Falcon Family News - April 2024

FALCON FAMILY NEWS

A MESSAGE FROM OUR COUNSELING DEPARTMENT CHAIR

Dear families:

When I look back to what it means to be a true Lasallian, I can’t help but look back and thank my old teacher and colleague Mr Joe Gill

As a new counselor back in 2009, Mr Gill taught me a very important lesson, one that still guides my work as a counselor today. I was getting ready to facilitate an academic intervention meeting for a student who was struggling with his grades. All his teachers were required to be there, and when faced with the prospect of having Mr Gill present; well, the student was a bit nervous My task was to go find Mr Gill, let him know of the students concerns, and hopefully encourage Mr Gill to “go easy on the kid” So, I marched over to his classroom, and he was nowhere to be found I went to the locker room, no such luck. Looked out on the baseball fields, not there either. When I doubled back to the gym, and peeked through the door windows, I spotted him talking to what looked like his PE class I began to unlock the door, but I decided to pause for a moment I looked at the students and they were completely engrossed in what he was saying Every single student, sitting cross-legged on the floor, looking up, and listening I was too far away to hear what he was saying but either way, something told me to stop and let the moment be. My message could wait; let Mr. Gill finish his lesson and give him the space to say what he needs to say. I watched with awe as he held his students’ attention in a way that was uniquely his own Whether those students would remember that moment, I would never know It was truly just a small moment in time, but it taught me this important lesson: sometimes all the Lasallian mission needs is room to breathe That moment didn’t require me to talk and act; it needed me to back up, listen, and give my colleague the room he needed to let his Lasallian charism shine.

As a counselor, it is a constant balance between acting and listening that makes our vocation so special We are trained, veteran counselors trained in the best practices of personal, college, and academic interventions.We work everyday to meet the needs of our entire community and collaborate on a very high level, to impart academic support, college advising, and wellness strategies to the entire community But we also know when to listen, step back and listen to what our students are saying, and give the students entrusted to our care the room and space to breathe

In the world of college counseling, we have Mrs. April Melarkey and Ms. Melissa McClellan. Our wellness program consists of Mrs. Emily McDougall and Mrs. Juanita Patterson ‘81. Mrs. Michelle Timm, Mr Riley-Portal, Mr Purdy, and I round out the four grade-level counselors Mrs Cynthia Grajeda keeps us all running smoothly as our counseling administrative assistant We have over 100 years of combined service to this institution, and many more years in the profession outside of CB. 16 of our own children are graduates or are current Falcons. We are coaches, Lasallian Educators of the Year, retreat leaders, club leaders, program directors, and familiar faces all around campus. We are also known to put on quite the Halloween party (this past year’s Ghostbusters-themed celebration was another hit)!

Thank you, Mr. Gill, for teaching me that important lesson. Learning when to act and when to listen is a cornerstone lesson for our entire department and we as counselors promise to lend a listening ear, watchful eye, and open heart to each and every student entrusted to our care

God’s Blessings

Armando Diaz 94, MA, PPS

Counseling Department Chair, Grade-Level Counselor for the Class of 2024

THE ARTS

It’s show time, folks! Tickets for our spring play, 12 Angry Jurors, are on sale now on the Ticket Hub www.cbhssacramento.org/ticket-hub

This gripping drama about a jury deliberating over a murder trial runs April 19-21 and 26-28, Fridays and Saturdays at 7 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. Tickets are $10 General Admission and $5 for Students. This play is best enjoyed by those 10 and up.

The performance on Saturday, April 20 will be interpreted for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.

Last month, CB hosted the Diocesan Choral Festival. With 13 parochial schools and more than 350 K-8 students singing, it was a delight to see the students enjoying our campus and the direction of choir teacher Leah Heine ’96 and the choral colleagues from Jesuit and St. Francis. And last week our own choral students took their talents to Our Lady of Assumption parish to participate in the Catholic High Schools choir festival.

KBFT and our broadcasting students have also returned from the Student Television Network Conference in Long Beach, where they competed in categories like sport broadcast, human interest, and the ever-popular Crazy 8s where teams have just eight hours to write, shoot, and edit a segment on a given topic. The STN submissions are viewable on KBFT’s YouTube page. https://youtube.com/@kbft?si=2CcVDJ imZnCo3HS

LASALLIAN STUDENT LIFE LASALLIAN STUDENT LIFE

March was a successful month for CB Academic Teams!

The Science Olympiad team (pictured above left) came home with multiple medal winners including Colsen Nguyen ’26 and Nicolas Cosgrove ’26 (5th place for Detective Builder) and Dylan Soltani ’25 and Ian Fung ’25 (3rd place for Air Trajectory). CB placed 12th overall, out of 30 teams.

Christian Brothers High School’s Model UN team (pictured above right) wrapped up their academic year with a strong finish. Model UN is a simulation of the United Nations General Assembly and other bodies where students represent one of the 193 UN member states As well as completing robust research papers on their assigned countries policies, students also work together during the conferences in hypothetical scenarios crafted by undergraduate students at host universities.

This year CB represented the nations of Lithuania and the United

Arab Emirates at two different conferences- Stanford University in November and UC Berkeley in March.

At Stanford in November, Lillian Barrett ‘24 won best delegate in her committee, and Oliva Kim ‘24 won honorable delegate in her own committee Success at UC Berkeley soon followed with Noemi Phew ’26, Isabel Pierce ’26, Samuel George ’26, Irene Cretu ’26 winning research awards and Isabel Pierce and Noemi Phew also winning commendation awards.

Congratulations to all these CB students on their accomplishments!

Science Olympiad medal winners

Model UN end-of-the-year potluck

Model UN conference

Congratulations to all the CAL All league Winter Athletes from the 2023-2024 season.

Winter CAL All League:

Men’s Soccer

Collin Ross ’24 - Offensive Player of the Year

Connor Nye ‘24

Joseph Odipo ‘24

Ethan Brown ‘25

Franklin Odunlami ‘24

Martin Velasco ‘25

Women’s Soccer

Sarah Pritchard ‘24

Bailey Rakella ‘25

Kameron Lee ‘24

Rachel Davis ‘24

Capital Athletic League SCHOLAR-ATHLETE AWARD

Women’s Basketball

Aleyah Harmon ’25 MVP

Olivia Novi ‘27

Joy Omishakin ‘26

Men’s Basketball

Stephan Hewitt ‘25

Shawn Underwood Jr ‘25

ELIGIBILITY: Athletes who are members of a Capital Athletic League recognized Varsity Team are eligible for the award Freshmen are not eligible as the athlete must have at least one year of grades, beginning with the 9th grade Athletes must finish the season in good standing Athletes must have a cumulative 3 50 GPA (or above) weighted grade point average as well as a current 3.5 (or above) weighted GPA. The cumulative GPA is based on cumulative grades of Semesters from 9th grade onward. Athletes are awarded a Scholar-Athlete patch for each sport season for which they qualify. The following athletes are being recognized as Capital Athletic League

Scholar Athletes:

Dive

Anna Boyers ‘24

Claire Cowan ‘26

Brenna Kaufman ‘26

Kathryn Littlejohn ‘26

Ellie Liu ‘25

Hazel Macko ‘26

Claire Nichols ‘26

Giselle Vazquez ‘25

Varsity Baseball

Nicolas Baass ‘24

Liam Golden ‘24

Michael Horan ‘25

Joshua Lewis ‘25

Ricky Maya ‘24

Andrew O’Neil ‘25

Christian Palamidessi ‘24

Lucas Rado ‘25

Henry Ramsey ‘25

Hudson Schempp ‘25

Men’s Varsity Golf

Joaquin Almeida ’25

Lucas Carrillo ‘24

Jacob Gouker ’24

Joseph McCloskey ‘24

Carlo Zago ‘25

Women’s Varsity

Lacrosse

Lucenna Castagnola ‘26

Elissa Cook ‘24

Tara Cooper ‘24

Francisca Dickenson ‘24

Cassie Dugan ‘25

Elizabeth Harrison ‘24

Amaya Jackson ‘25

Heidi Koenig ‘26

Margaret Kuzmich ‘25

Quinn McLaughlin ‘26

Gabriella Palamidessi ‘25

Elise Perkins ‘25

McKensie Sanchez ‘24

Ellia Suleiman ‘25

Men’s Varsity Lacrosse

William Azurin ‘24

Jacob Carlson ‘25

Jace DeBoo ‘25

Sameh Fananapazir ‘25

Sebastian Fernandez Y

Garcia ‘24

Matthew Harris ‘25

Stephan Hewitt ‘25

John Koch ‘25

Elijah Shabaaz ‘24

Jack Simon ‘25

James Torinus ‘25

Nicholas Webster ‘25

John Witry ‘26

Varsity Softball

Josephine Eschleman ’25

Maya Filger ‘24

Kerrigan Lynch ’24

Aleshanee Oseguera ‘24

Hannah Tandy ’24

Maya Torres ‘26

Lillie Warren ‘26

Varsity Swim

Olivia Esperas ‘26

Illiana Foth ‘26

Linnea Fulton ‘24

Abigail Gonong ‘25

Benjamin Hrabe ‘26

Gian Jones ‘25

Maya Kapur ‘26

Lana Lukins ‘26

Natalia Parfenova ‘25

Alexander Potter ‘25

Emerson Reel ‘24

Kiara Yalan ‘24

Andrew Yuzon ‘26Falcon Academic Award

Men’s Varsity Tennis

Ethan Brown ‘25

Logan Horst ‘26

Neel Manchanda ‘25

Sean McKinley ‘26

Colsen Nguyen ‘26

Adam Parra ‘25

Andrew Thomson ‘24

Varsity Track and Field

Mason Barnes ‘25

Lucas Calderon ‘24

Joshua Campbell ‘25

Nathan Carrasco ‘24

Brady Carson ‘24

Amor Corcoran ‘25

Diego Cortes-Torres ‘24

Rachael Davis ‘24

Finn Day ‘24

Sabrina Gouker ‘24

Steven Green ‘26

Dana Greer ‘24

Devin Greer ‘24

Elise Henderson ‘25

Ella Johl ‘25

Isaiah Jordon ‘25

Vivian Johnson ‘24

Katherine Koch ‘26

Jackson Levasseur ‘26

Kathryn Littlejohn ‘26

Arabella Lobo ‘25

Ashley Ciaresa Lobo ‘24

Delaney Lowder ‘26

Alexander Manuselis ‘24

Natalie Martin ‘26

Samuel Nealon ‘24

Eyvonne Nguyen ‘25

Anthony Perdomo-Paz ‘24

William Pletcher ‘24

Evelyn Rector ‘26

Paige Rupert ‘26

Robert Spore ‘25

Sarah Stinson ‘24

Marc Valdez ‘25

Sydnie Watkins ‘24

Veronica White ‘26

Men’s Varsity Volleyball

Ryan Brickley ‘26

Colton Kapicka ‘26

Scott Kong ‘26

Philipp Morozov ‘26

Finn Murray ‘25

Nolan Xavier Nguyen ‘25

Preston Rabey ‘24

Flynn Ryan ‘25

The next letter of intent day will take place Tuesday, April 23rd at 8 a.m. in the George Cunningham ’40 Performing Arts Center.

Thank you to everyone who participated in Christian Brothers High School’s ‘New York, New York’ Auction!

Together, it was demonstrated the incredible impact that can be achieved when a community comes together for a common cause. Your collective kindness raised over half a million dollars to support education and tuition assistance for our amazing CB students. Your contributions help empower CB’s young men and women to pursue their passions, achieve their goals and ultimately make a positive impact in their communities and beyond.

Thank you to our wonderful committee co-chairs, Pat Lewis and Gretchen Rado, the auction committee and the many volunteers who worked tirelessly throughout the year to make the evening a success. Thank you to our donors, guests and sponsors Special thanks goes to Presenting Sponsor Capital Pediatrics - The Khaira Family and to Emerald Sponsors House Real Estate - Kim Squaglia, Jackson Construction and River City Bank . We are forever grateful for our amazing CB Community!

Event Photos: click here

Auction Website: https://NYCityCBAuction.givesmart.com