The Ram Page

August 18, 2023

Bi-Weekly Newsletter for Garces Families, Students, Alumni & Friends

Aloha Dance

Aug. 19

Freshman Elections

Aug. 21-25

Back To School Night

Aug. 30

Senior Sunrise

Aug. 31

Freshman Retreat

Sept. 7

Sophomore Retreat

Sept. 19-20

Homecoming Week

Oct. 2-6

Homecoming Game vs Frontier

Oct. 6

Homecoming Dance

Oct. 7

Follow us on our social media sites to stay up to date on the latest updates from Garces Memorial

Garces Families,

Welcome to the 2023-24 school year! 

I am excited to see what God has planned for us this year. I feel blessed to be able to join the Garces family as the principal and to welcome all our students on campus for a fulfilling school year. 

I started my professional experience in education as an afterschool magnet teacher for the Bakersfield City School District when I was 19 years old. At that time, I did not realize I would eventually become a classroom teacher and continue to grow in my profession to become the principal of Garces Memorial High School. I have been blessed beyond measure with the experiences I have been granted as an educator, teaching at all levels K-12 and in many settings including public school, charter school, outdoor school, international boarding school and Catholic school. 

I am grateful to be back home in Bakersfield and to be back in Catholic education. Catholic education gives students an opportunity to not only excel academically, but also grow as service minded individuals who reflect and develop one's moral compass in a safe and supportive environment; to become the person God created them to be. I feel so honored to be part of this for our Garces students.  

I look forward to working with the entire Garces community to fulfill our mission. Our Mission calls us to instill every member of the Garces Memorial community the courage to act with faith, knowledge, compassion and justice. 

The rich traditions of Garces are unmatched because of our Garces community. I look forward to meeting all of you personally at our upcoming events.

God Bless and Go Rams!

Noel Leon

Principal

This week in Garces Athletics

The 2023-24 athletic calendar for Garces Memorial Athletics kicked off last night with season opening games for varsity football and volleyball.

Football

Sophomore Gunter Golla threw for 234 yards and two touchdowns but the Rams weren't able to overcome a two-score deficit in a 41-27 loss at Clovis on Thursday night.

The Rams closed the gap to 22-14 with 40 seconds left in the first half on a 70-yard touchdown pass from Golla to Cage Williams (4 catches, 131 yards, 2 TDs).

Garces will host Lancaster-Paraclete at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 24.

The JV team will play at Clovis this Saturday at 10 a.m. after excessive heat postponed the game Thursday.

Volleyball

The Rams opened the season Thursday night at Porterville-Monache in a 25-20, 25-12, 25-19 loss. The JV team is in the West High Tournament Friday and Saturday and the F/S team is at the South High Tournament on Saturday.

Be sure to follow Garces Athletics on social media @GarcesAthletics for updated information and scores.

SAVE THE DATE - THURSDAY, OCT 12

The Holy Smoke Garces Fall BBQ Committee is hard at work planning a great night on our campus! Our co-chairs are Bill Potter and Joe Etcheverry. Committee members include Lexi Clerou, Jeff Etcheverry, Santos Gutierrez, Dan Hoekstra, Jared Lane, Tom McCarthy, Philip McDermott, Molly Antongiovanni, Jenny Asaro and Lou Ann Durrett.

We are pleased to announce that Mission Bank is once again our Title Sponsor. We are very grateful for their generous support.

NEW THIS YEAR

OPEN BAR & SPONSOR VIP SECTION

Thank you to everyone who has already agreed to be sponsors of the BBQ. They are listed below. If you haven't done so already, we hope you will consider being a sponsor. We have several levels available. We will have a VIP area at the BBQ for our sponsors that will include special appetizers and we will have runners who will bring our VIPs their dinners so they do not have to wait in line. For more information about being a sponsor, you can visit our website at garces.org or email Lou Ann Durrett at ldurrett@garces.org or Jenny Asaro at jasaro@garces.org.

BBQ TICKETS

The BBQ is on Thursday, Oct. 12, in the Garces quad. Tickets include an open bar and a NY steak dinner. There will also be dancing to a live band, Valley Fever. Tickets are $75 for one, $125 for two and each additional ticket is $60. You can also sponsor a Garces teacher BBQ ticket for $40. You can purchase your tickets on-line or at the Business Office. We hope to see all of you there!

Garces Memorial is pleased to welcome eight new members to our campus faculty and staff, led by our new principal, Ms. Noel Leon.

We have also welcomed six new teachers, a new receptionist, a development associate and a new member of the maintenance staff to our Garces family this school year.

2023 Hall of Honor

Thursday, November 16th

Luigi's Warehouse

Save the date for the 2023 Hall of Honor. This year's inductees are:

• Damon Culbertson
• Steve Lewis '64
• Rich Romo '70
• Jeremy Tobias '84

The Alumni Award recipient is the Mike & Laura Etcheverry Family.

The Garces Alumni Board is hard at work to make it a memorable evening. Members of the Alumni Board are Chairman Gregg Gunner '66; Cindy (Duncan) Lynch '68, Mary (Loken) Cornett '68, Tom Swertfager '69, Jim Sakowski '70, Melissa Fortune '72, Carolyn Antongiovanni '72, Mike Georgino '75, George Clerou '76, Katie (Anspach) Whittington '77, Bernadette (Eyherabide) Root '78, Raji Sanghera '87, Maria (Bernal) Toretta '88, Courtney (Kirschenmann) Tobias '92, Lexi (Antongiovanni) Clerou '06, and John Moore III '07.