SJE Summer Car-nival; The Parish Comes Together

2

A Special Thanks to Our Special Supporters

2

The Pulse: News About SJE Alumni & Friends

3

New Parish School Board Meets

3

Message From the Principal: A Time to Reflect

4

In a Lighter Vein 4

In Memoriam: Msgr. Grill

3

Inside this issue:

received Honors at High School Entrance Awards from Alemany, Chaminade, and Louisville high schools. We welcome the Class of 2008 as the newest alumni of St. John Eudes School and wish them all the best in their future endeavors! Congratulations to all our new alumni: Mark

Abeleda, Savannah Abrishamchian, Mi-chael Allegretti, Jason Briceño, Justin Ca-banting, Maria Andrea Casalenuovo, Kyle Conemac, Caitlin Hawthorne (Vale-

dictorian), Juan Jose Hernandez, Jennica Lien (Valedictorian), Matthew Lien , Madi-son Lomas, Mary Lopez (Valedictorian), Monica Medina, Tanner Molique, Nolan Reilly, Jonathan Rezvani, Danitza Romero, Marcelo Rosales, Brandon Schiro, Anthony Souza, Karl Tolentino (Salutatorian), Emily Vitar (Valedictorian), Julia Wall, Mark Walther, Kristen Wang, Regeene Zara, and Melissa Zelaya.

Volume 4, Issue 4 July, 2008

Congratulations SJE Class of 2008!

A Newsletter for Alumni & Friends of St. John Eudes School

��Graduating Class Strong in Faith, Enthusiasm

��Generations Come Together to Celebrate at Summer Carnival; Raise Funds for School & Ministries

��Lucky $10,000 Drawing Winner Buys Ticket from SJE 7th Grader

��Supporters Provide Funds for Science Lab, Annual Fund, Adopt-a-Student

��SJE Student Braves Tornadoes, Floods to Complete Education

��SJE “Blue Brothers” Thrill Audience; Remain Unfettered by Success

��New Parish School Board Elects Officers

��Msgr. Grill Remembered at Funeral Mass; Parishioners Express Gratitude & Thanks

��Accreditation Team Finds SJE Model School; Teachers Commended as “Exemplary”

Highlights:

Graduates Move Forward with Faith & Confidence

The SJE Class of 2008 poses with Mgsr. Nugent, Ms. Stula, Mrs. Danowitz, and Mrs. Thies. Being a class that still has a heritage spanning back to the 20th Century, it has learned lessons at SJE that will be used by these graduates well into the greater part of the 21st Century.

Graduation is always exciting. It’s exciting because it marks both an end and also a be-ginning at the same time. And it was no dif-ferent for our newest class of SJE graduates as they celebrated their graduation last June 6 with enthusiasm and excitement. Graduation was celebrated with the theme With Faith We Can Do All Things. This theme reflects the strength and confidence this class has in its faith to face the future and meet challenges as its members go on to high school and beyond — challenges that are unique to this generation and this time in history. The graduation ceremony featured introduc-tory remarks by valedictorians Jennica Lien and Emily Vitar. LAFD Capt. Steve Ruda (alumni parent) was the guest speaker. Di-plomas were awarded by Msgr. Nugent and Mrs. Danowitz. Scholarships were awarded to a number of students and many graduates

The theme With Faith We Can Do All Things reflects the strength and con-fidence this class has in its faith to face the future and meet challenges . . . challenges that are unique to this generation and this time in history.

Visit us at www.sjealumni.net

2008 SJE Summer Carnival Parish Comes Together to Celebrate Summer Season

Funds Raised for School & Ministries No sooner was school out for the summer than it was time to open the food booths and rides for the first-ever St. John Eudes Summer Carnival. The carnival was held on Fa-ther’s Day weekend and featured great international food, plenty of carnival games and

prizes, fun rides, fantastic enter-tainment, and a $10,000 cash Grand Prize Drawing. The parish has traditionally cele-brated the summer with the An-nual Parish Picnic, however at the suggestion of the PTSO, and with the help of the Men’s Council, planning started last October on a major event that would bring all the parish ministries together to build community and raise money to help support the school and parish ministries. Numerous parish groups joined in the planning and organization of

the carnival. Food and game booths were captained by the groups and each provided their expertise and manpower. Food booths reflected the ethnic diversity of the parish and included Mexican, Filipino, Armenian, Italian, and traditional American menus - including an especially tasty variety of ice-cream and baked items. Game booths were manned by the Swim Team, Cub Scouts, Youth Ministry, Children’s Ministry, RCIA, and the 2008-2009 SJE 8th Grade Class. And there was also an Arts & Crafts center for the artistic minded. The centerpiece of the carnival was the Entertainment Tent. The large tent provided a place for carnival goers to eat, relax, get to know each other, watch sporting events on the big screen in the tent’s beer/wine/margarita garden, and enjoy top notch entertainment - which in-cluded a wide variety of acts and groups such as the SJE Children’s

Page 2 The HeartBeat

A Special Thanks to Our Special Supporters

With the completion of the 2007-2008 School Year, we would like to acknowledge those Alumni and Friends who have contributed to the SJE School Annual Fund Cam-paign and the Adopt-A-Student Program. Donors are also ac-knowledged on the alumni web-site and on a plaque that will be displayed in the School Office for the coming year. Thank you to all those who have supported the school through these programs!

2007-2008 Annual Fund Campaign

PlatinumHeart Circle $5,000 and More

Anonymous for Science Lab Construction

GoldenHeart Circle $2,500 to $4,999

Hannon Foundation SilverHeart Circle

$1,000 to $2,499

Elisabeth H. Star in Honor of Sr. Rosemary Bochniarz, Sch. P.

Calasanz Council $500 to $999

Stephen & Sharon Suttles Montal Council

$250 to $499

Patricia De La Riva, MD Eagle’s Club

Gifts up to $249

Diana Bennett Mike & Jennifer (Sembauer) Prince

Jack Ruebensaal in Memory of Cheryl Ruebensaal

2007-2008 Adopt-A-Student Program

Adoptive Donors $500 and More

The C. Rach Family Richard & June Zeisel Supportive Donors

Gifts up to $499

Thomas & Sophie Pachikara Steve & Susan Ruda

Information about contributing to the 2008-2009 Annual Fund and Adopt-A-Student Program is avail-able on our alumni website at www.sjealumni.net.

Carnival visitors had a choice of a number of tempting foods and desserts. Parish groups cooked their favorite ethnic foods to give the carnival a real international flavor.

Carnival daredevils were exuberant at conquering rides such as the Chicago Loop, Wacky Worm, and the ever favorite Bumper Cars - not to mention the Rock Wall or Water Wars. Games like Dozer, Duck Pond, and Tic-Tac-Toe yielded top prizes.

The generations came together as parents and kids danced to great music in the Entertainment Tent. There was music for everyone - jazz, salsa, disco, and rock. Live bands ranged from full sized jazz bands to combos and rock groups The tent was also the venue for budding parish stars. Karaoke provided the opportunity for aspiring performers to show their stuff. And the “SJE Idol” contest highlighted the best of parish talent (could TV be next?). School Principal, Mrs. Danowitz, was thrilled with the support the carnival received from students and parents. Pastor, Msgr. Nu-gent, was delighted at how the carnival drew the parish to-gether, noting that he could see the parish “glow” through every-one who attended.

(Continued on page 4)

New Parish School Board Meets for First Time

Following guidelines issued by the Los Angeles Archdiocese, St. John Eudes Parish has established a con-sultative School Board whose mem-bers include (in addition to the pastor, principal and PTSO representative) alumni, current school parents, former parents, parishioners, and non-school/parish related volunteers. The first meeting of the Board was held on June 2 and officers were elected: Ernie Star, Chairperson; Rick Crandall, Vice-Chairperson; and Alan Lien, Secretary. Additional board-members (and the committee they will be chairing) are John Chady (Planning & Policy), Mike Garcia (Board Members), Pamela Rosales (Development), Liza Trinidad (Mar-keting), Oscar Urrutia (Communi-cations), Tina Wisner (Mission En-hancement), Jenny Zoller (Buildings & Grounds). The boardmembers will be introduced to the school parents at Back-to-School Night in September.

Page 3

The Pulse: News About SJE Alumni & Friends

Volume 4, Issue 4

Paul Walinski (’77) graduated in 1981 from Simi Valley High School. He married his wife, Robin, in 1992. He is a manager at a Jiffy Lube, and he and his wife live with their two chocolate Labra-dor retrievers in Knoxville, Tennessee. There is an update on Theresa Ab-bene ’96 who was has been attending Loyola Marymount University to obtain her Master’s Degree. After obtaining her M.A. earlier this year she has now been accepted into LMU’s Doctor of Education program in Education Leadership for So-cial Justice. The Ed.D program will take 3 years to complete. But Theresa knows she is well equipped for the challenge through her undergrad and graduate edu-cation – built upon the foundation she received at SJE School. Congratulations Theresa! (P.S.: Apologies for misspell-ing your name last issue with that extra “n” in your last name). Annemarie Scipioni (’97) attended Chaminade College Preparatory where she was active on the Varsity Volleyball Team. After graduating in 2001 she then attended Loyola Marymount University and graduated with honors in 2005 with a B.A. degree in English. She then worked as an intern in an independent book pub-lishing company. After the internship she was accepted into the Writing Workshop

at the University of Iowa from where she has just received her Master’s Degree in Fine Arts (2008). While at UI she taught undergraduate Creative Writing for two years. During spring break she taught troubled girls creative writing to help them better express their emotions. She is currently teaching Creative Writing to high school students through a UI pro-gram. Living in Iowa has been an experi-ence for Annemarie since while she was at UI she experienced weather conditions that ranged from tornadoes to river floods. She now plans on driving back from Iowa to California later this summer and hopes to find a teaching position. Mark Gabaya ’00 attended Crespi High School and graduated in 2004. He is now attending CalPoly, San Luis Obispo, where he is working on his teach-ing credentials and majoring in Math. His extra-curricular activities include basket-ball, tennis, football, and occasionally fishing and sky-diving. He works part-time for the CalPoly Associated Students as a web developer. He is planning for a teaching career at the high school level once he graduates from college.

In Memoriam

Msgr. Philip Grill May 13, 1916 - June 6, 2008

The St. John Eudes family mourns the passing of our founding pastor, Msgr. Philip Grill. It was in 1963 that Cardi-nal McIntyre chose then Fr. Grill to establish a new parish and school in the Chatsworth. Fr. Grill at the time was the associate pastor of Our Lady of the Valley. Fr. Grill soon started fundraising and construction efforts and it was actually the school that opened first in the fall of 1966 to 170 students in the 1st through 4th Grades. As pastor Fr. Grill oversaw the con-tinuing growth of the parish (from 800 to over 2,500 families) and was active in the establishment of the Renew Program in the LA Archdiocese. Fr. Grill remained pastor of St. John Eu-des until his retirement in 1989. He spent his retirement time traveling and remained active, living for a time in Santa Barbara. However, due to dete-riorating health he moved to St. John of God Retirement and Care Center in Los Angeles in 1998. A funeral Mass was held at St. John Eudes on June 17 and was attended by Msgr. Grill’s surviving brother and sister, a number of other family mem-bers, and many parishioners wishing to express their final farewells. We express our condolences to the Grill Family. Msgr. Grill will forever have a special place in our hearts and in our parish. Whenever we enter the hall named in his honor, we will remember his kindness and strength of spirit.

Msgr. Nugent (left) and Fr. Bill McClean perform as the “Blues Brothers” in the Entertainment Tent at the carnival. Not to be entranced by their stage success, both have said they would not give up their day jobs for careers in show business.

Choir, a number of excellent dance groups and bands, as well as a special perform-ance by the renowned “Spazmatics”. The

carnival events were capped-off with the Grand Prize Drawing for a 1st Prize of $10,000, 2nd Prize of a Trip to Maui for 2, and 3rd Prize of a Dell Laptop Computer. Msgr. Nugent drew the lucky winners. Mrs. Barbara Romanos of Santa Rosa Valley won the 1st Prize, Mr. Ricardo Lunasin of La Mirada won the 2nd Prize, and Mr. Alfred Haftl of New Rochelle, NY, won the 3rd Prize. A special thanks to the school parents and parishioners who or-ganized the carnival and helped raise nearly $25,000! Check the carnival website at sjecarnival.org for more information, pictures and the date for next year’s Summer Carnival!

St. John Eudes School

9925 Mason Avenue Chatsworth, CA 91311 Phone: (818) 341-1454 Fax: (818) 341-3093

www.school.stjohneudes.org

Msgr. Peter Nugent Pastor

Mrs. Barbara Danowitz Principal

The HeartBeat

A publication of the St. John Eudes School

Development Office

Ernie Star, Director

Contributing Writers: Ellen Abbene Molly Gaines

Eva Star

The HeartBeat Page 4

A Special Message From the Principal

A Community of Faith is a community of learners who recognize and nourish

God-given gifts.

There is much to reflect upon as another school year comes to a close. Our faith community here at school is strong and vibrant; our teaching staff and support staff continue to provide a quality educa-tion for all our children; the educational programs are effective and fulfill the school’s philoso-phy and student learning expecta-tions. During the year our students were involved in mean-ingful liturgies and prayer ser-vices, and they showed their faith through Christian action in their respectfulness towards others and out reach to those in need. The school’s accreditation was reviewed this year for another six year term by the Western Association of Schools and Col-leges (WASC), as well as the Western Catholic Educational Association (WCEA). Our faculty and staff were commended by the accreditation team as exemplary in their teaching methods and evidence of student learning. The team reported that St. John Eudes School is an effective school model! We continued to improve our programs with more integration of technology and

various teaching methodologies. Our Student Learning Expectations (SLE’s) and Standards remain the driving force of our curriculum. We wish to thank our teachers and staff for a most rewarding year in which much work went into the accreditation process.

We look forward to working with our re-turning faculty and staff in the fall. Finally, we ended the school year with the Eighth Grade Com-mencement and wish our graduates success

and happiness in their high school years. We are confident that the foundation and values they received here at St. John Eu-des School will stay with them as they journey on their chosen paths. On behalf of the faculty and staff, we wish all our families, friends, and alumni a safe and wonderful summer!

Barbara Danowitz

In a Lighter Vein . . . Teacher: Johnny, why are you doing your math multiplication on the floor? Johnny: You told me to do it without using tables. Teacher: Now, Johnny, tell me frankly, do you say prayers before eating? Johnny: No ma’am — I don't have to, my mom is a good cook. Teacher: Johnny, why do you always get so dirty? Johnny: Well, I'm a lot closer to the ground than you are. Teacher: Johnny, name one important thing we have today that we didn't have ten years ago. Johnny: Me! All our children today are important be-cause they represent our best chance for the future. Please help the worthy cause of providing a quality Catholic education to deserving children. Your donation to the SJE Annual Fund, Adopt-A-Student Pro-gram, Endowment, or other general or specific gifts is greatly appreciated. And your donation to St. John Eudes School is tax deductible. To donate please contact the School Office (818) 341-1454 or visit our website at www.sjealumni.net. Thank you!

End of School Year Time to Reflect on Successes, Improvements

The school’s accreditation was renewed this year for another six year term . . . Our faculty and staff were commended by the accreditation team as exemplary in their teaching methods and evidence of student learning.

Mrs. Barbara Romanos is presented a check for $10,000 by Msgr. Nugent as winner of the 1st Prize in the carnival’s Grand Prize Drawing. Accompanying Mrs. Romanos is family friend Conan Klein, who sold her the winning ticket. Conan is an SJE student who will be entering 8th Grade in the Fall.

2008 Summer Carnival (Continued from page 2)