Welcome to the forty-sixth edition of the
Panther Press,
a biweekly electronic newsletter sent to families and friends of 
San Joaquin Memorial High School.
In this Issue
Past Events:
  • National History Honors Society Students
  • SJM Culture of Life Club
  • S Club Service Project
  • Beautify Fresno Club Service Day
  • Joseph "JoJo" Hunter
  • Successful Catholic Schools Week
  • MEM Gala (Winter formal)
  • Italian Club visits Veterans Affairs Hospital
Upcoming Events:
  • Class of 2025 Service Retreat (Feb. 12, 2022)
  • SJM Spring Open House (Feb. 14, 2022)
  • Crab Feed (Feb. 26, 2022)
  • St. Patrick's Day Golf Tournament (March 14, 2022)
Announcements:
  • Kairos Retreat Registration is Now Open
  • Order Your Yearbook and Yearbook Ads
Past Events
National History Honors Society visits the de Young Museum in San Francisco, Ca
On November 20th, 47 members of the National History Honors Society (NHHS) traveled to San
Francisco to visit the M. H. de Young Museum in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park for its fall field trip.

This was the first in-person field trip since the club attended the Michelangelo exhibit at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles in February of 2020. (During the 2020-2021 school year, members attended two virtual field trips to Renaissance Italy and Colonial America.)

While the de Young Museum contains art pieces from Africa, Oceana, Asia, and Europe, it specializes in Art of the Americas. It is best known for its extensive survey of the history of American art forms and movements, consisting of over 1,000 paintings, 800 sculptures, and 3,000 decorative arts objects. While the de Young contains famous paintings from both the Hudson River and Ashcan Schools of American Art, it also contains famous artwork of the Impressionist and Surrealist art movements of the last 150 years.

Paintings by Thomas Cole and Grant Wood are featured; among the more famous paintings at the de Young are Grant Wood’s “American Gothic” and the famous (and historically inaccurate) painting of “The Last Moments of John Brown.” Also at the museum was a showing of the well-known and pioneering feminist painter Judy Chicago.

NHHS’s spring field trip in March will visit the California Gold Rush towns of Jamestown, Columbia, Sonora, and Angels Camp.
West Coast Walk for Life

On Saturday, January 22, students from the San Joaquin Memorial Culture of Life Club attended the West Coast Walk for Life in San Francisco. During the initial rally in Civic Center Plaza the crowd of 15,000 pro-life advocates heard speeches from Fr. Mark Mary, of the Franciscan Missionaries of the Eternal Word, and Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, who received the St. Gianna Molla Award for Pro-life Heroism. The crowd then walked the 1.8 miles with their pro-life signs, songs and prayers to Embarcadero Plaza.
S Club Service Project for Poverello House

A couple of weeks ago students from our S Club donated handmade blankets to Poverello House, a private, nonprofit, nondenominational organization that serves the hungry, the homeless, and the destitute of Fresno, California.

The purpose of S Club members is for students to volunteer time toward different services to promote citizenship toward the school and community, while fostering team spirit and camaraderie on campus.

The blanket-making initiative was led by S Club President Sasha Richburg. The blankets that were handmade were delivered to Poverello House during Catholic Schools Week. In addition, S Club members regularly serve meals to clients at Poverello House.

Thank you S Clubbers for your giving spirit and for leading the way and showing everyone how together we can build a better and inclusive Fresno community.
Beautify Fresno Club Participated in the first Fresno Youth Service Day

Last November the Beautify Fresno Club has their first event. During the event youth from different schools worked together to pick up trash around their school campuses.

Together they picked up 7,130 lbs. of garbage throughout the city in a couple hours. SJM is the first high school in the county to establish this club. It was the idea of SJM students Matthew Mon Pere, Abigail Mon Pere, and Jack Smittcamp.

They met multiple times with Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer and his staff, then worked hard to establish the club here on campus, recruiting students and planning our events. During our first event, we were included in the Mayor's press conference, and successfully completed a clean-up in the neighborhood around SJM. We had 22 students collecting 25 bags of trash. Our next project later this month will be graffiti removal, and our final event in April will be tree planting.
National Catholic Schools Week & Winter Formal

San Joaquin Memorial High School celebrated National Catholic Schools
Week (#CSW22) with a series of events themed consistently with the national recommendations. CSW took place from January 31st - February 4th.

Themes included celebrations of community, nation and family and were the emphasis for every activity that was open to the SJM community.

Students chose the theme "SJM building an inclusive community" to be the motto for the week. The purpose of CSW is to focus on the value that a Catholic education brings to its youth and how it positively impacts the community.

To wrap up an eventful week SJM had a Catholic Schools Week BBQ on Friday. We thank our Parent Guild and our Booster Club for sponsoring our BBQ Lunch. We also thank all of our parent volunteers who helped out that week to organize the different events for students.

In addition, our Journalism students from the Red and Blue News put together a fun segment that highlighted CSW and SJM's Winter formal (MEM Gala) which was held on February 5th at The Grand 1401.

To take a look at the KSJM fun recap of CSW and Winter formal feel free to watch the following Youtube link: KSJM with Madison and Jacob
Joseph "JoJo" Hunter breaks single game scoring record at SJM
Our Senior Joseph "JoJo" Hunter broke the school's single-game scoring record held by Roscoe Pondexter since 1971. Pondexter had 52 points and Hunter finished with 54 points on Feb. 3 in a win against Madera South.

As of Feb. 7, Hunter is 161 points away from breaking Houston Rockets' Jalen Green's all-time career points record at SJM.

"Congratulations Joseph for breaking my single game scoring record which represents your love and dedication for our game of basketball. May God blessings enable you to have many more record breaking games. Continue making your family and SJM family proud, which goes far beyond basketball," said Roscoe Pondexter when asked to comment on Hunter's recent single game scoring record.
Joseph Hunter
Roscoe Pondexter, Class of 1971
Italian Club visits Veteran's Affairs Hospital
The Italian Club on campus made 50 Valentine's Day cards for patients at Veterans Affairs Hospital in Fresno, CA. About 10 students worked on this special service project. The cards were delivered to patients the afternoon of Friday, February 4, 2022.

The club has close to 60 members and is moderated by Meriam Brillante, our Italian Teacher on campus.
Upcoming Events
Class of 2025 Service Retreat
A Requirement of the Service Capstone Program 
The first Service Capstone project will be held on Saturday, February 12th, 8:30am to 1:00pm at San Joaquin Memorial High School. The Class of 2025 will serve their community through beautification projects on and off campus; earning 3 hours of general service to credit their service education requirement for this school year. The retreat portion of the day will be led by the Campus Ministry Team.

Need Parent Volunteer Hours?
Freshman Service Retreat is looking for 8 volunteers. Parent Volunteers are needed on February 12th to help organize and plan lunch for the class and to serve at the beautification projects. All time counts towards parent hours. If you are interested, please contact Mrs. Veronica Cortez at sjmservice@sjmhs.org or 559-268-9251 x105. 
SJM Spring Open House on Feb. 14
During our Spring Open House you will have the opportunity to talk with students, faculty and staff about all the different service learning programs, retreats, athletics and activities you'll find at Memorial.

We are proud to offer students a diverse and challenging curriculum. Our teachers and staff inspire students to achieve academic excellence and deep spiritual growth by embedding the values and practices of the Catholic faith.

Register for our Facebook event here.
Crab Feed 2022
Join us for our Annual San Joaquin Memorial High School Boosters CRAB FEED, benefitting student athletes! It will take place on Saturday, February 26, 2022.

We are in urgent need of parent volunteers at this time and for the day of the event.

For sponsorship opportunities, please contact Shirley Boujikian at (559) 475-5831 or email sboujikian@sjmhs.org.

Register for our Facebook event here.
St. Patrick's Day Golf Tournament
Join us for our 76th Annual St. Patrick's Day Golf Tournament benefitting San Joaquin Memorial High School on Monday March 14, 2022!

TIME: 8:00 AM - 8:00 PM!

Lunch begins at 10:30 a.m.

Send your reservation to Shirley Boujikian at (559) 475-5831 or at sboujikian@sjmhs.org by March 4, 2022. 

Register for our Facebook event here.
Announcements
The Kairos Retreat is back and Registration is Now Open

Kairos Returns to SJM - Register Your Student Today!
We are happy to announce that the Kairos retreat is being offered twice this semester and is open to Juniors and Seniors. Registration is now open and closes on February 18th. The dates for the retreats are March 15th-18th and April 12th-15th. This retreat fills on a first-come first-serve basis and space is limited so complete the registration packet and turn it in at the North Administration Building. 

SJM's Adoration Team is Looking for Volunteers
Every Thursday Eucharstic Adoration is hosted in Holy Cross Hall Chapel and more volunteers are needed to expand chapel hours. Volunteers can be parents/grandparents of current students, Alumni, former parents/grandparents, or community supporters of SJM. Please consider growing this beautiful and needed time of prayer before the Blessed Sacrament for the intentions of SJM students and the entire school. Parent service hours are available for this service to the school. 

If interested, contact Minnie Garcia at miniegarcia00@gmail.com
2021 Yearbook
2020 & 2021 Yearbooks
You can still order your yearbook!


The books are $100 and can be ordered online until May 1. There are a limited number of yearbooks available and we cannot guarantee they will last, so make sure to get yours before they are sold out. If we have any books leftover after May 1, they will be available for sale in person on campus for $120 after they arrive in late May.

Online orders for Senior Ads in the yearbook are still on sale until Feb. 10. The ads are $300 for a full page, $150 for half. If you miss the February deadline, please email Ms. Hathaway for more information at jhathaway@sjmhs.org.

The theme of this year's book is "Better Together," and we certainly are! Go Panthers!
Spread the Word About Memorial
The SJM 2022-2023 Application for NEW incoming freshmen and fall transfers is open now on the SJM website. Help us spread the word by passing this information on to prospective parents and students! For assistance in the application process or to schedule a tour of the SJM Campus, contact Bianca Blanchette, Director of Admissions at (559) 268-9251 EXT 139 or bblanchette@sjmhs.org
Important Links
Want access to the latest pictures of student activities, sports and more? Or the latest updates? Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or check out our website!




Connect With Us

The best way to stay connected to Memorial is to watch your email for our Panther Press newsletter for parents and students. Keep up with the latest important news and learn more about the school! Change your email? Let us know so you can continue getting updates.


Browse all past issues online at https://sjmhs.org/panther-press
Alumni Contact Update

Panther Alums, even though your time here at Memorial has passed, this is still your home! Please stay connected with us so that you can be part of our exciting engagement opportunities such as our sporting event tailgates, alumni mixers and so much more! To stay connected please fill out this form.
San Joaquin Memorial High School | sjmhs.org