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Sept. 25, 2013
Volume XLVI, Issue 1
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Moreau Catholic High School 27170 Mission Blvd. Hayward, CA
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What’s Inside
>> Mass Schedule Page 5
Seriously PUMPED
KELSEY LOWE/The Explorer
>> Colllaaahhhh Page 2
A rockin’ and bouncin’ good time was had at the Student Fundraiser BBQ. Soph Jeazelle Marquez, above, plays Air Mattress Twister. By Angela Pedrigal Staff Writer Tickets. Check. Raise $113,000. Check. Record setting student participation. BIG Check. This year’s record-breaking student fundraiser ended with a bang: over $113,000 raised and 81% participation from Moreau students. With encouraging incentives and the promise of a new amp system, it gave students a reason to sell, sell, sell!
“We have created a culture here at Moreau Catholic where students take pride in their school, and ownership of their responsibility to give back to the school community,” AP of Campus Life Katie Teekell said. Whether it was from the theater seats or the plasma screen TVs, everyone at Moreau knows they have benefited in some way or another from a student fundraiser. Throughout the years, it has developed
We’ve got spirit, yes we do! By Angela Pedrigal Staff Writer As the highly anticipated Spirit Week comes closer and closer, one cannot simply fathom the different emotions of this crazy experience. Staying up into all hours of the night to finish last minute decorations, polishing the final moves of the class dance, and going to skit meetings to scrutinize over every minute detail of the skit--it’s all gratifying once it comes together. “The main purpose is to unify our school as a whole because this is a time when everyone really cares about working together to get the most points,” junior council secretary/treasurer Alexa Fontanilla said.
Opening Rally set the bar high for Spirit Week.
>>Spirit Week Page 3
into a tradition here to take pleasure and satisfaction in doing a good job. “I hope someday we will get to 100% because giving back and supporting our community is what Mariner pride is all about,” Teekell said. Our Moreau champs definitely (hashtag) turned up the amp at the much celebrated student BBQ last Friday. A jubilant celebration, the student barbeque spiced up this years’ festivities
>> How to get a job Page 4
>>see Fundraiser Page 7
New face, same grace
Tortorich takes over for Lek in principal’s role By Shilpa Daliparthy Staff Writer
Lisa Tortorich was drawn to Moreau because of the quality of its teachers and students. This became clear during her initial contact with the school, right after Moreau received a six-year accreditation from WASC. Tortorich knows that very few schools earn this prestigious rating, and so her primary goal as our school’s incoming principal became clear. “I don’t want to change anything that we’ve been doing,” Tortorich said. It’s now her mission to execute the school’s vision that aligned well with the visiting WASC committee. Part of that goal is to meaningfully use technology to increase critical thinking and student learning. “Moreau was one of the first high schools in the Bay Area to be using laptops on a 1-1 basis,” Tortorich said. “[We] need to work collaboratively--the students, faculty, parents, alumni, and the community--to help the school remain a leader in technology integration, Holy Cross ministry, and academic excellence.”
CHRISTINE KOSMICKI/MCHS Communications
Moreau Principal Lisa Tortorich at a recent campus event with Sr. Barbara Bray, SNJM, superintendent of Catholic schools in the Oakland Diocese. “I could tell she is an extremely spirited person,” History teacher Phil Wilder said. Tortorich’s personality came through during the opening rally, when she stepped out into the middle of the school and hyped up the crowd during ASB’s parody of Monster’s University. While she may seem like an ener-
getic person at school, Tortorich and her husband live a relatively quiet life at their beach house at Half Moon Bay. Previously an assistant principal at Bishop O’Dowd, and a principal at Mercy High School, Tortorich described the opportunity of coming to Moreau as one that was “too good to pass up.”
>>see Tortorich Page 7