The Baccalaureate Mass was lovely Monday night.  It was held in the Garces quad under white bistro lights with several local priests helping Msgr. Perry Kavookjian celebrate Mass. A big Garces thank you to Michelle Pisano, Kolleen Alexander, and Lisa Andrew who set up the reception table and decorated the quad with flowers, luminaries, and candles.  Our campus looked beautiful thanks to their hard work and generous spirit. 

Congratulations to our Salutatorian, Kyra Sales, and our Valedictorian, Anastasia Drulias!  At our graduation ceremony, only two students have the honor of speaking to their classmates, parents, faculty members, and everyone else in the audience. As the salutatorian, Kyra gave the invocation and it was heartfelt and beautifully done.  Anastasia had the privilege of speaking for the entire class and she gave a personal, thoughtful, humorous, and lovely speech that truly captured the heart of the Class of 2017, also known as the "backbone".  Both young ladies clearly loved their years at Garces and it was reflected in their words and in their demeanor.  Great job Rams!  

The Bishop's Awards are presented to the graduating male and female who in the judgment of their classmates best represent those characteristics for which Garces Memorial stands and who most closely manifest Christ's teachings in their own lives.

The Jim Burke Leadership Award is given to the senior who has been most distinguished as a leader both academically and in extra-curricular activities.

The Garces Award is Garces Memorial's highest award and is given to a senior who, in addition to general excellence, most nearly personifies the Christian ideals embodied by the patron of our school, Father Francisco Garces.

Congratulations to Scott Boylan! Nominations for The Jim Tyack Award have been narrowed down and Scott is one of five young men who are finalists for the top athlete in Kern County. Scott has lettered in Boys Golf, Football, and Track. Scott was a two way starter on the Rams football team this year. He was the Hometown Sports Scholar Athlete of the Year and KERO TV's Carl's Junior Student Athlete of the Week.  He was honored by the Jockey Club as an Outstanding Athlete and was the GMHS Football Scholar Athlete of the Year. He is rankled #3 in the valley in the 100M and recently won the CIF CS South Area Meet in the 100m dash.  Last year, Scott was a member of the 4 X 100 Relay Team who set, and currently hold, the school record. Last year Scott was also the Varsity Track Scholar Athlete of the Year and the Varsity Boys Golf Scholar Athlete of the Year. He was the senior class president, CSF, National Honor Society, Link Crew member, and a school ambassador.  Scott was a member of the Bakersfield Chamber of Commerce Youth Leadership Team and served as an Eucharistic Minister and Altar Server during Masses at Garces. The Jim Tyack Award winner will be announced at a luncheon at Hodel's on Monday, May 22nd. 

Congratulations to Scott on also being one of six finalists for the 2017 Mayor's Award.  The Mayor's Trophy is awarded to the top scholar-athlete in the city.  

Congratulations to Anastasia Drulias on being a finalist for The Jim Tyack Award. She is one of five young women who are being considered for the honor of being the top female athlete in Kern County. Anastasia is a two time valley champion in Girls Tennis. Her freshman year, she was the CIF CS Girls Tennis Singles Valley Champion. This year, along with her sister Alexsia, she was the CIF CS Girls Tennis Doubles Valley Champion.  She and her sister were named the All Area Doubles Team of the Year. She was honored as an Outstanding Athlete by the Bakersfield Jockey Club and was named KERO TV's Carl Junior's Player of the Week.  She helped to lead her team to the SWYL league championship and to the Lewis Cup Championship.  Her freshman year she helped her team to win the SEYL league championship and was named the All Area Player of the Year. She was the class vice-president and president of the Interact Club.  She was a core officer and member of CSF. She also was a core Link Crew member.  She graduated first in her class and was the Valedictorian for the Class of 2017.  The Jim Tyack Award winner will be announced at a luncheon at Hodel's on Monday, May 22nd. 

Below is the last of the list of award and scholarship winners from the Class of 2017.  If we accidentally omitted any awards - please let us know and we will publish the award next week.  Congratulations again to all of our outstanding graduates! 

U. S. Marine Corps Honor Award - Musical Excellence
Ethan Greenleaf

U.S. Marine Corps Honor Award - Scholastic Excellence
Kyra Sales

U.S. Marine Coprs Honor Award - Distinguished Athletes
Brandon Villalobos & Blaire Williams

Budd Ray Memorial Scholarship
Brandon Villalobos

Congressman Kevin McCarthy Merit Award
Patrick Burke

Ford Dimension Scholarship
Kyra Sales

Dream Builders Scholarship
John Abrams & Thomas Toretta

Student Leaders in Life 
Jay Clerou

Joe Alexander Scholarship/East Bakersfield Rotary Scholarship
Megan Puget

Edith & Domenick Bianco Family Scholarship
Abigail Campbell

Vincent & Jane DiGiorgio Memorial Scholarship
Mathew Renzi

Carl & Barbara Fanucchi Family Scholarship
Esperanza Rivera & Joshua Gonzalez

George Valos Scholarship
Jamie Penner

Reis Memorial Scholarships
Jessica Taylor, Zachary Turley, & William Cross

Harvey Hall Ambulance Medical Scholarship
Ali McCullum

Italian Catholic Federation Scholarship
Antone Fanucchi & Mathew Renzi

OLPH Alumni Scholarship
Ali McCullum

Lou Koelzer Memorial Scholarship
Megan Puget & JohnPaul Sakowski

Cindy Meek St. Francis Parish School Scholarship
Scott Boylan

Arnold Kirschenmann Memorial Scholarship
Allie Crawley, Megan Nagel & Scott Boylan

Congratulations to Eric Klang, Lee Begin, Chance Miller and Cael Osborn!  At the CIF CS Valley Meet on Saturday, the boys set a new school record in the 4 X 100 relay! The new record stands at 3:14.60.  

The boys earned 5th place medals in the relay race at Valley. Congrats Rams! 

Congratulations to Will and Sydney who have been selected to attend the Youth Citizenship Seminar at Pepperdine University this summer.  Each year, approximately 1,200 YCS applications are received from public and independent high schools throughout Southern California - 250 students, from high schools on the list, are selected, representing a wide variety of strengths in the fields of scholastic, athletic, musical and theatrical accomplishments. The requirements were: current high school Junior, must be nominated by a school advisor on the basis of their character and leadership potential, and must embody a unique desire to make a personal contribution to America's future. 

Congratulations to our swim team on their great showing at the CIF CS D1 Valley Swim Meet. The boys finished 5th overall, placing higher than any other team in Kern County.  The girls finished 10th out of 14 teams. Back: Coach Mark Brown, Evan Berry, Mason Smith, Chance Miller, Ken Russo, John Starkey, Lee Begin, & Greg Marquez. Middle: Jana Dulcich, Jay Clerou, Lauren Burson, Eleni Zaninovich, Cael Osborn, Eric Klang & Coach Jessica Pavletich. Front: Kim Mielke, Laura Gonzalez, & Sophie Bouldoukian. Great job Rams!

Mark "Brownie" Brown and Susan Walker were honored at the Msgr. Leddy Golf Classic dinner on Thursday May 11th.  The tradition of awarding the "Man of the Year" and recently "Woman of the Year" honors started with the Msgr. Leddy Golf Tournament 44 years ago. It is given to an individual or individuals who are strong advocates for our school and who have made notable contributions of time, talent and resources to Garces for our students. Both Mr. Brown and Coach Walker bleed Garces green! Mark has been a long time faculty member, parent of two Garces graduates, coach, and the "Voice of the Rams" season after season for Garces football.  Coach Walker, a long time cross country coach, parent of two Garces graduates, and all around great supporter, "walks the walk", or in her case "runs the run", when it comes to coaching her student athletes.  Susan can be seen encouraging her runners on their daily training sessions by running along side them stride for stride.  Thank you both for your commitment to our students. 

Thank you to everyone who supported this year's Msgr. Leddy Golf Classic, either through your sponsorship or participation.  We had a great representation of alumni, parents, and community supporters on the course at Bakersfield Country Club.  A special thank you to our tournament Co-Chairs, John Hatten and Tom Ming and their hard working committee:

Bryan Briscoe

Jamie Carlson

John Trichell

Congratulations to our top teams from this year's Msgr. Leddy Golf Classic:

1st Place Gross: Team Double Eagle Produce and Transportation Paul Guerra, Bhavik Patel, Chuck Simmons, Eric D'Amato

 

1st Place Net Stuart Tatsuno, Sam Rodriguez, Armando Robles, Carlos Papion

 

 

2nd Place Net: Team Mercedes Benz of Bakersfield Tom Bridges, Hassan Halevy, Beau Redstone, Cambell Cameron

   

3rd Place Net: Team Thompson Tank Brandon Bond, DJ Fernando, Josh Thompson, Drew Johns

Below is the next set of poems written by the Class of 2018 during their sophomore year.