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Note From the Head of School By Lauren Lek, Head of School
Dear Alumnae,
At the Academy of Our Lady of Peace, we are blessed to celebrate a long and rich tradition of educating young women for more than 133 years. As alumnae of OLP, I want to ensure that you continue to stay connected with all of the extraordinary things happening at your alma mater. I'd like to introduce you to our first edition of the OLP Connect[ed] Alumnae enewsletter. We'll be publishing this enewsletter quarterly to ensure you remained connected with each other, and the young women walking our halls today.
Many of you receive our OLP Magazine, and may have noticed this month's special feature, The Courage to Change the World, providing just a brief snapshot of how our OLP alums are making a difference in the world. You can read about one of those alums in this edition of the OLP Connect[ed] enewsletter. Rachel McKinney '04 was called to a life of service and found herself recently relocating to Africa to continue her work.
In this edition, we also share the graduation statistics on our most recent group of ladies who can now call themselves OLP alumnae! The 164 young women in the graduating Class of 2015 received 752 offers of admission and garnered more than $20.7 million in merit, scholarship and institutional college and university grant aid. These are some of the most highly sought after young women, attending some of the best schools in the country. They follow in the footsteps of the remarkable alumnae that have gone before them.
In addition to the variety of reunions coming up this year (see sidebar), we also have two events that are perfect for reconnecting with other alums. Our 2nd Annual Endless Summer event will be held Friday, Aug. 14, 2015 on North Terrace. Alums who joined us last year called it a beautiful evening to relax and reconnect with friends, new and old, under the setting sun on North Terrace. If you haven't been to campus lately, this is a perfect opportunity to join us for a bite to eat and a glass of wine or craft beer and see all of the upgrades we've recently made. Tickets are only $35 and can be purchased here. Don't miss this chance for a relaxing mini reunion with friends!
Our annual Golf Tournament will be held Oct. 12 at the exclusive San Diego Country Club. More details to follow shortly. Keep an eye on aolp.org for updates and ticket sales and join us for a round of golf.
Finally, keep in touch! Update your contact information in our online Alumnae Directory, send us your good news for inclusion in our Pilots Take Flight section of our OLP Magazine and reach out to us at any time to connect. We want to hear from you!
Peacefully Yours,
Lauren Lek
Head of School
Class of 2015 Graduation Statistics
The graduating Class of 2015, 164 students, received 752 offers of admission to 4-year institutions. This includes: three Ivy League schools (Cornell University, Yale, Penn State), Cal Tech, 2 Stanford, 9 Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, 5 UC Berkeley, 6 UCLA, 1 University of Southern California, 2 Colorado School of Mines, 2 University of Notre Dame, Georgetown, and the US Naval Academy.
The class of 2015 was offered $20,740,727 in merit, scholarship, and institutional grant aid. 109 of the 164 seniors, or 66% of the Senior class, received at least one scholarship offer.
This class also boasts 4 National Merit Scholars, 1 National Merit Finalist and 5 National Hispanic Merit Scholars. 19% of the Class of 2015 is the first in their family to attend college. 30% of the class plan to major in a STEM field of study.
You can read more about the accomplishments of the Class of 2015 in the Portrait of a Graduate here.
Way to go, Class of 2015!
Alum Shares Her Experience Interviewing Pope Francis
Katia Lopez-Hodoyan '98 has lived in Rome, Italy for the last four years working for ROME REPORTS TV News Agency. She covers news about the Church and the Pope for an international audience.
On June 6, 2015, Katia and about 60 other journalists flew with Pope Francis on the papal plane from Rome to Bosnia-Herzegovina to cover the international visit. Only Katia and two other journalists were lucky enough to ask questions directly to the Pope. In keeping with her CSJ-based education, which focuses on service to the "dear neighbor," Katia took her opportunity to ask the Pope about finding a balance between life and service to others and the time spent with technology.
"The Pope holds a press conference on board the flight, as the papal plane heads back to Rome," Katia said. "Journalists are divided into groups depending on their language. I was chosen to represent Spanish-speaking journalists on flight. My question dealt with an off the cuff speech he gave to hundreds of youths in Sarajevo. His speech focused on striking the right balance between life and the Internet."
POPE FRANCIS: There are two different things: the practice itself and the contents. As far as modalities, there is an element that can do harm to the soul and that is- being too attached to the computer. This harms the soul and takes away freedom; one becomes a slave of the computer. It's interesting that in many families, fathers and mothers tell me that when they're at table with the children, they are on the cellular phones and in another virtual world. It's true that virtual language is something we cannot ignore; it's progress for humanity. But when it takes us away from the family, from social life, from sport, from art, and we remain attached to it, then for sure it is a psychological illness.
Katia said it's a combination of excitement and nervousness to be in the presence of the Pope.
"I've had the chance to cover presidential audiences between the Pope and heads of state in the Vatican's papal office…still, it never gets old."
Even as she works in Rome covering news about the Church and the Pope, and throughout her successful career, Katia hasn't forgotten the skills she learned at OLP.
"I learned the importance of service at OLP. It's a theme Pope Francis reiterates constantly," Katia said. "Without a doubt, my speech class at OLP has helped me tremendously throughout my career. To this day, I still stop myself whenever I feel the urge to say umm,' like,' or you know' in my TV reports. The Catholic education I received at OLP was instrumental in being where I am today."
Rachel McKinney '04 is Changing the World Through Management of an Organic Urban Farmers Food Project in Africa
I am currently living out my dream job for Abalimi Bezekhaya (Farmers of Home) as the Marketing and Sales Director for our project called Harvest of Hope. I represent 100 farmers going to market with beautiful, organically grown vegetables they have grown in townships around Cape Town, South Africa.
I do everything from sales, logistics, deliveries, marketing, designing a new website, documenting stories of our farmers, helping harvest, and meeting with funders. I help get the word out on what our amazing farmers and team are able to accomplish in the most extreme conditions. I also work to promote food security and nutrition around organically grown food in townships and the Cape Town area. Every week we harvest and deliver vegetables to over 400 customers. We also have restaurants, cafes, hotels, juice companies, and others that choose to purchase from our farmers. We like to say that as an organization "we grow farmers" and our farmers are the ones growing the vegetables. Our project is one of a kind and it is truly an honor to be a part of it.
Two years ago I took myself on a service trip to South Africa (something I loved doing through OLP, and later LMU as well). I heard about this organization through a newsletter and decided to go on a tour. It was a particularly ordinary day, but I was awestruck by the passion and commitment of everyone to fight food insecurity in South Africa at a grassroots level. In particular I learned about Harvest of Hope, the selling of the surplus vegetables. Right then it became a goal to get to work on the marketing and sales side of this amazing project. When you hear marketing you don't always think mission work but this is marketing that can impact a farmer's livelihood, thus changing their life. In fact, their dedication to their families through farming fuels my energy for the 7-day/week job.
I moved to Cape Town, South Africa in January and started working the following day. I have found everyone welcoming and hospitable. Our go-go's (older farmer grannies) have welcomed me in like family and I'm attending networking events and driving veggie deliveries all over town meeting wonderful people (on the other side of the road)! I'm learning so much and loving the new culture.
You'll know when God calls you to go somewhere or do something, because your heart will grow and stretch and break and then grow all over again. You will be doing something meaningful and enjoying it as well, which in and of itself is a nod to the foundation given me through my OLP education.
First, my love of service was something OLP really developed in me. Sister Joyce always taught us to be women of peace, and she continues to be my role model. When I am with our farmers, I try to channel the peace and joy she gave freely. When I'm having a particularly challenging day I think about her and ask her for guidance, courage, and energy.
Read More
Rachel Cotton '10 Pursues Her Ph.D. at Harvard Medical School
My educational career has really taken off thanks in part to my experience at OLP. The academic rigor at OLP in Math and Science (Thanks Mrs. Lazar and Mr. Rauch!) gave me the opportunity to push myself and taught me valuable time-management skills – but also the ability to crank out a 15-page paper the day of the deadline when necessary! I was on Varsity Cheer 2006-2010, and was Head Captain with Leah Crane '10 and Maria Gilbert '10 our senior year. Cheer left me with some of my best life-long friends, the confidence to lead, and the drive to seek out a challenge!
As part of OLP's Service Learning requirement, I volunteered in the Burn Unit at UCSD, and became interested in how our skin handles injury and infection. That summer I did an internship at the La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology. I enjoyed it so much, I decided to pursue a career in biomedical research. I'm currently living in Boston where I'm working on my Ph.D. in Immunology at Harvard Medical School. I study how the immune system "sees" lipids in our skin. I hope to stay in biomedical research and academia – maybe as a dean or provost at a university someday.
I graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 2014 with a degree in Biological Sciences. I was the Editor-in-Chief of Notre Dame's undergraduate research journal, Scientia, and chaired the Biology Department Senior Leadership Committee (OLP Alumnae made up up 30 percent of the committee at one point when Chilinh Nguyen '09 and Erin Boyle '09 were also at Notre Dame). I did research on the immunology of tropical diseases like malaria and lymphatic filariasis at the Eck Institute for Global Health, Washington University in St. Louis, and the National Institutes of Health near Washington, D.C. I've since published four papers in peer-reviewed journals from that work.
In 2013 I created and led a new Science Policy Ethics course for Notre Dame, which takes 15 students to Washington, D.C. to explore the intersections of government funding, policy, and scientific research through the framework of Catholic Social Teaching. I now lead a similar Washington, D.C. trip for Harvard, as President of Harvard's Graduate Science Policy Group.
Your Amazon Purchases Can Benefit OLP with AmazonSmile
The Institutional Advancement Department worked with Amazon to ensure OLP was recognized as an eligible nonprofit organization to receive contributions through their AmazonSmile program. We now need your help to get the most out of this program.
The AmazonSmile Foundation will donate 0.5% of the purchase price from your eligible AmazonSmile purchases directly back to the school.
- Using your regular Amazon count, simply visit smile.amazon.com from the web browser on your computer or mobile device.
You may also want to add a bookmark to smile.amazon.com to make it even easier to return and start your shopping at AmazonSmile.
- On your first visit to AmazonSmile, you need to select a Academy of Our Lady of Peace to receive donations from eligible purchases before you begin shopping. Ensure you select the Academy of Our Lady of Peace in San Diego and not New Jersey.
Amazon will remember your selection, and then every eligible purchase you make at smile.amazon.com will result in a donation.
- That's it! Just remember to visit smile.amazon.com every time you make a purchase through Amazon to ensure a donation is made to OLP.
Please help support OLP by making this simple change before your next Amazon purchase. Thank you for your partnership!
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