Notre Notes Summer 2018 Edition

NEWSLETTER - SUMMER 2018

IN THIS ISSUE...

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167th Commencement Exercises

Celebrating the Class of 2018 Dragons

Party Like it's 1851 Annual Benefit & Auction

Students Embark on a Journey of Philanthropy

ND' s 167 th G raduating C lass On June 2nd, Notre Dame High School celebrated its 167th commencement as the Class of 2018 Purple and Yellow Dragons accepted their diplomas. Among the 165 graduates were 34 who earned Highest Academic Honors, having maintained a minimum 4.45 GPA and taken a minimum of seven Honors and AP classes over their four years of high school.

Valedictory Speaker Sapna Ramappa

Julie Billiart Award Winner Anna Giubileo

Among those, Sapna Ramappa was chosen to deliver the valedictory address. Sapna also received the Principal’s Leadership Award, awarded to a student who has committed herself to leadership throughout her high school years. In her commencement speech, she encouraged her classmates to move forward boldly. “I see among us engineers, researchers, athletes, doctors, fashion icons, leaders, artists, teachers, musicians, wordsmiths and activists. We have pledged ourselves to becoming life-long learners and justice seekers. We have pledged to become — and we have already become — women of impact.”

Sapna will head to UCLA in the fall to study neuroscience.

The Julie Billiart Award is the most prestigious non-academic award given at Notre Dame High School. The recipient is chosen by her classmates for her compassion, caring, service, respect and love of her community. This year’s recipient, Anna Giubileo, will head to Case Western Reserve University in the fall to study psychology. In her address, Anna said, “The first hallmark taught to us by the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur says 'We proclaim by our lives even more than our words that God is Good.' Now I see God not as this detached being far away, but as the people around me. Each and every one of you is an example of how God is present, and in all of your goodness you live lives that exemplify that sentiment to the fullest.”

Retired California Supreme Court Judge LaDoris Hazzard Cordell, Notre Dame's 2016 Women of Impact community honoree, delivered the address to the graduates. She shared the stories of three women from very diverse backgrounds who made a difference in history and encouraged the Class of 2018 to do the same. "You matter. Each one of you matter. You are an important part of this world. Be informed, stand up, speak up, sing up, dance up, lawyer up for what is right, especially when it's easier to stay silent and do nothing. And let all of your decisions be motivated by kindness."

Retired California Supreme Court Judge LaDoris Cordell

Principal’s Message “We are called to be mission, not have a mission. Mission is our identity.”

These words of Sr. Teresita Weind, SNDdeN, opened the international gathering of the Sisters of Notre Dame and their mission affiliates at Emmanuel College in Boston this July. Sr. Teresita is the congregational leader and oversees the international governance of the Sisters of Notre Dame. I was honored to attend this gathering along with my colleagues John Bracco (vice principal of student affairs), Michelle McGovern (director of student life) and Kathleen Quiazon (director of mission and ministry). We benefited from meeting and connecting with colleagues from around the world and sharing Notre Dame San Jose with them.

John and Michelle presented a workshop entitled Teach Them What They Need to Know for Life: Developing 21st Century Career & Life Skills. Kathleen and I presented two workshops: one on Understanding Faith Identity in Notre Dame Catholic Learning Communities and one on Strategic Adult Formation in Mission. The work that we shared is a result of our current strategic plan, all rooted in mission. We were happy to share our work at Notre

Notre Dame students with Sr. Mary Johnson, SND, PhD, Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Religious Studies at Trinity Washington University (a Notre Dame network school)

Dame San Jose with colleagues from other schools who share the same foundational mission.

Notre Dame students attended a leadership conference earlier in the same week where they worked with students from schools in Ohio, Maryland and Massachusetts. They expanded their circle of sisterhood!

They were able to attend some of the adult program offerings as well. We, along with others from across the country and beyond, were heartened by their insights, challenges and willingness to speak boldly. They are the witnesses to our mission and the hope for our future.

Sr. Teresita reminded us of the importance of mission.

This is what identifies the work that we do and why we do it. My colleagues and I are called to ‘be the mission of our school’ and invite you, our Notre Dame community, to be the mission alongside us. Our mission is our identity.

In Notre Dame,

Mary Beth Riley, Principal Mary Beth Riley, Michelle McGovern, John Bracco & Kathleen Quiazon

Notre Dame High School Mission Statement Notre Dame High School, in the heart of downtown San Jose since 1851, provides young women an exemplary Catholic, college-preparatory education to become life-long learners, spiritual seekers, justice advocates and community leaders. We are inspired by Saint Julie Billiart and the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur. We empower young women and “teach them what they need to know for life.”

Adopted by the Notre Dame Board of Directors, April 2018 WINTER 2017

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The Class of 2018 Purple and Yellow Dragons Notre Dame’s 167th class of graduates earned accolades and were rewarded for their four years of hard work in academics, co-curriculars and the community.

Students in the

CLASS of 2018 were offered more than

19

MILLION

$

in scholarships

165 6,302

students in the Class of 2018 served

hours of community service during the year

Students were accepted to an average of

100

%

of seniors who applied to colleges and universities were accepted

70%

of students are matriculating to colleges and universities listed in Princeton Review’s List of Best Colleges

5.25

Most popular majors

You can read the stories of the Class of 2018, including their dreams and plans for college, on our website at: www.ndsj.org/ClassOf2018

• Chemistry/Biology/BioChem • Psychology/Neuroscience • Engineering • Computer Science • Political Science/International Affairs • Arts • Business/Economics • Nursing • Environmental Science

colleges last year

for the Class of 2018:

The Notre Dame community of past and current parents, alumnae, friends and family gathered at Forager Eatery & Tasting Room in downtown San Jose for the 2018 Gold Rush Benefit & Auction. Funds raised through this event support program development and help provide financial assistance to 24% of Notre Dame students!

Lisa Walstrum (Maddie '18, Cassie '11) & Jessica RoseTracy (Emma '18, Allison '16) Denise & Scott Gordon (Abigail '20), Jenny & Jim Crotty (Emily '09), Cindy & Ellen Robinson (Molly '19), Kala & Ashvin Patel (Tejal '21, Sonali '18), Elizabeth & Brad Cox (Audrey '19, Emily '15), Kelly Kline & Chris Ayers (Helen '22)

Sarah Kane, Mitch & Helen Kane (Audrey '14, Maggie '11), Maggie Kane '11

Angie & Todd Davidson (Julia '17, Sophie '19)

Liz & Brian Cabral (Sydney '20, Quinn '14)

Innovative Lesson Featured on KQED Education Website Students in Nicole Pfaff's Monsters: Our Dark Mirrors English class create interactive maps to better comprehend the classic Frankenstein. Through this exercise they are better able to imagine the plot, the characters and the struggles they faced. As a KQED Teacher Ambassador, Nicole completed an interactive maps course and then applied the concepts to her lesson plans.

You can read Nicole's KQED blog post at www.ndsj.org/interactive-maps.

In addition to this innovative project, Nicole worked with sophomores over the semester to help them understand the stories of genocide survivors.

"Students watch oral testimonies of genocide survivors, then reflect on how they see intolerance in their own communities. Then they develop a small community action plan and document both the action and its impact. Combined with the piece of testimony that inspired them, they create a short video of the experience." Once finished, the student videos were entered in a Shoah Foundation contest.

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e h t g n i c u d o r t n I th Annual 10

Honorees

Notre Dame's 10th annual Women of Impact honorees are visionary women leaders who have made a lifelong commitment to service. We look forward to welcoming them to campus for a student assembly and to the San Jose Convention Center for the Women of Impact luncheon on October 12th.

Teveia Barnes

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ppointed by Governor Jerry Brown, Teveia has served as executive director of IBank (California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank) since 2013. In that role, she oversees a 34-billion-dollar budget that provides financing for California infrastructure projects as well as lower-cost financing for non-profits, manufacturing development and small businesses. She is the founder and president of Lawyers for One America, developed in response to President Clinton’s call to action, which promotes diversity in the legal profession and provides civil pro bono legal services to underserved communities.

A graduate of Rice University and New York University of Law, Teveia's career in the legal profession has spanned more than 40 years, throughout which she has been a trailblazer for women and a proponent of diversity training and unconscious-bias education. Before her appointment to IBank, Barnes was commissioner of the California Department of Financial Institutions. There she served as the chief state regulator of depository financial institutions, responsible for the licensing, examination and supervision of banks, credit unions, savings associations and trust companies.

Shirlee DiNapoli ’46 Schiro

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longtime supporter of the arts, Shirlee was instrumental in the revitalization of San Jose’s downtown art scene and the growth and prosperity of the Children’s Musical Theater. Shirlee’s dedication and contributions to the arts complemented the long legacy of the DiNapoli family in the Santa Clara Valley canning and real estate industries.

Born and raised in San Jose, Shirlee attended St. Patrick's School and then matriculated to Notre Dame High School, graduating in 1946. Shirlee went on to attend Dominican College, where she graduated magna cum laude before beginning her professional career, which has spanned the historic canning industry of the "Valley of Heart's Delight" and the burgeoning tech industry of Silicon Valley. Today she serves as a managing member of SDS NexGen Partners, developing real estate in Willow Glen and other areas of San Jose.

Shirlee, along with her late husband, Henry, were instrumental in establishing San Jose as a destination for musical theater and worked tirelessly to build the Children's Musical Theater into the artistic powerhouse and financially stable organization it is today.

12th Annual ND Reads Notre Dame's ND Reads program brings our community of students, faculty, staff, parents, alumnae and friends together to examine and discuss important issues facing our global community. We invite you to join us in reading our 12th annual selection, The Monk of Mokha.

From the best-selling author of The Circle, Dave Eggers, The Monk of Mokha is the true story of a young Yemeni-American man, raised in San Francisco, who dreams of resurrecting the ancient art of Yemeni coffee.

Mokhtar Alkhanshali is twenty-four and working as a doorman when he discovers the astonishing history of coffee and Yemen’s central place in it.

He leaves San Francisco and travels deep into his ancestral homeland to tour terraced farms high in the country’s rugged mountains and meet beleaguered but determined farmers. But when war engulfs the country and Saudi bombs rain down, Mokhtar has to find a way out of Yemen without sacrificing his dreams or abandoning his people.

Nationally-recognized author Dave Eggers grew up near Chicago and graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is the founder of McSweeney’s, an independent publishing house in San Francisco that produces books, a quarterly journal of new writing (McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern) and a monthly magazine, The Believer. In 2002, he co-founded 826 Valencia, a non-profit youth writing and tutoring center in San Francisco’s Mission District, a program that has expanded around the world. Dave’s work has been nominated for the National Book Award, the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award, and has won the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, France’s Prix Médicis, Germany’s Albatross Prize, the National Magazine Award and the American Book Award.

SAVE THE DATE Nationally-recognized best selling author Dave Eggers and the subject of this year's ND Reads selection, Mokhtar Alkhanshali, will join us for a community event on:

October 8, 2018 7:00pm Don't miss this opportunity to hear the inside story behind the book and meet the author.

RSVP at www.ndsj.org/ndreads SUMMER 2018

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CLASS NOTES Anna Figlia ’53 Phipps (1)

published her first book, Strictly Sicilian, the Immigrants' Daughter's Cookbook. The cookbook captures the diversity and varied cuisines of Sicily and is filled with tried and true family recipes.

The Class of 1988

Teddy Bears (2)

celebrated their 30-year reunion this spring. They enjoyed an evening of laughs and memories in downtown San Jose, followed by a special blessing and family brunch in Pardini Park. Cheers to celebrating 30 years of sisterhood!

Anna Fox ’89 (3) participated

in a "Power of the Polls" on campus, representing the League of Women Voters and American Association of

University Women (AAUW). Anna encouraged ND students to preregister to vote at 16.

Xochitl Cazador ’92 (4) welcomed a baby boy born on February 21, 2018.

Amy Moudakas Reichert ’99 (5)

welcomed a baby boy, James Daniel Reichert, on March 12, 2018.

students, families and counselors in managing anxiety and emotional distress. She also works with Doctors of the World as a consultant in Istanbul, Turkey, offering week-long trainings.

Michelle Afshar ’02 Dotson (8)

welcomed a baby boy, Malik Titus Dotson, on March 13 weighing in at a little over 6 pounds.

Rochelle Reyes ’04 Alcid (9) welcomed a baby boy born on March 16.

Brittany Johnson ’04 Chiles

welcomed a baby girl born on April 7, 2018.

Colleen BursonRyan ’07 (10)

graduated with

Anne Nguyen ’00 an Ed.M. from (6) and her husband, Harvard Graduate Mitch, welcomed baby Jordan to the family. He joins big brother, Aiden.

After graduating with a doctorate in clinical psychology in 2009,

Dr. Enas Dakwar ’00 (7) worked as a professional psychologist for Kaiser Permanente.

She is currently concentrating her efforts in health and wellness for

School of Education in international education policy and has plans to work in higher education.

Alexandra Tee ’08 (11) graduated

from medical school (Virginia Commonwealth University) and will be starting as a family medicine resident physician at Kaiser San Jose in July.

Andrea Scanlon Sarah Shaffer ’14 ’09 Ines-Anderson (16) graduated from (12) welcomed her the University of first child, a baby boy, on November 7, 2017.

Kristen Lam ’10 Weidler (13)

married Andrew Weidler, whom she met in October of 2013 in Maine at the wedding of fellow alumna, Kelly King '07. Many of her ND friends attended her wedding. Pictured (top row): Kelly King '07, Michelle Khouri '10, Alison Agustin '10, Jessica Jin '10.

Bottom row: Kiran Palla '10, Jessica Zeta '10, Kristen Weidler '10, Caitlin Torsney '10.

Roselle Agdipa ’11 (14) graduated from New England Law in Boston and began a job at Legal Aid of Nebraska in July.

Maddie Evans ’12 (15) graduated from the University of Alabama with a master of science in speech language pathology. She will be returning to the Bay Area to work as a speech therapist and plans to pursue a PhD.

Southern California magna cum laude with bachelor of arts degrees in media arts and practice (School of Cinematic Arts) and narrative studies (Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences) and a minor in consumer behavior (Marshall School of Business). She will pursue a master of arts degree in digital media design at New York University in the fall.

Lorena Cortez ’14 (17) graduated

cum laude from Cal State Northridge (CSUN) with a bachelor of science degree in apparel design and production. Lorena has her own online clothing business under Ruby Rae Clothing. As part of her senior project, Lorena showcased a collection of outfits at CSUN's Annual Fashion Show. She recently assisted in a photo shoot with Vogue magazine for an upcoming edition and will be attending a course on Italian fashion in Florence, Italy this summer.

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international affairs and foreign policy one day, but for the next few months she will be staying in Chicago and starting a career as a customized programs specialist.

continued

Molly Skjerven ’15 will be returning

CLASS NOTES Sumaya MullaCarrillo ’14 (18)

graduated with a BFA in dance from Cornish College of the Arts. She plans to stay in Seattle, working with choreographers, and has several dance performances lined up.

Sarah Miyahara ’14 (19) graduated

Summa Cum Laude from Loyola University Chicago with a BA in international studies, a BA in political science, and a minor in peace and conflict studies. Sarah plans to pursue a MA in

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After studying a year abroad in Rome, to downtown San Jose for an internship at the Juvenile Courts of Santa Clara County under Judge Silva.

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Regional Luncheons Kick Off This past spring, our Santa Cruz area alumnae revitalized their lifelong network and held the first regional luncheon of the year. Special thanks to Pat Maher ‘55 Filice and Donna McGann ‘55 Romano for starting this tradition for our alumnae.

We will be having our next regional luncheon in Sacramento on October 6, 2018. For more information, contact Lisa Martin '74 Adamson at lisaasc@gmail.com.

Class of 2018 Embarks on a Journey of Philanthropy The Class of 2018 learned about the true meaning of philanthropy and took the message to their class, encouraging their sisters to engage in the lifelong network of Notre Dame and give back to their alma mater.

The class took the lead in organizing a Boba and Bake Sale in May. With the money they earned, they formed a Dragon Sister Circle, which will benefit an incoming freshman with tuition assistance. To further their cause, the Class of 2003 Flames matched their donation for a total of more than $4k!

The Class of 2018 set an example for future classes and used this opportunity to leave a legacy and give back to the school that built their foundation for success. This concept of philanthropy, of working to improve the wellbeing of humankind by solving problems, is an integral component of a Notre Dame education and something St. Julie Billiart would embrace. She would be proud of our young women for wanting to support their Notre Dame sisters.

ThirtyOne Women

Thirty women committed to giving $55 each month for four years to provide a Notre Dame Catholic education for one young woman from Our Lady of Grace Nativity School. Contact Beverley Dunn bdunn@ndsj.org or 408-294-1113 extension 2123.

Sister Circles

Alumnae interested in forming a circle to support a young woman with tuition assistance are encouraged to join together. This opportunity can be customized for each group.

Contact Monica Gomez '90 at mgomez@ndsj.org or 408-294-1113 extension 2153.

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NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION 596 S. 2nd Street San Jose, CA 95112 Address service requested

US POSTAGE PAID SAN JOSE, CA PERMIT NO. 499

ND18 WOI Invite Front.pdf 1 6/28/2018 11:21:18 AM

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You are cordially invited to the

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Friday, October 12, 2018 11:30AM - 1:30PM

2018 HONOREES: Teveia Barnes & Shirlee DiNapoli '46 Schiro

Purchase your tickets online today before the event sells out!

www.ndsj.org/WOI