The Valley Catholic School Board of Directors announced Tuesday, May 11 the appointment of Mr. Robert G. Weber as the school’s next President. He will assume his duties on July 16, 2010, succeeding Sr. Rita Watkins, SSMO, who is stepping down after eight years as President.

Mr. Weber comes to Valley Catholic from Blanchet Catholic School in Salem, Ore. serving students in grades 6-12. He has worked as the school’s Principal since 2000 and prior to that was its Vice Principal for three years.

The President of Valley Catholic is responsible for overseeing all management, fiscal, programmatic, and planning activities of the PreK-12 school. Mr. Weber will work closely with the school Board of Directors and supervise and support all school administrators. Major initiatives will be to strengthen the continuity of curriculum development across grade levels as well as to increase the visibility of Valley Catholic School in the Portland area.

Mr. Weber is not new to campus as he spent four years teaching and coaching at Valley Catholic High School from 1993-1997. Weber is a 1987 graduate of Central Catholic High School in Portland and holds a journalism degree from the University of Oregon. He also holds a master’s in teaching from Pacific University.
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Join us for a legendary Concert and a free barbeque. On Thursday, May 13 at 7 p.m., the Yale Spizzwinks (?) will perform an hour-long concert in Valley Catholic’s auditorium. The Spizzwinks (?), all of whose members are Yale students, were America’s first undergraduate a cappella choir and are the oldest a cappella choir in the United States—they’ve been singing since 1913.

In the last year and a half, the Spizzwinks (?) have sung in Auckland, Bucharest, Fiji, Dublin, Cork, London, Oxford, Brussels, Istanbul, Alexandria, Cairo, Capetown, Port Elizabeth, Costa Rica, Melbourne, as well as dozens of American cities. This year they will sing not only at Valley Catholic but also in Ecuador, the Galapagos Islands, Brazil, Paraguay, Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore, Burma, Malaysia, California, Nebraska, Missouri, and along the Eastern Seaboard.
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Philip Lam poses for a photo in the Valley Catholic Music School

Valley Catholic Middle School student Philip Lam has taken high honors in the Oregon Music Educators Association (OMEA) Junior Division competition recently. Philip received a I+ which is the highest score that can be given for his work as a pianist. Philip was also the winner of the Oregon Music Teachers Association (OMTA) 2010 Romantic Festival.

A student of the Valley Catholic Music School, Philip is considering a career in music. Sofia Zalmonova is Philip’s teacher. She remarked that “he is an excellent student to teach, has perfect technique, as is very musical.”

This Sunday at 2 p.m. in the High School auditorium Eloise Kim, our world-class senior pianist, will play her senior concert. Eloise’s recital is hosted by Sr. Juliana Monti and Valley Catholic Music School. Eloise is a musician in well over a million. Next year she will attend The Colburn School of Music, one of the world’s top conservatories (with a full scholarship for all tuition, room, and board for all four years). There is no charge for Eloise’s concert here. Eloise will play for a little over an hour; there will, also, be an intermission.

Here is the afternoon’s program:

• Bach Prelude and Fugue in A Flat Major WTC II
• Beethoven Sonata Op. 109 in E Major
• Chopin Polonaise Fantasie in A Flat Major Op. 61
• Liszt Transcedental Etude No. 11, Harmonies du Soir
• Takemitsu Rain Tree Sketch
• Brahms B Major Trio
• Mendelssohn c minor Trio

Eloise has played all over the world and with many orchestras behind her; she has attended Valley Catholic since 1st grade. This is a unique opportunity for us to see a truly extraordinary Valiant. Do yourself a great favor: join us Sunday.

Reporter Christina Lent from the Beaverton Valley Times has taken a shine to her as well. She came to meet with Eloise last week and wrote a fantastic article about the pianist and her extraordinary talent. You can read the story published today at the link below!

Piano prodigy gets ‘swept up’ in her music

- Submitted by Principal Ross Thomas, Valley Catholic MS & HS

The 47-strong Young Americans cast made three stops in Oregon in October

Fifty Valley Catholic students, aged 9-18, and 50 more from around the Portland Metro area, had the time of their life when the Young Americans came to visit earlier this month. The Young Americans are a California-based performing group who made stops in Beaverton, Enterprise and LaGrande this October during their 2009 Fall International Music Outreach Tour as well as eight other US states. These talented young adults are strong music advocates as well as talented teachers and performers.
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Student musicians from Valley Catholic Music School are busy preparing for recitals held the week February 23- 27.
The recitals are held in the High School Choir room with the first recital beginning at 7:00 pm and the second recital starting at 8:00pm.
Besides performing, students have an opportunity to polish up their stage presentation by announcing their name, piece and composer.

Valley Catholic High School’s own Dan Schauffler has an article written for him in the Beaverton Valley Times in October.

You can read more here.