2020-2021 Highlights

JUSTIN-SIENA ANNUAL FUND YOUR SUPPORT IS THEIR SUCCESS

Our Class of ...

HIGHLIGHTS

125

99%

$9+

205

graduates

After the challenges of the past year and a half, the importance of the support provided by our JS community is even more apparent. We remain steadfast in our ongoing commitment to excellence in education with the opportunity to enrich the lives of the students entrusted to our care. Justin-Siena welcomes all students. Your contribution ensures we will continue to move forward for many years to come.

Make your gift online today at www.justin-siena.org/support OUr SIGNATURE EVENTS are a VIBRANT part of our fundraising. Join us for the following

million awarded in scholarships

going to college

accepted to colleges & universities

It is such a great “ feeling to see how everyone will be moving forward!

I am proud of how far our class has come during the most difficult school year of our lives!

”

Ines Keller ’21

For dates and information, follow us on Facebook and Instagram: @justinsiena 4026 Maher St. Napa, CA 94558 707.255.0950 | www.justin-siena.org

JUSTIN-SIENA is a Lasallian Catholic high school offering a college preparatory program that serves approximately 545 young men and women in grades 9–12. Founded in 1966 by the De La Salle Christian Brothers and the Dominican Sisters of San Rafael, the school is located on forty acres in the City of Napa and is in the Diocese of Santa Rosa and the District of San Francisco New Orleans. Justin-Siena serves a variety of students from Napa, Sonoma, Solano counties, and around the world.

2020-2021

Homecoming takes on a whole new meaning

Late Summer–FALL 2020

Back to School: Although in pandemic-necessitated digital learning mode, Justin-Siena kicked off the school year with our Lasallian spirit. The student-led “Apart but ALLHEART” prayer service featured a touching rendition of “Unity” performed by our Advanced Choral and Instrumental students.

We Love. So We Serve: Reflecting our strategic plan to build “significant and ongoing service opportunities throughout the community,” students and staff set forth on several service projects. The 1% Better Challenge to raise Down Syndrome awareness, Relay for Life, Easter baskets for our neighbors at Watermark, and many others.

Homecoming Parade: LSL and SSL classes upheld our Homecoming traditions, and quickly turned the celebration into service opportunities! Local fires once again caused damage to several of our neighbors. JS raised over $30,000, providing 60+ families with gift cards, food, clothing, and other essentials.

Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging Task Force: Our community came together to address and strengthen Justin-Siena’s commitment to living out our core values, “inclusive community” and “respect for all persons.”

ACCESS707 Auction and Flash Sales: Several wineries partnered to make their mark on education, empowering Justin-Siena to raise over $55,000 to provide ACCESS to quality education through our Lasallian Education Access Program (LEAP).

Dia De Los Muertos: Our first in-person prayer service, celebrated Dia de los Muertos commemorating all souls.

Fr. Valentine shared the message of persistence and sacrifice at the center of making the most of ourselves and each other.

Brave for a Day: Student Ambassadors led tours of our campus, impressing over 300 prospective students and their families in a reimagined way.

Nationally Recognized Students: Seniors Paul Kelly IV and Sam Boeschen were named National Merit Scholar Semifinalists, with Paul subsequently being named a Winner. Recognized as Commended Scholars were seniors Peter Bowman-Davis, Devon Carlson, Ines Keller, George Khoury, Casey Potrebic, and Francis Rebullida.

Hybrid Learning: Justin-Siena was among the first schools in Northern California to resume in-person learning.

Implementing a “Hybrid Model.” Students, divided into two cohorts, attended in-person for two full school days per week and virtually for two other. Our Wednesday Wellness Days provided time to unplug and build community.

Memory Project Portraits: 26 student artists gave their time and talent to this international social justice project.

For seven years, our students have made these unique gifts for children facing substantial challenges around the world. The portraits show them that many people care about their well-being.

“I Applied”: Our 125 seniors applied to 274 colleges, with 205 colleges offering acceptances.

Traditional Fall Sports: Braves athletes reasserted themselves into Vine Valley Athletic League (VVAL) play.

Led again by Priyanka Shanker ’22 and seniors Ashlyn Mills, Ines Keller, Bella Rampa, Julia Best, and Roses Newell, our girls tennis team finished in first place with their third straight undefeated VVAL campaign. Jacob Guiducci ’21 and Olivia Janerico ’23 were top finishers in cross country, and newcomer Charles Wenzel ’24 had a strong debut.

Girls golf finished 2nd overall in the final VVAL tournament with Alex Mazzucco ’22 and Brooklyn Blankenship ’24 posting impressive scores. The girls water polo team, led by Lina Phinney ’21, Sarah Reynolds ’22, and Maddie Vanoni ’23, finished first for the fourth straight season. And finally, Friday night football lights were illuminated with a 7-0 victory over Petaluma to kickoff a competitive season!

Winter 2020–2021

Winter Concert: Advanced Choral students asked “How Can I Keep From Singing?” while performing in the Festival Napa Valley “Songs of Gratitude” concert. In the absence of a Christmas concert at Mont La Salle, the Vocal Ensemble Project featured local performers and original messages from artists Andrea Bocelli and Josh Groban.

The Show Must Go On….LINE! ComedySportz celebrated 10 years of “Mayhem on Maher Street’’ by hosting several virtual competitions. These online performances were part of our ever ambitious Theatre Arts Department staging a production nearly EVERY MONTH! Conversations with Coach: Our Athletic Department facilitated discussions around social justice and sports.

These conversations provided a segue into examples of athletes in society finding their voices and speaking out on civil rights issues. Undeniably, sports play an important role in our culture and these high profile athletes serve as models, using their influence to stand for what is right.

Teams processed what they learned by exploring how our sports program can contribute to promoting social justice.

Spreading Holiday Cheer: Thanks to our students’ generous spirit of holiday giving, Advisory groups and homerooms provided Christmas joy for 16 families and stuffed backpacks with essentials for local homeless persons.

Crab Fest (Virtual): This popular signature event was creatively and successfully reimagined. 2021’s Fund-aNeed was designated to a long overdue remodel of space in the Clark Gym. Officially named the Colin Chadwick ’08 Team Center, this area will equitably house boys and girls locker and team rooms. We were honored to name the Athletic Training Room after Marsha Niemann, longtime JS teacher and coach, whose impact and legacy will now be forever commemorated.

Kairos: A rite of passage for many, this retreat was successfully and safely restructured to provide our students a time of connection, reflection, and calm.

AP Exams: 216 students took 506 exams in 24 subjects.

Scholastic Art Winners: Arden Lloyd ’22, Gold Key Award in Painting for her work “Feelings of the Past,” and Honorable Mention in Painting for her work “Suffocated.” Sean Flaherty ’21, Gold Key Award in Photography for his work, “Italian Castle.”

Frosh and Soph Retreats: Classes came together and grew closer while deepening personal connections to what it means to be ALLHEART. Traditional Winter Sports: Following a year without sanctioned competition, sports finally returned to Northern California in the late winter. Our Boys Basketball team finished with a flurry of success, including a five game winning streak, led by up-and-comers Travis Hightower ‘23 and Vincent Jackson ‘23. On the girls side, a balanced and energetic squad posted a winning VVAL record led by a different player every night! Our Girls Soccer team continued to show strides of improvement with Tessa Salvestrin ‘22 leading the team in scoring. With a young nucleus of players returning next year, they will certainly be a team to watch! The Wrestle Brave team was again stout, with seniors Anthony Fannin and Jacob Guiducci along with Cooper Cohee ‘22, Ya Ya Martinez ‘23, and Sophia Conley ‘24 often joining them on the podium.

Poetry Out Loud: Gabrielle George ’23 competed in the Napa Country Poetry Out Loud competition. Reciting two poems, “Ways of Talking” by Ha Jin, and “I Remember, I Remember” by Thomas Hood, she reflected maturity and deep understanding of the works.

Spring 2021

Braves Reunited: In March, we began a phased-in approach to return our student body to campus, beginning with the seniors. This safe and thoughtful approach allowed JS to finish the school year together as an entire ALLHEART community.

Founders Day: Our traditional day honoring St. John Baptist de la Salle was back in full force! Complete with the yearbook dedication, talent show, faculty versus seniors games, and more, this was a well-deserved celebration of camaraderie for our entire community!

Educator Awards: Students and staff recognized Mr. John Davis (Br. Lawrence), Samir Berbawy (Holy Spirit), and Allyson Wood (Lasallian Educator of the Year) as recipients of our annual distinguished awards.

Working “The Musical”: Our Theatre Department officially shines from stage to screen, pulling off a show-stopping performance of this Studs Terkel production. Chosen specifically for the sociological call to recognize “essential workers,” this performance truly brought our entire community together featuring students, faculty and staff, alumni, and more.

Mock Trial: Our 8x defending county champion Mock Trial team continued their run of success, only this year it was

in the “court zoom.” Competing at the state level, they argued a case centering around the Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination. Special shout-outs to the seniors who successfully upheld the rich winning tradition of this program!

Homecoming 2.0: We celebrated Paul (Phineas) Kelly IV and Haley Miller being crowned King and Queen of the Homecoming Court, while the football and cheer teams competed against Napa.

Delayed is Not Denied: Partnering with JGageProductions (Jonas Gonzales ’20), several student filmmakers set out to chronicle athletics during the pandemic. Aimed at giving our athletes a platform by which to share their voices, this mini-series documentary describes the impact of sports on a student’s socio-emotional well-being.

Class of 2025: As we say goodbye to the class of 2021, we are excited to welcome the next wave of Braves! This year we had 238 applicants, and offered 160 acceptances, thus creating a wait list. Our new Braves hail from 32 schools in Napa, Solano, and Sonoma Counties

Traditional Spring Sports: With Season 2 of the modified COVID schedule combining most of our winter and spring sports, spring was a busy time at the home of the Braves. Showing well across our entire athletic landscape, highlights included: Girls Lacrosse took home first place with Olivia Janerico ’23 and Anjali Monteverdi ’22 among leading scorers. In Track and Field, a well-decorated senior class including Natalie Kelly, Bella Holman, Catherine Sherburne, Roses Newell, Seth Morrison, Sam Boeschen, Casey Potrebic, and Jacob Guiducci led both teams to first place finishes with the relay teams on both sides showing particularly well. For our Boys Lacrosse team, Connor Machado ’21 finished a standout career by leading the team in scoring; In Baseball, Noah Young ’21 and Nick Andrews ’22 had all-league caliber seasons; In Volleyball, UC Irvine commit senior Megan Hanson ’21 wrapped up a stellar career for the Braves. Our Swim Teams showed well with a bevy of records being broken. Mackenzie Kawashiri ’23 now holds the girls 500 Free record, and Lila Heffernan ’24 is the proud owner of the 200 IM, 100 Fly, and 100 Breast.