volunteers would invest so much of themselves playing and engaging with Vincent. It melted my heart. It was a joy to watch. I was in awe how they interacted with Vincent. Vincent wasn’t a boy on a special team for that hour. He was their teammate, their equal. They got down on his level, they cheered him on, engaged him, laughed with him, and played with him. Vincent didn’t run away once. These boys and their coach showed what true sportsmanship truly is and they showed what God’s unconditional love means to all his children. I hope that these boys along with their teammates and coach will be recognized for their amazing hearts.
Mrs. McEachern and Mrs. Commons nominated several pieces of their work for publication consideration. Three were accepted by Creative Communications Publications and will be published in its summer poetry anthology! From top to bottom: Malik Hays ’19, author of “Risk It All” Lauren Linderer ’18, author of “So I’ll Persevere” Chase Watson ’18, author of “The Devil’s Scorn”
Much love and appreciation!
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Campus Ministry
Men’s Basketball Assist at Matt Kelly Elementary School The BGHS men’s basketball team came out to volunteer on October 5th at the Desert Reign Family Fitness Night at Matt Kelly Elementary School. All of the players were actively engaged in the event and the students at Matt Kelly ES had a blast interacting with the players!
Three Square
loves our Bishop Gorman volunteers! Mr. John Goertemiller and his Gorman crew show up every single Wednesday and do a ton of work for Three Square! If you’d like to be a part of our Wednesday night team at Three Square, register as a volunteer and get on the calendar to serve!
Way to go Gaels!
Senior Class Retreat Frosh Football Helps Magical Forest Kick-off Holiday Season
BGHS first ever Senior Class Retreat was held at St. Andrew’s Abbey in Palmdale, CA on Sept. 27-29. Not pictured, Fr. Bill Kenny, Fr. Bill Haesaert, CSV, and Kim Martinez.
Thirty-one freshman football players volunteered at Opportunity Village on Saturday, September 16th. Their duties were to help get the Magical Forest ready for the holidays. Many thanks to parents, Mr. Jeff Kondra (Tyler Kondra), Mrs. Valerie Ly (Alec Ly), and Mrs. Shawanna Shannon (Sebastian Shannon) for showing up to support the team and their service. A few siblings even showed up to help out!
What a beautiful way to represent Bishop Gorman to our Las Vegas community!
Miracle Minute for Las Vegas victims Soon after the tragedy of October 1st, BGHS held a “Miracle Minute” to benefit the victims of the shooting at the Route 91 Festival. We were thrilled that in just one minute, the Bishop Gorman on-campus community raised $8,881.45! All of the funds were donated through Commissioner Steve Sisolak’s GoFundMe fund established for victims of this tragedy.
Thank you to all our students, faculty, and staff for your generosity. 4
Academics
Counselor’s Corner COLLEGE FAIR On Monday, October 16, Bishop Gorman held the 5th Annual College Fair. More than 100 schools and colleges were available to meet with our students and families. A special thank you to all who made this year’s BGHS College Fair a success.
ACT TEST INFORMATION Bishop Gorman will administer the official ACT exam, on February 27, 2018, to all Bishop High School juniors at no cost. For more information regarding the administration of this exam, visit the Bishop Gorman Counseling webpage as well as PlusPortals. COLLEGE APPLICATION DEADLINES Seniors, please pay special attention to your college and university application deadlines as application deadlines of November 15, December 1 and December 15 are rapidly approaching. Additionally, if you have a deadline of January 1, 2018 it is imperative that your request for transcripts and/or letters of recommendation be submitted to your school counselor no later than December 1, 2017. PSAT RESULTS According to the College Board, PSAT results should be available to students online beginning December 11, 2017. Bishop Gorman will receive paper score reports in January 2018. To get an analysis of your results, visit the College Board website at http://professionals.collegeboard.com/testing/psat/ scores/student.
QUOTE OF THE MONTH “Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel.” - Socrates
Senior News from the desk of Dean Anderson
The retreat addressed the topics pertinent to seniors such as:
• saying goodbye to your high school years Senior year has begun with the usual activity that goes along with • what will you bring with you from the high school experience choosing a college, writing essays, filing out applications, applying • where do you see yourself in five years for scholarships and financial aid, and many other stress filled tasks. • what are the really important things However this year’s senior class has had a few new activities on their It also was a great opportunity for the seniors to take a break from calendar. their hectic schedule and regroup. Hopefully this will be an event that will be repeated. On September 26th, Mrs. Rebecca Sabky addressed the senior class on writing the Another new event that has been perfect college essay. Mrs. Sabky is a 15 year happening on Fridays is lunch with the veteran of the college admissions process and Dean! Because the classes are so much has read over 30,000 college essays. She worked larger now, it is possible that a student for St. Lawrence University in New York, and could reach senior year without having then worked at Dartmouth College for 11 any one to one interaction with their dean. years where she eventually became Director of In an effort to avoid this, Dean Anderson International Admissions. She also published an article this past April asks to join a lunch table at both lunches in the New York Times about her most memorable college application on Friday. So far it has been a fun event which went viral with over one million reads worldwide! Her topic for and it usually involves cookies! the seniors was The Admissions Essay.
As always, thank you for your support and happy fall.
Go GAELS!
One of the new events planned just for seniors this year was the first ever overnight retreat held at St. Andrew’s Abbey from September 2729.
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Athletics | Activities
Athletics
Our fall sports teams are currently finishing up league play and are participating in the Sunset Region and State tournaments. Our men’s and women’s tennis teams both had successful seasons and sent several players to the doubles and singles Sunset Regional tournament. Lucas Hammond ’19 qualified for the State Men’s Tennis Individual tournament and finished 3rd Place overall. The women’s team under long-time coach, Gordon Hammond, won the Sunset Regional and advanced to the State tournament at Darling Tennis Center. They beat the Reno Huskies in the State Semi-Final match 11-7, before falling to State Champion, Coronado, in the Finals.
Our women’s golf team won the Sunset Southwest League going undefeated. They then qualified for the State tournament here in Las Vegas with a top four finish in the Regional tournament at Bear’s Best Golf Club. In the State tournament, the team battled and finished the two-day tournament strong, finishing in 3rd Place overall. Hunter Pate ’18 ended her high school career with a 2nd Place Individual State finish.
Our cross country team continues to have a successful year under first year coach Bree Thorpe. The team has competed in several in-state and out-of-state meets, gaining valuable experience. Check back for playoff updates and individual finishes next month.
The men’s and women’s soccer team and the women’s volleyball teams are currently at the top of their league standings, and have a lot of momentum going into the upcoming playoffs. All three teams look strong going into the Sunset Regional tournament and look to compete for a State Title.
Congratulations to our head women’s basketball coach, Kevin Nixon, who was recently added to the Hall of Fame at Cordova High School in California where he was a standout basketball and tennis player. Coach Nixon has coached both the men’s and women’s basketball teams at Bishop Gorman and currently teaches in the Social Studies Department here on campus.
STUDENT ACTIVITIES 2017 HOMECOMING!
Congratulations to the members of our 2017 Homecoming Court Ashley Brennan Samantha DiFederico Nikki Ebalo Abby Gaughan Lilly Hoff Elizabeth Jamrozy Sarah Lychock Skylar Minden Teresa Richardson
2017 Homecoming Queen & King Brittany Remark and Austin Wells
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Peter Brascia JoJo Claiborne Vincent DeCesare Paul Gillett Duncan Goodrich Joey Mazzara Chris McArthur Blake Weissman Jeffrey Wright
Advancement
Early Signing Day is just around the corner!
November 8, 2017 (after school in the gym)
Several of our Bishop Gorman senior athletes will ink their scholarships. Last year, we had
HOMECOMING 2017 was a great success!
Thank you to everyone for their support, especially our sponsors!
an impressive 48 athletes who signed athletic papers or scholarships to participate at the next level in College.
Next Level Flag Football @bishop gorman high school
Register at: www.nextlevelflag.com
Grades: Open to Boys & Girls, K - 8th Season: Saturday Games, Jan 13 - March 11, 2018 Location: All Games Played at Bishop Gorman H. S. JOIN THE FASTEST GROWING YOUTH SPORTS PROGRAM IN THE WEST
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Homecoming 2017
Go Gaels!
Tis The Season… Stop in the Hammes Campus Store for your Holiday gifts! Hoodies, Scarves, and Hats on Sale!! Something for the entire family!
Sale items
30-60% off
selected sizes while supplies last!
Jim3 House of Performing Arts * 5959 S. Hualapai Way Tickets: $15 at www.bishopgorman.org * School Life - Arts - Buy Tickets Box Office: 702-476-4175 or performingarts@bishopgorman.org
Store Hours: 7:00AM - 2:30PM
For more information visit: www.bishopgorman.org PERMIT NO. 37 LAS VEGAS, NV
Bishop Gorman High School 5959 S. Hualapai Way Las Vegas, NV 89148
PAID U.S. POSTAGE NON PROFIT ORG.