|
The RamPage
February 10, 2023
| |
Weekly Newsletter for Garces Families, Students, Alumni, & Friends. | |
|
February 13
School Closed
February 14-17
FFA Week
February 15
FFA Harvest Market
4-7 PM
| |
|
February 16
FFA Pet Blessing - 8:30 AM
Late Start - 9:00 AM
February 17
FFA Kiss a Pig
February 17
FFA Barn Dance
| |
|
February 20th
School Closed
February 21st
Fat Tuesday Food Truck Extravaganza
February 22nd
Ash Wednesday
All School Mass
| |
Follow us on our social media sites to stay up to date on the latest updates from Garces. | |
Garces Memorial 75th Anniversary | |
RSVP for Gala by Friday, February 17th | |
Gala RSVP Deadline February 17th
Thank you for your past support, and if you have already done so, thank you for supporting this year’s Garces Gala.
This is a special time for Garces as we celebrate our 75th year of providing Catholic education in our community. It is only fitting that the theme for this year’s Gala is Diamond Jubilee. On behalf of our Gala co-chairs, Mia (Franconi) Selvidge and Ingrid (Ceballos) Lake, we hope you will join us for what is sure to be a great evening. Below is the link to make your reservations online or view the different sponsorship levels available. Reservations must be made in advance and preferably by February 17th.
If you would like to support Gala by donating an item for our auction, please feel free to email or call. We are always looking for both live and silent auction items. Again, thank you for your support. We hope to see you on February 25th!
Click here to RSVP
| |
Please Vote Garces Best Private School
Garces is once again nominated as one of ten finalists for Best Private School in the Bakersfield Californian's Readers' Choice Poll. Thanks to the support of the Garces community, we have been voted the Best Private School for the past three years and we would love to have the honor a fourth year in a row! The Garces Gala is nominated for Best Non-Profit Event. Please click on the link and vote for Garces. You can vote daily through February 21st.
Best Of Voting Link
| |
|
FFA Week - February 14th - 17th | |
|
Next week is one of our favorite weeks on our campus as we celebrate our FFA program. Our FFA students and moderator, Mrs. Ashleigh Rossi, have put together another great FFA week with lots of activities to highlight the importance of agriculture in our community and in our everyday lives. Check out the dress-up days and events below!
Tuesday, February 14th: Local Love Day. FFA will have tables highlighting local agriculture. Since it is Valentine’s Day, the dress-up theme is Valentine’s Day attire and piggies or bunnies.
Wednesday, February 15th: Plant a Seed, Grow the Future. The dress-up theme is "camouflage" yourself as an FFA member (camouflage dress). The FFA Sales and Marketing class will host their second Harvest Market from 4:00-7:00 pm in the quad.
Thursday, February 16th: Growing Knowledge Building Leaders. The dress-up theme is FFA ’Merica (patriotic dress). FFA will have a pet blessing from 8:15-9:00 in the quad (pets must go home after). College information tables will be set up at break and lunch.
Friday, February 17th: Giddy up Garces! The dress-up theme is Western Wear. FFA will have the winner of the Kiss a Pig contest at break, FFA sweethearts at lunch, followed by a performance by Painting Rooms. At lunch, FFA will also have a hamburger sale for $5 a burger CASH ONLY. Friday night, be sure to join FFA in the MLH for their barn dance from 8:00-10:30.
The "Kiss a Pig" contest is underway! We have six faculty members who are participating - Mr. Kerwin, Ms. Salazar, Ms. Pavletich, Mrs. McKee, Mrs. Jensen, and Mr. Holmes. The six teachers have a pink "pig" jar in their classroom for students to put money into to "vote" for the teacher they want to see kiss a pig during break on Friday, February 17th. The teacher who collects the most money will kiss the pig!
| |
Junior Class Step-Up Mass | |
On Tuesday, Garces held its annual Step-Up Mass for the juniors with Fr. David Lopez as the celebrant. He gave a lovely homily about Jesus' love for each of us and he blessed the class rings along with giving a special blessing for the junior class. The Step-Up Mass allows the juniors to reflect on what it means to be a leader on our campus and how Jesus asks each of us to be the best version of ourselves. Mrs. Ashleigh Rossi was the guest speaker and she encouraged the juniors to be "waves" - to quietly lead in big ways versus trying to make a splash. Each junior received a Garces crest pin which was pinned on them by a Garces faculty member. The faculty members who participated are also Garces alumni - Steve Garcia, Blaine Geissel, Joseph Roach, John Fanucchi, Denise Limi, Ashleigh Pavletich, and Kristen Zasoski. | |
Randall Giumarra
Saturday morning, several of our PLTW Engineering and FFA Ag students volunteered to help out and support Garces senior and Ford Dream Builder Randall Giumarra and the Ford Dream Builder team of which he is a member. To help out Randall, Garces students volunteered their time at a STEM Education Fair for the Dream Builder team project, Growing the Genius Generation. The goal of the project is to inspire and promote STEM based initiatives for foster and under served youth. The team collaborated with Bakersfield Angels and the Boys and Girls Club of Kern County to connect students of various backgrounds with education partners, businesses, and industry leaders in the STEM field. We LOVE how our Garces Rams support each other and support our community. Great job Rams! And a big shout out to Mrs. Cook and Mrs. Rossi for supporting the event as well! We are so proud of Randall and the great work he is doing to support the youth in our community.
| |
Aidan Sorci & Olivia Michaud
Garces seniors, Aidan Sorci and Olivia Michaud are members of Ford Dream Builders and their team project was Team SOKCS, which stands for Socks On Kern County Soles. Their team’s service project goal was to find a fun and engaging way to spread awareness about the Open Doors Network (Bakersfield Homeless Shelter) and raise donations to give to this amazing non-profit. Their team landed on the idea of donating socks as the director of the Open Doors Network made their team aware that socks are their biggest need all year around. They came up with the idea of doing a sock toss, similar to the “Teddy Bear Toss” at the Bakersfield Condors games, at local high school basketball games. Like the “Teddy Bear Toss” whoever made their pair of socks in a small basket won a prize. Aidan, Olivia, and their team members had six local high schools participate – including Garces. They have one last sock toss left at the CSUB men’s basketball game on February 9th. So far they have raised close to 3,000 pairs of socks to donate to the Open Doors Network. A big shout out to Garces AD Gino Lacava and Garces SID Trevor Horn for supporting the event at Garces. We are so proud of the work of the work Aidan and Olivia are doing for the betterment of our local community.
| |
FFA Valentine's Day Flowers
The Garces FFA Floral Design class will be selling Valentine’s Day flowers on February 14th during break, lunch, and after school! Prices will range from $10 to $40. Make sure to shop before they are gone!
If you have any questions, please contact FFA advisor Mrs. Ashleigh Rossi.
| |
|
Kairos Retreat
Garces is excited to offer a Kairos Retreat next month. For those unfamiliar with it, Kairos is a four-day/three-night retreat for juniors and seniors in high school. The word “kairos” is the ancient Greek word for “time.” Therefore, the point of the retreat is to be on “God’s time” and generally contemplate God’s role in one's life.
There is limited space so we are encouraging our seniors to sign-up by March 1st and then we will admit juniors as space allows.
Serra Retreat Center
| |
|
Black History Month
Garces is celebrating Black History Month which is an observance of achievements by African Americans and a time for recognizing their central role in U.S. history. Garces sophomore Jayla Ward, club president for Black Student Union (BSU) announced that every Wednesday during the month of February, a club member will share a historical fact as part of the morning announcements. This week, the club shared how Black History Month was established.
In honor of this month-long celebration, BSU will host some educational and fun activities on campus.
| |
|
Meals with Love Club
The Garces Meals with Love Club was busy on Thursday shopping for groceries and making dinner for families at the Ronald McDonald House. Club members who participated are Brandon Tran, Genesis Vasquez, Erin Castillo, Alyssa Hurtado, and Ryan Lee. Great job Rams! We love how you guys come together to support families in need.
| |
|
Garces Used Books
The Garces Student Store will begin offering Used Books for sale. We currently have a small supply of used books and are looking for more. If you have some Garces books you are no longer using, please consider donating them to the Student Store. Mr. Geissel will make sure they go to good use. You can drop off your used books at the Student Store or the front desk anytime during the school day.
| |
|
|
Financial Aid
It’s that time of year again to apply for tuition assistance for the upcoming school year. Registration will begin on February 1st for incoming and returning families who qualify. We understand that financial aid is crucial for so many of our families and is an annual application process. Applications for financial aid and tuition assistance will close on February 28, be sure to update your 2023-2024 application.
FACTS Grant & Aid Account: https://online.factsmgt.com/aid
The tuition assistance process also requires the Request for Tuition Assistance Form to be submitted to Eric Coleman and can be found here: https://garces.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Request-for-Tuition-Assistance-23.pdf
There are also options for scholarships through the Bakersfield Catholic Education Foundation you can learn more about and apply for here: https://garces.org/admissions/affordability/
In the past few years, we have continued to grow our enrollment by providing meaningful Christ center education, small class sizes, individual support, high-level academics and top-achieving athletics. We are able to do all of this while watching our students grow spiritually as well as growing in all aspects of their young adult lives. We encourage you to reach out to your friends and family to apply for Christ-centered education, top-notch academics and championship-level athletics for the upcoming school year.
| |
|
Hear Garces senior and ASB Rally Commissioner, Sara Wiswall '23, talk about how much she loves being a member of the Garces Herd, how Garces feels like a family, and how much she enjoys being part of our FFA program. In addition to being active in ASB, Sara is the President of FFA, a member of the Helping Hands Club, the National Honor Society, and an Honor Roll Student. Registration is now open for the Class of 2027. Please go online at garces.org and begin the application process.
Click on the video below.
| |
|
Sports Update
Provided by Trevor Horn, Sports Information Director
We are now officially in the postseason for Garces Athletics winter sports programs. Wrestling is in the divisional championships today and tomorrow while soccer and basketball playoffs will begin next week. Not to forget we will have our first spring sport regular season game on Saturday.
Baseball
The Garces Memorial baseball teams will begin the regular season on Saturday against Arvin with JV and varsity at 2 p.m. to begin the Clif Williamson era as the new head coach. The Rams have one final tune-up tonight in a scrimmage against Independence with JV at 3 p.m. and varsity at 5 p.m.
Boys Basketball
The Rams finished the regular season with a 12-16 record and 2-6 in River League action after a 72-64 loss at Stockdale last night. The Rams will find out where they will play in the Central Section playoffs on Saturday afternoon. The first round begins on Wednesday. The Rams are a Division II base, which means they could play in D-I, D-II or D-III.
Girls Basketball
The Rams finished the regular season winning eight of their last 11 games, including a 73-53 win over Stockdale last night. The lone senior Reese Pasternik scored a career-high 38 points in the win, the most scored in program history since Rachol West scored 39 nearly 10 years ago to the day on Feb. 6, 2013 against North. The Rams finished with a record of 11-15 overall and a 6-2 league record and will likely be in the D-IV playoffs that will be announced tomorrow and begin on Tuesday night.
Boys Soccer
Down 1-0 in overtime, Benji Jimenez’s free-kick was headed in by Nico Fanucchi as the Rams ended the regular season in a 1-1 tie at Stockdale last night. The Rams will head into the playoffs with a 10-3-2 overall record and finish second in league (5-2-1). The playoffs will be announced later today. Check our social media accounts on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram @GarcesAthletics for playoff updates.
Girls Soccer
The Rams lost a heartbreak last night in a 1-0 finale at Stockdale. Garces heads into the playoffs at 13-6-1 and 3-5 in league. The Rams currently are ranked No. 11 overall in the section by MaxPreps rankings and could be seeded in D-I for the first time since the 2014-15 season. Brackets will be released today.
Wrestling
There are 10 Garces Memorial boys wrestlers in action today in Madera at the D-IV championships as the Rams seek the first section team title in program history, led by league champions Brendon Ko and Milo Mastrucci. On the girls side, three Rams are in the Area championships at Golden Valley tomorrow. Freshman Kaila Delfin is seeded No. 4 at 101, while Kaydence Boyd is seeded No. 1 at 128 pounds. Olivia Landis is the seven seed at 113 pounds.
| |
|
Garces president, Mr. Kent Hickey is the author of "40 Days with God". While the book can be read at any time, it is especially appropriate to read over the 40 days of Lent. The book is currently 25% off and all proceeds will go to the Garces Godmother Fund. Over the years, the Garces Godmother Fund has been a blessing to many of our families when they needed a little extra help with their expenses at Garces.
The book can be purchased online. Please click on the link
Click to Order 40 Days with God or call Paraclete Press at 1-800-451-5006.
Mr. Hickey has kindly offered to lead a discussion group about his book. Please email Lou Ann Durrett if you are interested in finding out more at ldurrett@garces.org.
| |
|
The Bakersfield Catholic Education Foundation, formerly known as the Garces Memorial Foundation, has named a new Executive Director, Ms. Lou Ann Durrett. Lou Ann will continue her role at Garces and has expanded her duties to include the Executive Director position in support of Garces Memorial and its mission.
New Executive Director Newspaper Article
| |
The list keeps growing! We are so fortunate to have generous and supportive donors, volunteers, and vendors. You are making a difference in the lives of our Garces students. Next week we will share the link to the Gala website where you will be able to preview some of the amazing items we will have on the auction block. Until then, follow us on Instagram @gmhsgive where we have been highlighting some of the live auction items. | |
Part-Time Employment Opportunity
Garces Memorial is looking for a part-time employee to manage the concession stand during the football games for the 2023-2024 school year. The position would start in August.
If you are interested in more information, please get in touch with Ms. Shannon Campbell, Garces Director of Operations & Facilities at scampbell@garces.org or 327-2578 ext. 106.
| |
|
In Our Prayers
Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them.
May they rest in peace. Amen.
Danny Noriega
Long-time custodian at OLPH Church and School.
Fred Allison
For the last five years, Fred and his BBQ crew provided the delicious dinner for our
Holy Smoke BBQ guests. A gem to work with and always so generous.
| |
2023 Hall of Honor Nominations
The Garces Memorial Alumni Board is accepting nominations for the 2023 Hall of Honor. If you know a deserving individual, please nominate them. Nominations are open until March 31, 2023.
Click here for the 2023 Hall of Honor Nomination Form
| |
|
Kern Catholic is hosting its 5th annual Prayer Breakfast with special keynote speaker, Mark Hart. Mark is known as the "Bible Geek" and serves as Executive Vice President for Life Teen International. A graduate from the University of Notre Dame, Mark is a best-selling and award-winning author (or co-author) of over a dozen books. His wildly popular DVD Bible Study Series,”T3″ is revolutionizing Catholic youth/young adult Scripture Study.
He has traveled the globe speaking to millions of souls, maintains a daily social media ministry (through Facebook and Twitter) and is a regular guest on several Catholic radio programs. Mark’s weekly audio podcast (entitled Sunday, Sunday, Sunday), HD video spots (Beyond Words) and other original resources are utilized in youth groups, homes and classrooms in well over two dozen countries.
Mark’s humor and his passion for Scripture are helping hundreds of thousands of Catholics, young and old, begin to read and study the Bible in engaging and relevant ways.
GARCES STUDENTS CAN ATTEND FOR FREE. SIGN UPS ARE THROUGH THEOLOGY CLASSES.
| |
OLPH is in need of volunteers for its 75th Jubilee Festival. They are asking for Garces students, or parents, to volunteer to sign-up for Food Service. Click on the link to their 75th Jubilee Volunteer Sign-Up: https://olphbakersfield.flocknote.com/signup/111895 | | | | |
