“The will of God be done in this and everything we undertake.”
BLESSED EDMUND RICE
Founder of the Christian Brothers 1762-1844
MISSION
Palma School is dedicated to providing an excellent college preparatory education in a Roman Catholic environment that embraces the Essential Elements of an Edmund Rice Christian Brother Education and challenges each individual to develop spiritually, intellectually, morally, physically, and socially.
ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS OF AN EDMUND RICE
CHRISTIAN BROTHER EDUCATION
I Evangelize youth within the mission of the church.
II Proclaim and witness to Catholic identity.
II Stand in solidarity with those marginalized by poverty and injustice.
IV Foster and invigorate a community of faith.
V Celebrate the value and dignity of each person and nurture the development of the whole person.
VI Collaborate and share responsibility for the mission.
Congratulations to these graduates who had the highest grade point averages in the class of 2024.
Nicolas Veliz IV University of Notre Dame
Thomas Ducker Cornell University
Nicholas Bengard Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
Anmol Ghuman UCLA
Jaden Soliz San Diego State University
Timothy Youssef UC Berkeley
Jaideep Nahal
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
Tyler Cina UC Berkeley
Aaron Braasch Hartnell College
Isaac Kelly San Jose State University
Dear Palma Family
In 1951, a little two-wing school was opened at 919 Iverson Street to serve as a continuation of Catholic education for students along the Central Coast, grades 7-12. That little school has grown beyond those two wings to become an icon in the Salinas Valley known for its academics, faith-filled education, and excelling at all things extra-curricular. Over these past 73 years, Palma has grown through many different iterations of its student body. It’s a junior high school that now includes the sixth grade and, as of August 2024, a high school that has transitioned back to its co-ed beginnings — open to all young men and women in our area.
The campus is alive with an exhaustive amount of work done to the school. Young men and women are traveling the halls together for classes, a House system has been implemented to grow leadership possibilities for all students, and the cheers of “Palma” can be heard from the young women who now call themselves Chieftains. It’s an incredible time here at Palma as we transition once again to the decades to come, filled with excitement and hope for the future.
This publication showcases these changes over the past year and highlights and thanks the many people who helped make this a reality for our students. I will forever be appreciative and thankful to be an employee here and to see this miracle happen firsthand. Go Chieftains.
Chris Dalman ’88
President
Fiscal Year 2023-24 Giving
We are proud to report another year of strong support from our donors whose contributions help us fulfill our mission of forming students in the Palma tradition.
The Palma Fund 2023-24 Overview
For decades, the incredible Palma community and its benefactors have been charged with bridging the gap between tuition and what it actually costs to education a student. From academic support, spiritual engagement, technology, plant maintenance, and operation expenses, the Palma Fund supports it all. But perhaps more importantly, the Palma Fund assures that every student has the opportunity to experience all that Palma School has to offer. By Constituency*
Impact of Giving Events
Giving Tuesday
GIving Tuesday is a global generosity movement unleashing the power of people and organizations to transform their communities and the world. All Giving Tuesday donations go to Tuition Assistance.
88 gifts totaled $25,089
Peer-to-Peer
Members of Palma athletic teams go directly to family members and friends for support. Peer-to-Peer giving allows those closest to the student-athlete to participate in their success.
Chieftain Giving Day
Chieftain Giving Day is an event held on Founder’s Day each year. The Palma community generously helps provide the funds necessary for every student to fully experience a Palma education.
579 gifts totaled $106,363
126 gifts totaled $50,039
Supporters Impact Campus Life
A Long Tradition of Support
The generosity of the Palma family is the driving force behind each successful year. Monthly and annual support may not get the same fanfare as a large, single gift, but their impact is just as great. Revenue generated through annual campaigns and recurring gifts maintain the daily operation of Palma. Donations made to Palma athletics secure each season of competition. Your support enables Palma to be fiscally responsible which allows the school to provide unique opportunities that elevate students and enrich families. It’s a long tradition of success.
Inaugural “Salad Bowl” Game
Tommy Nunes ’95 and Mark Rodriguez expanded Palma’s horizons by drumming up support and raising the funds to create the “Salad Bowl,” a football game between the Chieftains and Yuma Catholic Shamrocks. Yuma Catholic is an Arizona state high school football juggernaut. “It’s a good matchup — both programs having had several D1 prospects and players in the NFL,” commented Varsity Head Coach Jeff Carnazzo ’85.
Money was raised to fund two games — the first here in 2023 and the second on September 13, 2024 in Yuma.
Palma Receives a $2.5 Million Gift from the Edward M. Dowd Foundation
The generous gift from the Edward M. Dowd Foundation is the largest single gift in Palma’s history. It provides funding to remodel the gym and update Palma School’s entrance
Ed Dowd graduated from Palma High School in 1963. He served in the US Air Force, earned his BS from Santa Clara University, and built a successful career in real estate investment. Mr. Dowd has funded several projects at Santa Clara University and Natividad Hospital.
“We are thrilled to receive this gift at this pivotal moment in our history. The renovated gym will serve all of our students through physical education, fine and performing arts programs, and daily student life. It will be an improvement benefiting the entire Palma community,” said Chris Dalman ’88, Palma’s president.
Ed Dowd ’63
Stories of Impact
Chris Buich ’00 Scholarship
I have a distinct memory of relief when I left small-town Salinas for UCSB, believing I would be in a brave, new world full of highly intelligent people — folks with similar values to mine. What a crash to Earth I felt when I discovered instead, there were simply more people representing many more life experiences than back home. It wasn’t some utopian paradise for the mind, it was a hodgepodge of kids from all over knowing as little about life as I did. Over the course of my first year, something surfaced for me that had yet to be impactful up to this point.
See, I left my home school to come to Palma and never fully appreciated the opportunity until after the fact. I ended up very much loving my experience, but it took some time, and there was always a bit of “what if” for me. The books we read at Palma, the structure we followed, and the competition that flowed from the field into the classroom was preparing me for success in the next system. Although I felt frustration around others not having been exposed to all the “basics” I expected, so too, did my greater understanding begin to grow.
Access to curriculum, structure, and support are key ingredients for young people’s success. Not only did Palma provides these in spades, I now know that it’s quite rare that kids have access to what I grew up thinking was baseline. I was lucky enough to have this in school and at home and I retrospectively understand this to be my superpower.
I owe much of my successes to my beginnings and Palma is a place that will always be like home.
I have an office on East Alisal now and it immediately blew my mind how the Palma connection touches that side of town. If only more kids from working-class backgrounds had access to the privilege I enjoyed! If I could provide that access to everyone, I certainly would; but instead of dreaming about something I cannot affect, I acted on something that I felt I could. Bridging the access gap for young people who may not have had it otherwise feels a worthy cause and I am committed to it.
“Earning this scholarship is such a great blessing for my family and me as it reduces the tuition paid by my parents. This scholarship will help me get into an excellent college and pursue my dream career. I want to achieve this dream because I aspire to be a role model for my siblings and inspire them to achieve greater success.”
Yazmin Alvarado Ramirez ‘28
I am so blessed to have this opportunity, thank you.
“This scholarship has helped my family out a lot. It’s a huge help for my education and school stuff.”
