Alumni Spotlight

Ryan Rossi 2003

Following four unbelievable years at Pope, I went on to receive both my bachelors and masters degrees from Florida Atlantic University in political studies. Several years later after a brief time in the classroom, I ran for local office, and am currently the executive director of the South Florida Water Coalition, a non-profit that advocates for the protection of our area’s water supply. In addition, I also practice real estate, and am an adjunct professor at Palm Beach State College — teaching, of course, American Government! Running for the Florida State House of Representatives for District 89 is probably the biggest highlight of my time since high school. Part of the reason I ran was to lend momentum to creating political space for the rising generations, and I believe we were successful in that effort. My fondest memory at Pope: Definitely winning my (crazy) election for senior class president. It gave me all of the campaign training I needed!

Ryan Haag 2018

I am currently still enrolled at the University of Florida and about to enter my junior year. I am a Chemistry major on the pre-med track. One of my favorite new hobbies I’ve picked up since I graduated has been playing the guitar. In my sophomore fall, I was looking for an easy one credit to class to fill out my schedule, and some buddies of mine convinced me to take an intro to guitar class with them. I ended up loving it and now have a great new hobby. My favorite memory at Pope was playing in the district playoffs for lacrosse my junior year. The semi-final game was at Boca High, and we ended up beating them by one goal that we scored in the last minute. There was an amazing crowd of students cheering us on, and it was the most fun game I played while I was at Pope.

Michael Cevallos 2009

Currently I am working as an RN in the Emergency Department for Memorial Healthcare system. While I did enjoy the journey to get here, (graduating with my Bachelors of Science in Biological Sciences 2015 and my Bachelors of Science in Nursing 2018), today the field is tumultuous with the COVID Pandemic. I’m hoping to return to school to become a Nurse Practitioner in either Family or Emergency Medicine. My passion is still Lacrosse. While I don’t play anymore, I try to help out when I can by coaching. I coached throughout college and am hoping once I get a little more settled in to my career, I can return to St.John Paul Academy, to coach once again. My favorite memory of high school: The 2009 lacrosse season. We had a lot of good wins, my personal favorite being defeating St. Thomas Aquinas. It was at their home field and the first time they agreed to play us. Apparently they didn’t believe we were up to their standards of opponent at the time. That was their mistake.

Rick Reyes 2013

After Pope, I attended Florida State where I graduated with a degree in business marketing in 2017. Following undergrad, I began law school in New Haven, Connecticut at Quinnipiac University School of Law. I recently graduated in May of 2020 and will begin my career as an associate for a firm in Boca Raton in August. If you’ve met me, you know that I am someone who loves the sound of his own voice, which is why I was thrilled to receive my law school’s award for best oral advocate this spring. I plan to use this skill not only to annoy others, but to excel in the courtroom in the near future. Favorite High School memory: My first “two-a-day” football practice in the summer entering my freshman year. I had never played before and after the fourth hit I was ready to go home that night and never come back. Luckily, the next morning, my father forced me into the car, drove me to the field, and I ended up playing the next four years, which were some of the greatest times I had at Pope.

Kevin Johnston 2013

I graduated St. Thomas University in Miami Gardens in 2017. I played basketball for the bobcats and received a Bachelors degree in Business Administration. After graduation, I took over ownership of my family commercial laundry business. A passion of mine has always been working with young children and teaching them about Jesus Christ. As a child I was involved in a organization called Awanas, which teaches and mentors young kids in Christian values. After graduating, I decided to give back and became a volunteer leader with Awanas. I also lead the sports activities with the organization as well. I may be older now and an instructor, but I’ll always be a kid at heart! I love to relate to the youth on a personal level. Basketball was my sport in high school. The memories made on our team were ones that I will never forget. My favorite memory was beating Cardinal Newman (our rival) my junior year! We were an underdog but handed them a pretty good loss!

Shawn Gildea 2017

Since HS, I have been continuing my education at Florida Atlantic University where I am currently seeking a Business degree in Economics. After I receive my Undergraduate degree I will be going for my MBA where I plan on furthering both my academic and athletic career. On top of continuing my education at Florida Atlantic I have also been very fortunate enough to be elected as the President of the Mens Club Lacrosse team, where I not only have been able to continue playing the game I fell in love with as a young freshman at Pope but also learn the importance of what it takes to successfully run an organization from top to bottom. My favorite memory from high school: Kairos!

Alena Costanian 2015

After I graduated from Pope, I decided to attend UCF (go Knights!) to pursue a degree in nursing. This past year I graduated with my bachelors in nursing, passed the NCLEX to get my registered nurse license, and got my dream job in the neonatal ICU at Winnie Palmer Hospital in Orlando. Last year I had the opportunity to travel to Paris and Barcelona for work. That was my first time going to Europe and now I can’t wait to go back ASAP! As a nurse, I’ve definitely been impacted by the COVID pandemic. Being on the front lines and experiencing my first year as a nurse during this time has been stressful but it’s also been an incredible learning experience.

Anthony Turco 2004

After graduating PJP I went to ASU to study Business. After college I came back to Florida to take the real estate business to the next level in Naples, FL. After being the number one agent year after year for Berkshire Hathaway I decided a to focus more on Luxury Real Estate and am now part of William Raveis/Christie’s International Real Estate and have continued to be one of the top agents every year. I met my wife Ashley back in 2011 and we married in 2012, we have a wonderful son Luca who was born in 2018 and a new baby boy joining us in July 2020. My work is my hobby, since taking over my Fathers business in Naples FL, I have been able to keep the legacy going being the top agent year after year since 2008 and have achieved I over $1.3 Billion in Real Estate Sales. My fondest memories at high school: The Kairos Retreat; definitely took me out of my shell and brought me closer to a lot of friends from PJP.

Marisa McKesey 2017

I will be heading into my 4th year at Georgia Tech studying Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. Currently, I’m involved in research working on transdermal patches to deliver MMR vaccines to individuals. I’m also involved in other therapeutic drug delivery research. This summer I’m interning at Merck in Vaccines Process R&D. A passion of mine is to learn about other cultures/history hence one of my favorite things to do is international travel, specifically Europe. At Tech I’ve been a Tower Awards recipient in addition to being a Provost Scholar and being on the Dean’s List. My fondest memories from high school: Track (qualifying for Districts), Prom, Halloween costumes, and so much more.

Christine DonFrancesco 2003

I graduated from The George Washington University with a degree in International Affairs, concentrating in International Development. After interning at the U.S. Department of State and working at the GAVI Alliance in Washington, DC, I returned to Boca Raton where I taught at Boca Raton High School for six years. During that time, I earned a Master’s degree in Educational Leadership & Administration from Lynn University and completed a fellowship with the U.S. House of Representatives’ Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission. I left Boca High in 2014 and went to work as a Legislative Aide in the Florida Senate. After that, I returned to Washington, DC to complete a Juris Doctor degree at the Catholic University Columbus School of Law. I recently passed the Florida Bar examination. I began working as a Senior Policy Analyst at the National Education Association three years ago while I was still in law school. Today, I continue to work at NEA and am proud to serve our 3 million members throughout the country as they advocate on behalf of students and work to promote racial and social justice in our schools. I started cheerleading at Pope John Paul II high school when I was just a freshman. The sport has given me so many opportunities and fun memories. I was one of the founding members of the competitive cheer team at the University of Florida and also cheered at GWU. I was lucky enough to coach a large cheer and dance program during my time at Boca High, which included over 100 student athletes. I have had a lot of opportunities to compete and coach at various levels all over the country, including all star and college cheer. I am still close with my own coach from Pope, Mayra Brandt, who owns a local cheerleading gym called Boca Extreme. I think my favorite memories were probably all little moments. Hanging out with my friends in homeroom before class. Seeing everyone at Friday night football games. I feel like the class above ours and the class of 2003 were really great. I had some really hard working, supportive teachers for whom I am so grateful. I feel like I would get in trouble if I didn’t mention the classes of 2002 and 2003 Powder Puff boys cheerleaders (The talent! The show stopping skills!). My experiences at Kairos were also really special and memorable.

Patrick Brower 2016

I have just graduated from the United States Naval Academy on 22 May 2020 with a degree in Engineering. When I graduated, I was commissioned into the Marine Corps as a Second Lieutenant and will be attending TBS (The Basic School) June 8th. I will attend flight school following this. I played club lacrosse at the Academy for four years and was lucky enough to spend two of those years playing with my younger brother Stephen Brower who also attends the Academy. Out of the many places that I’ve been lucky enough to travel to, one of my most favorite trips was over Christmas Break this year skiing in Whistler with my close friends from the Academy. I enjoyed playing lacrosse at Pope as well having the time to grow-up with many of the people that I still call my close friends today.

John Bernnardo 1986

I have been running a video production company in Boca Raton since 2004. This comes after about a decade in Los Angeles working in the film and television industry. I am proud to have Saint John Paul II as a client; my company films a lot of their sporting events as well as graduation each year. We just completed both a virtual graduation ceremony and a virtual Academic Awards ceremony. Outside of my business, I have just completed my first comedic novel. Before that, I produced and directed an award-winning feature documentary film and even created a mobile puzzle app for iPhone. I always try to remain creative and create new, engaging content. My greatest piece of work is the documentary film I created about $2 bills. It won some awards at film festivals and has a big following on a related YouTube channel. I spend $2 bills often, so if you see me coming into your store, expect you might get handed one! During high school I dealt with bone cancer my junior and senior years, but my best memory was the way my classmates rallied around me and encouraged me, culminating with a standing ovation at graduation. There is always an extra special place in my heart for the PJP Class of 1986.

Alexandre Botelho 2000

I work for Yum! Brands (Pizza Hut, KFC, Taco Bell) as an International Development Manager and live in the Dallas/TX area. I am married, with two kids (a girl, 5 and a boy, 1-yr-old). Love traveling, and get to do a lot of that for work!

Eric Heinlein 2016

I just graduated summa cum laude from FAU with a BBA in Management Information Systems. Went on an Alaskan cruise last summer with my family and got to ride with a dog sled team on top of a glacier. My favorite memory at Saint John Paul II Academy was giving my valedictorian speech at graduation.

Jessica Aquino 2010

of Science in Sports and Injury Biomechanics from Barry University in 2017. I graduated from the University of St. Augustine as a Doctor of Physical Therapy this past April.

Shea Ciarletta 2014

Saint John Paul II Academy is thrilled to announce that alumnus Shea Ciarletta has join the Administration Team as the Director of Institutional Advancement. Shea also is a part of the SJPII Campus Ministry team running Kairos.

Mariah Schumacher 2014

After I graduated from the University of Colorado, I moved back to South Florida. I am now working as a Marketing Specialist for a boat company in Fort Lauderdale. My new hobbies are yoga and kayaking. My fondest memory of high

I received my Bachelor’s of Science in Athletic Training from Nova Southeastern University in 2014. I worked as the head athletic trainer for Men’s and Women’s Track and Field at Florida International University. I received my Master’s school is Kairos.

I am engaged to be married in July of 2021.