Thank you to everyone who donated items to our Canned Food Drive.  This year we collected over 9,000 non-perishable items for the pantry at the St. Vincent de Paul Center. The food collected at Garces will help them to feed the needy in our community for up to six months. 

Congratulations to Jack Minor!  Jack scored an impressive 35 on the ACT exam.  A perfect score is 36.  Mind you - Jack didn't start with a 35, but after visiting some Ivy League schools over the summer, he decided he wanted to improve his ACT score.  He was determined to give himself the opportunity to go to an Ivy League school, so he took a practice test every night, spent a couple of Saturday's taking a full test, and then re-took the test in September. He had a 30 going in, and through hard work and determination, he improved his score to 35.  His dream is to either attend Harvard and study economics or University of Penn to study finance.  It's great to see hard work pay off!  

Congratulations to our football players who were named to the Hometown Sports All-Star Team. They were recognized by Greg Kerr and John Doss as some of the best football players in Kern County for their positions along with players from other high schools in Kern County.  It is quite an honor to be chosen. Garces Rams in the back row are Brandon Villalobos, Chris Coleman, Joseph Tobias, Conor Bruce, Sean Hatten and Cameron Roberson.  Scott Boylan and Jack Tobias are in front.  Not pictured but also selected - Isaiah Martin and Coach A.J. Gass.  Coach Gass was selected at Co-Coach of the Year.  Congratulations to our Ram All-Stars! 

Garces Ag students attended Fresno State's Ag One luncheon on Thursday. The luncheon was held at Sunview Vineyards.  There were several Garces alumni in attendance and they were happy to see our Rams at the event.  

Pictured are Dominic Fanucchi '18, Carl Fanucchi '60, Barbara (Oscars) Fanucchi '61, Joseph Tobias '17, and Nick Goyeneche '17. 

Congratulations to Jeremiah "J.J." Johnson on being Hometown Sport's "Hitman of the Week" for a play during the El Diamante game on November 18th. 

You can check out JJ's big hit on the link below:

Hit of the Week - Jeremiah Johnson

Congratulations to Cam Roberson who was nominated for Defensive Player of the Week by Central Valley Football for his game play against El Diamante.  Cam placed 2nd, but was the first place finisher against the other Kern County nominees. 

Congratulations to Isaiah Martin who was nominated for Offensive Player of the Week by Central Valley Football for his game play against El Diamante.  While Isaiah did not win, he was the first place finisher among the other Kern County nominees. 

Finals will be here before we know it!  The final schedule for the fall semester is listed below:

Monday, December 19th: 

Period 1: 8:00 AM - 9:30 AM

Period 3: 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM

Tuesday, December 20th:

Period 2: 8:00 AM - 9:30 AM

Period 4: 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM

Wednesday, December 21st

Period 5: 8:00 AM - 9:30 AM

Period 7: 8:00 AM - 9:30 AM

Thursday, December 22nd

Period 6: 8:00 AM - 9:30 AM 

Monday through Wednesday, there will be a 30 minute break between finals.  The cafeteria will be open for breakfast and students will be dismissed at 11:30 AM.  On Thursday, students are dismissed at 9:30 AM. If your student needs to make arrangements for an early final, please have your student see Mrs. Debra Sakowski, Assistant Principal for Academic Affairs. 

Is your daughter in one of our dance classes?  If so, you are invited to come watch her perform for her during finals week. Dance performances are the final exam for each dance class. Students will be dancing during periods 2 and 4 during final exams week. 

Period 2 Final - Tuesday, December 20th from 8:00 AM - 9:30 AM 

Period 4 Final - Tuesday, December 20 from 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM

Tuesday night, Garces theology teachers Mr. Tim Gordon and Mr. Chris Plance will debate Mr. Steven Bates & Mr. Nick Miranda about the existence of God.  The debate will be in MLH and they are expecting a full house!  The debate will begin at 6:00 PM and end at 8:15 PM.  Please join us for a lively discussion between two devout Catholics and two atheists as they debate about the proof of God's existence. 

The Garces Parent Club will meet on Wednesday, December 7th in the chapel. We will have refreshments from 5:30 - 6:00 PM.  

At 6:00 PM we will begin our meeting with a quick overview of the Christmas Mass and some information about next month's special guest speaker, Fr. Nathan Cromly.   Then we have special guest speaker Garces Rector, Msgr. Perry Kavookjian.  He will speak about celebrating Advent and Christmas in your home. 

The meeting is open to all Garces parents.

Please join us for a very special Mass to celebrate the birth of our Savior on Wednesday, December 14th at 6:30 PM.  The Campus Ministry Class, in conjunction with the Garces Parent Club, has planned a beautiful outdoor Mass for the entire Garces community.  After Mass, there will be a reception in MLH with cookies and hot cocoa and, if we are lucky, Santa will make an appearance!  

On Thursday, December 15th, the Garces Band will perform their annual Christmas Concert in MLH.  The performance begins at 7:00 PM.  They will be performing an array of Christmas music guaranteed to put you in a festive mood!  The students have put in countless hours preparing for an inspirational evening and will truly appreciate a great audience. Please come out and support them. The concert will be led by Garces music teacher and conductor Mr. Scott Smith.

Garces Memorial will collect toys for needy children from December 5th - 16th.  Please send unwrapped toys with your student.  Toys will be collected in Homeroom and in the office.  We are looking especially for gifts appropriate for older children to supplement the Interact Club's CASA Christmas Project. CASA serves a number of at-risk children in our community. During the holidays, CASA receives plenty of gift items for the younger children in their program, but the gifts for older children are limited. It would be lovely to have plenty of gifts for children ages 13-17. If you aren't sure what to purchase, you can send a gift card and the Interact students will combine the gift cards and purchase appropriate items. 

The unwrapped toys collected at Garces will be given to:

• CASA of Kern County
• Catholic Charities
• Ming Family's Holiday 5K Fun Run benefitting The Bakersfield Homeless Center